I had lunch today with a friend who lives in Newport, RI. She said that when the Bounty was docked in Newport as part of a Tall Ships events, she had worked as a volunteer and met the captain. Her job was to make sure that women did not wear high heels on the ship and to hand out cloth slippers for them. She said several women refused to wear them, saying they were ugly, and chose stay on the dock while friends and family members boarded the ship. She had been following the news reports closely and was quite distressed about it.