Female pirates have been overlooked in history despite their significant presence during the Age of Sailing. Anne Bonny and Mary Read were close friends and fierce fighters who escaped hanging by claiming pregnancy. Grace O’Malley ruled the west coast of Ireland and met Queen Elizabeth I. Ching Shih terrorized coastal China and accepted amnesty before becoming a successful gambling den operator. Jeanne de Clisson hunted down French government ships after her husband’s wrongful execution. Female pirates often disguised themselves as men and formed a significant proportion of sailors in the age of sail.
While glamorous male pirates have dominated fiction and movie screens for centuries, female pirates are often left behind or ignored. In the Age of Sailing, from the 15th to the 19th century, women everywhere had few rights or opportunities to escape a life of marriage, children and housework. While this pleased many women of the time, some had the same irresistible desire for adventure, crime, and freedom from the laws of the land. Female pirates once ruled the world’s waters, but today they are often forgotten alongside their more numerous male crewmates.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were close friends and fierce fighters who met under the command of the notorious Caribbean pirate, Calico Jack Rackham. Anne’s accounts suggest that she was extravagant, violent, and courageous, while Mary Read’s few accounts suggest that she made a living of cross-dressing to pursue a military and pirate career.
Although accounts vary, Anne discovered Mary aboard ship, despite Read’s convincing male disguise. The two became partners and were the only ones to fight when their ship was attacked by pirate hunters. After their ship was captured in 1720, both women escaped hanging by claiming they were pregnant. Mary died of fever or complications in childbirth while she was in prison, but legends suggest that Anne escaped or was ransomed, as no record of her release or execution exists.
Grace O’Malley ruled most of the west coast of Ireland between 1546 and 1603, using her ships to plunder merchants in her territorial waters and exact taxes from them. He infuriated the British government by constantly attacking their shipping as they desperately tried to establish control over the Irish shipping and trade routes. In a historic meeting, Grace traveled to England and met Queen Elizabeth I. Despite the language barriers between the two powerful women, reports of the meeting suggested that the women genuinely liked each other and shared a mutual respect for a mate in a ” man “work.
One of the most famous pirates is Ching Shih, who followed her husband into piracy in China around 1804. When her powerful husband died, Ching Shih was able to take control of his fleet and conduct operations without him. Cities in coastal China were said to be so terrified of Ching Shih’s ships that they voluntarily paid taxes to keep the pirates away. In 1810 she accepted amnesty from the Chinese government and spent the rest of her life as a successful gambling den operator.
One of the first and bloodiest pirates in history, Jeanne de Clisson was often called the Lioness of Brittany during her reign in the 14th century. After her husband’s wrongful execution, Jeanne raised a fleet of warships painted black and hung with red sails. In defiance of the French king, Philip VI, Jeanne hunted down French government ships mercilessly, carrying out beheadings herself, leaving a few survivors to carry her message of vengeance to the court. She is believed to have aided the English government against the French and eventually she married an English nobleman.
Female pirates often had to work in secret and disguise themselves as men to survive in the world of piracy. It is not known how many acts of piracy were actually performed by female pirates, but it is likely that they formed a significant proportion of sailors in the age of sail. While their actions have certainly been both bloody and illegal, they are somehow more romantic than male pirates. Regardless of views on pirate activity, it is clear that famous female pirates possessed an incredible amount of courage and individuality, as they left the relative safety of traditional female roles and actively sought out a life of dangerous freedom.
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