Women in piracy

Anne Bonny (1697-1720). Engraving from Captain Charles Johnsons General History of the Pyrates (1st Dutch Edition 1725)

While piracy was predominantly a male occupation, a minority of pirates were women. On many ships, women (as well as young boys) were prohibited by the ship's contract, which all crew members were required to sign.

Because of the resistance to allowing women on board, many female pirates did not identify themselves as such. Anne Bonny, for example, dressed and acted as a man while on Captain Calico Jack's ship. She and Mary Read, another female pirate, are often identified as being unique in this regard.

This article contains a list of female pirates who are recognized by historians, listed in the time period they were active.

Early pirates

Name	Life	Years Active	Culture	Comments
Queen Teuta of Illyria		232-228 BC	Illyrian	Was active in the Adriatic Sea

Viking Age and medieval pirates

Name	Life	Years Active	Culture	Comments
Rusla			Norwegian	Fought against her brother Thrond for the thrones of both Denmark and Norway. Possibly fictional. Recorded in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes). Johannes Steenstrup linked her to the Ingean Ruadh (Red Maid) of Irish folklore.
Stikla			Norwegian	Sister of Rusila: Became a pirate to avoid marriage. Recorded in the Gesta Danorum.
Princess Sela		c. 420 A.D.	Norwegian	Sister of Koller, king of Norway. Horwendil (later to be father of Amleth/Hamlet) was King of Jutland but gave up the throne to become a pirate. Koller "deemed it would be a handsome deed" to kill the pirate and sailed to find the pirate fleet. Horwendil killed Koller but had to later kill Sela, who was a skilled warrior and experienced pirate, to end the war. Recorded in the Gesta Danorum.
Alvid			Norwegian	Leader of a group of male and female pirates. Also recorded in the Gesta Danorum.
Wigbiorg, Hetha and Wisna		c. 8th century A.D.	Norwegian	All three are listed in the Gesta Danorum as sea captains. Wigbiorg died in battle, Hetha became queen of Zealand, and Wisna lost a hand in a duel.
Alfhild a.k.a. Ælfhild, Alwilda, Alvilda, Awilda		post-850 A.D.	Swedish	Existence is disputed. Often wrongly dated to the 5th century.
Ladgerda		c. 870 A.D.	Norwegian	Ladgerda is the inspiration for Hermintrude in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Æthelflæd A.K.A. The Lady of the Mercians	872-918	911-918	English	Eldest daughter of Alfred the Great of England. Became the military leader of the Anglo-Saxons after her husband's death in battle against the Danes in 911. Took command of the fleets to rid the seas of the Viking raiders.
Jeanne de Clisson	1300-1359	1343-1356	Breton	The "Lioness of Brittany". A Breton woman who became a pirate to avenge the execution of her husband. Attacked only French vessels.
Elise Eskilsdotter	d. 1483	1460s-1470s	Norwegian	A Norwegian noble who became a pirate to avenge the execution of her husband. She operated outside the sea of the city of Bergen.

16th-century pirates

Name	Life	Years Active	Culture	Comments
Gráinne Ní Mháille A.K.A. Gráinne Mhaol, Granuaile, Grace O'Malley, "The Sea Queen of Connaught"	1530-1603		Irish	Gráinne Ní Mháille was Queen of Umaill, chieftain of the Ó Máille clan and a pirate in 16th century Ireland. She is an important figure in Irish folklore, and a historical figure in 16th century Irish history, and is sometimes known as "The Sea Queen Of Connaught". Biographies of her have been written primarily in the 20th and 21st centuries by the historian Anne Chambers.
Sayyida al Hurra (full name Sayyida al-Hurra ibn Banu Rashid al-Mandri al-Wattasi Hakima Tatwan)		1510-1542	Moroccan	Allied with the Turkish corsair Barbaros of Algiers. al Hurra controlled the western Mediterranean Sea while Barbaros controlled the eastern. Also prefect of Tétouan. In 1515 she became the last person in Islamic history to legitimately hold the title of "al Hurra" or Queen following the death of her husband who ruled Tétouan. She later married the King of Morocco, Ahmed al-Wattasi, but refused to leave Tétouan to do so. This marriage is the only time in Moroccan history a King has married away from the capital Fez. *al Hurra is also the name of an American Arab language pirate radio station used as a counter to al Jazeera.
Lady Mary Killigrew		1530-1570	English	Mary was the daughter of a former Suffolk pirate. Mary's husband Sir Henry Killigrew, a former pirate himself, was made a Vice-Admiral by Queen Elizabeth I and tasked with suppressing piracy. Whenever her husband went to sea, Mary engaged in piracy using the staff of her castle (Arwenack Castle in Cornwall) as crew and possibly with the Queen's knowledge. In 1570, she captured a German merchant ship off Falmouth and her crew sailed it to Ireland to sell. However, the owner of this ship was a friend of Queen Elizabeth, who then had Lady Mary arrested and brought to trial at the Launceston assizes. Some sources say she was sentenced to death and then pardoned by the Queen, but this is due to confusion with another family member. According to sources, her family either bribed the jurors and she was acquitted, or Queen Elizabeth arranged a short jail sentence. Whatever transpired, she gave up piracy and took up fencing stolen goods until she died several years later.
Lady Elizabeth Killigrew		1570s-1582	English	Elizabeth and her husband Sir John lived in Pendennis Castle in Falmouth Harbour. In early 1581 a Spanish ship, the Marie of San Sebastian was blown down Channel by a storm and was forced, dismasted, to take refuge in Falmouth harbour. Lady Elizabeth led an attack on the ship and then fenced the proceeds. Lady Elizabeth was later arrested and sentenced to death but pardoned. Her husband Sir John was ordered by the Privy Council to restore the vessel and goods to their owners but went into hiding along with the ship which resulted in several warrants for his arrest being issued for acts of piracy committed over the next eight years.

17th-century pirates

Name	Life	Years Active	Culture	Comments
Elizabetha Patrickson		1634	English
Jacquotte Delahaye		1650s-1660s	French Haitian	Caribbean pirate. Also known as "Back from the Dead Red" due to her red hair and return to piracy after faking her own death and hiding dressed as a man for several years.
Christina Anna Skytte	1643-1677	1650s-1660s	Swedish	She actively participated in the secret piracy conducted by her brother and spouse in the Baltic sea.
Anne Dieu-le-Veut A.K.A. Marie-Anne and Marianne	1661-1710	1690s-1704	French	Caribbean pirate and later based in Mississippi after Tortuga was closed down. Dieu-Le-Veut was a nickname meaning "God wills it" and given to her as it seemed anything she wanted God gave her. Married to a pirate, Anne challenged pirate Laurens de Graaf to a duel after he killed her husband in 1683. He refused and she became his common law wife, fighting by his side and sharing command.

Female interaction with pirates in the 18th century

Business interactions

During the Golden Age of Piracy, many men had to leave home to find employment or set sail for economic reasons. This left women with the responsibilities of taking on traditionally male roles and filling the jobs that were left behind. The need for women to fill these roles led them to be granted rights that had historically been exclusive to men. Women were allowed to trade, own ships, and work as retailers. Often they were innkeepers or ran alehouses. In some seaside towns, laws were even written to allow widows to keep their husbands' responsibilities and property. This was important to local economies, as alehouses and other such establishments were centers of commerce, where pirates would congregate and trade with each other and with the people onshore.

As heads of these establishments, women had a considerable amount of freedom in business. They boarded and fed pirates, bought illegally pirated goods, acted as pawnbrokers for pirates, and even gave out loans - something many men, let alone women, viewed with great caution in that time period. At times, female business owners would even hide their clients when authorities came looking to arrest them for piracy.

Mary Read (1690-1721) Engraving from General History of the Pyrates 1725

Marriage

Some women chose to marry pirates. These men were often very wealthy, but their wives tended not to gain wealth as a result of their marriages, as it was difficult for pirates to send home wages and booty earned overseas. These women's houses and establishments were often used as safe havens for pirates, who were considered enemies of all nations.

Piracy

Women sometimes became pirates themselves, though they tended to have to disguise themselves as men in order to do so. Pirates did not allow women onto their ships very often. Many women of the time were unable to perform the physically demanding tasks required of the crew. Additionally, women were often regarded as bad luck among pirates . It was feared that the male members of the crew would argue and fight over the women. On many ships, women (as well as young boys) were prohibited by the ship's contract, which all crew members were required to sign.

Because of the resistance to allowing women on board, many female pirates did not identify themselves as such. Anne Bonny, for example, dressed and acted as a man while on Captain Calico Jack's ship. She and Mary Read, another female pirate, are often identified as being unique in this regard. However, many women dressed as men during the Golden Age of Piracy, in an effort to take advantage of the many rights, privileges, and freedoms that were exclusive to men.

18th-century pirates

Name	Life	Years Active	Culture	Comments
Maria Lindsey		Early 1700s	English	The wife of Captain Eric Cobham and possibly fictional. Pirate operating on the Canadian east coast.
Maria Cobham		Early 1700s	English	Often listed separately in lists of pirates but is likely to be Maria Lindsey (see above).
Ingela Gathenhielm	1692-1729	1710-1721	Swedish	Baltic pirate. Wife and partner of legendary pirate Lars Gathenhielm. Took sole control following his death in 1718.
Anne Bonny born Anne Cormac, aliases Ann Bonn and Ann Fulford, possibly also Sarah Bonny	1698-1782	1719-1720	Irish	Caribbean pirate. Married to pirate James Bonny, had an affair with pirate John "Calico Jack" Rackham, and later joined his crew. Discovered another crew member Mark Read was secretly a woman (Mary Read) and the two became very close.
Mary Read, alias Mark Read	c.1690-1721	1718-1720	English	Caribbean pirate. As a man, Mary went to sea and later joined the British army, fighting in the War Of The Spanish Succession. Mary married and settled down as a woman but returned to male dress following the death of her husband, later boarding a ship bound for the West Indies. Captured by "Calico" Jack Rackham, Mary joined his crew. In 1721, she died in prison.
Mary Farley, alias Mary /Martha Farlee / Harley / Harvey		1725-1726	Irish	In 1725, Mary Harvey and her husband Thomas were transported to the Province of Carolina as felons. In 1726, Mary and three men were tried for piracy. Two of the men were hanged (their leader John Vidal was convicted and later pardoned) but Mary was released. Her husband Thomas was never caught.
Mary Crickett (or Critchett / Crichett)		1728	English	In 1728, Mary Crickett and Edmund Williams were transported to the colony of Virginia together as felons. In 1729, along with four other men, both were convicted of piracy and hanged.
Flora Burn		1751	English	Operated on the East Coast of North America.
Rachel Wall	1760-1789	1770s	American	Married George Wall, a former privateer who served in the Revolutionary War, when she was sixteen years old. Operated on the New England Coast. Thought to be the first American female pirate. In 1782, George and the rest of his crew were drowned in a storm. She was accused of robbery in 1789 and confessed to being a pirate. She was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.
Charlotte de Berry		1700s	English	Possibly fictional.

19th-century pirates

Name	Life	Years Active	Culture	Comments
Ching Shih	1775-1844	1801-1810	Chinese	She was a prostitute who married a pirate and rose to prominence after his death. Regarded as one of the most powerful pirates in human history, she commanded her husband's fleet after his death. While the fleet she inherited was already large, she further increased the number of ships and crew. At its height, her fleet was composed of more than 1,500 ships and 80,000 sailors. She controlled much of the waters of the South China Sea. After years of piracy during which British, Chinese and Portuguese navies could not defeat her, China offered her peace in 1810 and she was able to retire and married the second in command.
Charlotte Badger and Catherine Hagerty		1806	English	Widely considered to be the first Australian female pirate. The ship Venus, due to a shortage of man-power, took on convicts including Badger and Hagerty as crew while in Australia. After docking at Port Dalrymple, Tasmania, the Captain went ashore and the crew seized the ship, sailing for New Zealand. Hagerty along with two other convicts, a woman named Charlotte Edgar and a child were put ashore at the Bay of Islands with a supply of stores. Hagerty died shortly thereafter. The two men were arrested for piracy and Edgar remained to become one of the first settlers in New Zealand. Badger was never seen again.
Margaret Croke (Margaret Jordan)		1809	Canadian	Following a dispute with investors over his schooner The Three Sisters, Edward Jordan was on his way to Halifax to sort it out. Wrongly assuming his family was being sent to debtors' prison, he killed two crewman then threw the Captain overboard before commandeering the vessel with the help of the remaining crewman. The marooned Captain survived and testified against Jordan claiming Margaret, who was aboard with her son and three young daughters, was also involved. Margaret admitted hitting the Captain after he had hit her husband during an argument in her cabin before he decided to commandeer the vessel; the other crew member testified she was actually in fear for her life from her violent husband and had attempted to escape. Both Margaret and Edward were hanged for piracy.
Johanna Hård	1789-1851	1823	Swedish	Sweden's last pirate; in 1823, recently widowed Hård, a farm owner on Vrångö Island, was arrested along with her farmhand Anders Andersson, farmer Christen Andersson, and one of Christen's farmhands Carl Börjesson and boatman Johan Andersson Flatås of Göteborg for piracy after the Danish ship Frau Mette was found beached and plundered with a murdered crew. Evidence was presented that the five had followed the Frau Mette on Flatås fishing vessel the Styrsö and requested water. After boarding her they killed the crew. Johan Andersson Flatås, Anders Andersson, and Christen Andersson were sentenced to death and beheaded. Carl Börjesson was imprisoned in Karlstens fortress where he died 1853. The evidence against Johanna Hård was insufficient and she was released and subsequently disappeared.
Sadie the Goat		1869	American	Possibly fictional. Operated around the state of New York as a member of the Charlton Street Gang. Named for her habit of headbutting her victims before taking their money.

20th-century pirates

Name	Life	Years Active	Culture	Comments
Lo Hon-cho alias Hon-cho Lo		1920s	Chinese	Took command of 64 ships after her husband’s death in 1921. Youthful and reported to be pretty, she gained the reputation of being the most ruthless of all China's pirates. Lo Hon-cho's fleet attacked villages and fishing fleets in the seas around Beihai taking young women as prisoners and later selling them into slavery. In 1922 a Chinese warship intercepted the fleet destroying 40 vessels. Despite escaping, Lo Hon-cho was later handed to authorities by the remaining pirates in exchange for clemency.
Lai Sho Sz’en alias Lai Choi San		1922-1939	Chinese	Operated in the South China Sea. Commanded 12 ships.
P’en Ch’ih Ch’iko		1936	Chinese
Ki Ming			Chinese	Possibly an alias for P’en Ch’ih Ch’iko
Huang P’ei-mei		1937-1950s	Chinese	Led 50,000 pirates.
Cheng Chui Ping (nicknamed "Sister Ping")		1970s-1990s	Chinese	Operated in the South China Sea smuggling thousands of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. and Europe. Was convicted in the U.S. and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Died in 2014.

In fiction

While most fictional and dramatic depictions of pirates have been male, some notable female pirates have been depicted.

Animation

• Emeraldas from the anime: "Space Pirate Captain Harlock", "Galaxy Express 999", and "Queen Emeraldas" by Leiji Matsumoto
• Nami, Nico Robin, Boa Hancock, Charlotte Linlin, and Jewelry Bonney, among others from the manga and anime series, One Piece.
• Revy from the manga and anime series Black Lagoon
• Space Pirate Sheila from Korean anime "Space Thunder Kids."
• Captain Marika Kato of the Bentenmaru from Bodacious Space Pirates.
• Captain Dola of Laputa - Castle in the Sky, by Ghibli Studios.

Comics

• Dragon Lady depicted in Milton Caniff's comic series Terry and the Pirates was inspired by Lai Choi San
• Janme Dark from Aoike Yasuko's "Sons of Eve" manga series.
• Blackboots from Mary Hanson-Roberts' graphic novel Here Comes A Candle.
• Marquise Spinneret Mindfang from the webcomic Homestuck.

Film and television

• Morgan Adams (played by Geena Davis) from the 1995 film Cutthroat Island.
• Nebula (Gina Torres) from the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
• Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films.
• Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris) from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films.
• Mistress Ching (Takayo Fischer) from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End film.
• Angelica (Penelope Cruz) from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides film.
• Elizabeth Bonny (Anna Friel) from SyFy Network's Neverland (miniseries).
• The "surprisingly curvaceous" pirate (voiced by Ashley Jensen) from the 2012 animation The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!.
• Anne Bonny (Clara Paget) in the pirate-themed TV series Black Sails.
• Anne of the Indies (Jean Peters) the amazing film by Jacques Tourneur, 1951!

Literature

Arthur Ransome's novel Missee Lee (1941), about a Chinese female pirate. The book, part of a series of children's books, is set in 1930s China. (dustjacket is shown)

• Bêlit from Robert E. Howard's Conan short-story "Queen of the Black Coast" and related media.
• Mary "Jacky" Faber, from the young adult novel, Bloody Jack, and its sequels.
• Art Blastside, a.k.a. Piratica, Little Goldie Girl, and several others from Tanith Lee's Piratica Series.
• Missee Lee, a Chinese woman pirate captain in Missee Lee by Arthur Ransome
• Ezri Delmastro (Ezrianne de la Mastron) and Zamira Drakasha from the second novel in the Gentleman Bastards Sequence Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch (author)
• Nancy Kington and Minerva Sharpe in Pirates by Celia Rees.
• The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate from Gideon Defoe's The Pirates! series of books.
• Emer from A.S. King's young adult novel The Dust of 100 Dogs.
• Peg Polkadot from Julia Donaldson's picture book 'The Troll'
• Fanny Campbell, from Fanny Campbell: Female Pirate Captain, by Maturin Murray Ballou
• Esmerelda from "The Price of Freedom", a book based on the young life of Captain Jack Sparrow from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.

Theatre

• Ruth from the Operetta Pirates of Penzance
• Charlotte Badger from Euan Rose's 2008 play Charlotte Badger - Buccaneer

Video games

• Elaine Marley in the Monkey Island series
• Faris in Final Fantasy V
• Isabela in the Dragon Age series
• Fina and Aika, among many others, in Skies of Arcadia
• Tetra / Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• Elizabeth Ramsey in Age of Empires III
• Seth Balmore in Lost Odyssey
• Risky Boots in the Shantae series
• Catalina Erantzo in Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
• Patty Fleur in the PlayStation 3 port of Tales of Vesperia
• Briggid in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
• Governor / Pirate Princess Olivia in Fantasy Life
• Anne Bonny and Mary Read in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Anne Bonny in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• Kika in Suikoden 4

Multiple media and other depictions

• Multiple fictional depictions of Anne Bonny and Mary Read
• Elena Dugan (Lady Galbraith) in The Seas of Fionnghuala

See also

• Piracy
• Pirate code
• List of pirates
• List of fictional pirates
• Gender and crime
• Feminist school of criminology

Further reading

• Cordingly, David. Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
• Driscoll, Sally (2009). Anne Bonny: "revenge". Great Neck Publishing.
• Druett, Joan (2000). She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea. Simon & Schuster.
• Lorimer, Sara (2002). Booty: Girl Pirates on the High Seas. Chronicle Books.
• Nelson, James L. The Only Life That Mattered (Also published as 'The Sweet Trade' under the pseudonym 'Elizabeth Barrett')
• Riley, Sandra. Sisters of the Sea
• Stanley, Jo. Bold in Her Breeches