Emily George was born Emily Reynolds in Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire in 1872. According to the archive of Dinas Historical Society, she referred to herself as a ‘proper tomboy’. At home, Emily spoke Welsh, but she went to a private school in Fishguard ‘to learn English and manners’. Nevertheless, she maintained her roots and demanded to be allowed home one Friday afternoon to help with ‘salting a pig’.

Emily is quoted as saying ‘the sea was a big thing in our lives’ (referring to her family, four of which were sea captains). She recalled seeing shipwrecks off the coast of Fishguard as a teenager and eventually married Titus George, First Officer of the Arctic Stream, on 12^th June 1894 while docked at Liverpool.

Early in her marriage, Emily crossed the continent ‘many a time to see (Titus) when the ship was in port’, and later travelled first class to British Columbia to join him on the Comliebank, bound for Chile. In her own words, she describes her travels:

‘I was at sea almost all the time from 1905 to 1914. Long voyages but the time passed quickly enough…I used to do a lot of quilting and sewing and woodcarving…I took an interest in everything that went on. Every rope, every sail, every yard had a name and I knew them all. We made many a voyage to the west coast of South America and from there to Australia’.**

On one occasion Emily is said to have ‘responded forcibly’ to a Spanish customs officer who questioned her baggage allowance; addressing him in Welsh. This apparently, caused him to ‘back off’ as she continued undeterred. This tenacity also saw her through ‘massive storms off South America…(and) long spells in the Doldrums’.

In 1914, Emily returned to Dinas and Titus went to war. He died in 1942, but Emily went on to become a JP. Her life story was recorded in a radio play by her nephew, John H. Griffiths, and broadcast by the BBC Home Service for Wales on March 1^st that year.

Emily George died in 1960, but her life story was again performed by Dinas Historical Society in 2005. It is described as ‘the story of a Welsh Woman who sailed around the world with her husband in a four-masted barque’.

Ganed Emily George yn Emily Reynolds yn Dinas, Sir Benfro yn 1872. Yn ôl archifau Cymdeithas Hanes Dinas, roedd yn cyfeirio at ei hun fel ‘real tomboi’. Yn y cartref, roedd Emily yn siarad Cymraeg, ond aeth i ysgol breifat yn Abergwaun ‘i ddysgu Saesneg a moesau’. Serch hynny, cadwodd yn driw i’w gwreiddiau gan fynnu cael mynd adref un prynhawn Gwener i helpu gyda’r gwaith o ‘halltu’r mochyn’.

Dyfynnir Emily yn dweud ‘roedd y môr yn beth mawr yn ein bywydau’ (gan gyfeirio at ei theulu, pedwar ohonynt yn gapteniaid llong). Roedd yn cofio gweld llongddrylliadau oddi ar arfordir Abergwaun yn ei harddegau, a maes o law, fe briododd Titus George, Swyddog Cyntaf ar yr Arctic Stream, ar y 12^fed o Fehefin 1894 tra oedd y llong wedi docio yn Lerpwl.

Yn ystod dyddiau cynnar ei phriodas, roedd Emily wedi croesi’r cyfandir ‘lawer tro i weld (Titus) pan oedd y llong mewn porthladd’, ac yn ddiweddarach teithiodd dosbarth cyntaf i British Columbia i ymuno ag ef ar y Comliebank, ar eu ffordd i Chile. Yn ei geiriau ei hun, mae’n disgrifio ei theithiau fel a ganlyn:

‘Roeddwn i ar y môr ar hyd yr amser bron rhwng 1905 a 1914. Mordeithiau hir ond roedd yr amser yn mynd heibio yn ddigon cyflym… roeddwn i’n arfer gwneud llawer o gwiltio a gwnïo a naddu pren … Cymerais ddiddordeb ym mhopeth oedd yn digwydd. Roedd gan bob rhaff, pob hwyl, pob hwyl-lath eu henw ac roeddwn yn gwybod bob un ohonynt. Gwnaethom sawl mordaith i arfordir gorllewinol De America ac oddi yno i Awstralia.’  

Ar un achlysur dywedir bod Emily wedi ‘ymateb yn chwyrn’ i swyddog tollau yn Sbaen oedd wedi cwestiynu ei lwfans bagiau, ac wedi siarad ag ef yn Gymraeg. Roedd hynny mae’n debyg wedi peri iddo gilio wrth i hithau gario ymlaen yn ddi-droi’n-ôl. Roedd y dycnwch hwn hefyd wedi’i chynnal drwy ‘stormydd geirwon oddi ar Dde America … (a) chyfnodau hir o’r felan’. 

Yn 1914, dychwelodd Emily i Dinas ac aeth Titus i ryfel. Bu farw yntau yn 1942, ond aeth Emily ymlaen i fod yn Ynad Heddwch. Cofnodwyd hanes ei bywyd mewn drama radio gan ei nai, John H. Griffiths, a darlledwyd y ddrama gan y BBC Home Sevice i Gymru ar Fawrth 1^af y flwyddyn honno.

Bu farw Emily George ym 1960, ond perfformiwyd hanes ei bywyd unwaith eto gan Gymdeithas Hanes Dinas yn 2005. Disgrifir y ddrama fel ‘stori Gwraig o Gymru a hwyliodd o amgylch y byd gyda’i gŵr mewn llong pedair hwylbren’.