The orphanages of eighteenth-century Seville accommodated more boys than girls. This article explores reasons for the discrepancy, arguing that charity dowries were an alternative to institutionalization for young females. Findings are based on analysis of charitable organizations (both orphanages and dowry funds) and contemporary discussions of charity reform, particularly debates over a proposed poorhouse. Beyond explaining the gender disparity at Seville's orphanages, this study challenges common views of gender, confinement, children, and poor relief in Catholic, Mediterranean Europe at the end of the old regime. It also highlights the important role of local players in implementing "enlightened" social welfare reforms.

Fischer and the anonymous reviewers all read the manuscript and offered valuable comments that improved the final version; I thank them all. The research assistance of Pedro Rueda Ramirez, Valle Tavora and the staff of the University of Seville Library's Historical Archive, the archivists and staff of the Museo-Archivo-Museo Don Alvaro de Bazan and the hospitality of Amalia Serrano are gratefully acknowledged. Thanks also to Helen Nader, Carla Rahn Phillips, William Phillips and David Reher for their help and encouragement. The translation of quoted passages is by the author unless otherwise indicated. In the original language transcriptions of archival material in the notes, spelling has been retained but diacritical marks and case have been standardized.

Th is article examines life at a maritime orphanage and at sea for wards of the Royal School of San Telmo in Seville, which operated between 1681 and 1847. At its heart is a microhistorical analysis of Francisco de Cáceres Martínez, a ward whose life is traced from the time he entered the orphanage as a twelve-year-old in 1788 until he became an assistant pilot in 1802. Th is examination of the lives of Cáceres and other adolescent wards of the San Telmo orphanage sheds light on the experiences of young sailors and charity wards dispatched to sea, both of which were common in early modern maritime fl eets but about whom details are often scarce. It also shows connections between their lives on land and at sea. Th e case of Cáceres and other San Telmo wards illuminates interactions among these youths, orphanage administrators, and Spanish naval offi cials, especially in the late eighteenth century. Th ese interactions reveal that the same society and culture that tapped orphaned boys to meet Spanish maritime demands also aff orded a measure of maneuverability to at least some of them, as wards used the language and institutions of a patriarchal system to navigate the eighteenth-century maritime world.

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