out on deck when needed, as the ship was sailing with an under-strength crew. It was on this vessel that Thornton was discovered as a woman: The sailor who discovered Thornton threatened that unless she agreed to sexual intercourse with him, he would report her to the ship's master, Captain McIntyre. Thornton refused, and when she was revealed to the master he "turned her out to work amongst the men, by whom she upon all occasions was most grossly insulted". McIntyre recorded his astonishment on learning that Thornton was a woman: The Sarah was bound at the time for London, where she docked in February 1835. Before this arrival, other crew members had suspicions about Thornton's identity, and McIntyre later told The Times that she had been abused by the other sailors and that she had worked hard aboard the ship. McIntyre reported that Thornton The story was reported in the London newspapers after a customs officer on the River Thames had intervened to stop a member of The Sarah'''s crew from mistreating a young sailor, finding to his amazement that the sailor was a young woman. The customs man then lodged Thornton at the Cooper's Arms Tavern in Lower Thames Street and reported the case to his superiors. After the Lord Mayor of London had read the reports, he sent a police inspector to investigate and subsequently held an inquiry at the Mansion House, himself interviewing all parties concerned, including Thornton and McIntyre. The captain said he had had no suspicion when employing Thornton that she was female and insisted that he had every intention of paying her the money she had earned on the voyage. Called on by McIntyre to say whether he had ever been unkind to her, Thornton replied "No, you were always most considerate. But some of the men struck me cruelly when I could not work as hard as they were in the rough weather". The Lord Mayor berated Thornton for running away from her father, while praising her seafaring conduct, and offered her money to help her to return home to her father in Ireland. The people of London sympathised with Thornton, and she was offered £500 to appear on the stage, but she refused the offer, stating that she wanted only to go home to her father. However, when the Lord Mayor made inquiries in Donegal he found that Thornton's father had