5 of history's most notorious female pirates

At a time when legal systems and traditional expectations confined most women to household roles, very few could realistically acquire wealth or social authority without the approval of male relatives or marriage arrangements.

In certain coastal areas, however, contact with sailors, soldiers, and foreign traders introduced alternative paths for women who had no interest in domestic submission or who found themselves displaced by violence, death, or political disgrace.

To secure passage aboard ships, some women hid their identities with male clothing and assumed false names, which allowed them to pass as boys or young men among experienced crews.

Once accepted, they demonstrated steady discipline in daily tasks and fierce personal bravery that hardened into effective combat skill, qualities valued among pirates whose survival depended on trust and physical force.

At times, pirate codes included rules that offered women a share of plunder if they contributed to the crew’s efforts.

Importantly, several women came from noble or privileged backgrounds and only turned to piracy after authorities had seized their estates, executed their husbands, or branded them traitors.

English laws such as the 1698 Piracy Act had made such acts punishable by death, yet this threat did little to stop those already pushed to the margins.

In each case below, the decision to engage in piracy followed a sudden break in ordinary life, and the outcome established a reputation that endured for centuries.

During the final years of the 17th century, Anne Bonny was born in County Cork to William Cormac, a lawyer who had fathered her with a maid.

When the affair became public, the family moved to Charleston in the British colony of South Carolina, where her father rebuilt his fortune in trade and law.

Accounts from neighbours suggest that Anne displayed violent behaviour when she was young, and at one point she attacked a servant and later she seriously injured a man who insulted her.

Soon after she married James Bonny, a sailor and minor pirate, she left him for Calico Jack Rackham, a more successful captain based in the Bahamas.

To avoid expulsion from Rackham’s crew, she dressed as a man and fought under a male alias, though no confirmed name appears in contemporary records.

Her skill with pistols and sabres impressed those aboard, though she eventually revealed her identity to a select few.

Over time, her partnership with Mary Read, another disguised female pirate, became legendary, especially after their defiant last stand against British forces.

Following their capture in 1720, Bonny and Read stood trial alongside the rest of Rackham’s crew and received death sentences.

However, since both women claimed pregnancy, this delayed their executions under colonial law.

Read died shortly afterwards in prison, likely from illness, while Bonny’s fate is still uncertain, though some researchers have suggested that her wealthy father may have arranged her release and return to civilian life under a new name.

Parish records from Charles Town mention a woman of the same name who died in 1782, though no conclusive link to the pirate has been established.

Some time during the late 17th century, Mary Read was born in England to a widow who had already lost a legitimate son.

To keep financial support from her mother-in-law, Mary’s mother disguised her as the dead boy and raised her in secrecy.

As she matured, Mary kept up the pretence, which allowed her to secure work aboard ships and eventually join the army during the War of the Spanish Succession, possibly in a Dutch or English regiment, as sources differ on which army she joined.

After she revealed her identity to a fellow soldier and married him, she attempted to live quietly in Flanders, yet money problems and her husband’s death forced her back to sea.

When she travelled to the West Indies, her ship fell to pirates, and she accepted an invitation to join them.

Eventually, she met Anne Bonny aboard Calico Jack’s vessel and quickly earned a reputation for discipline and violence.

She once shot a fellow pirate who refused to fight, and this proved her willingness to uphold the ship’s code.

By the time British forces boarded Rackham’s ship, Read and Bonny remained among the only crew members to resist capture.

Both were sentenced to hang, though Read’s pregnancy temporarily delayed the punishment, and as she had stayed in a Jamaican prison for months, she died there, likely of a fever made worse by the filthy conditions and lack of medical care common in colonial jails.

Burial records from St. Catherine’s Church in Jamaica dated April 1721 appear to confirm her death.

During the early 1800s in southern China, a former sex worker named Shi Yang rose to become the commander of the Red Flag Fleet, a pirate organisation that dominated the South China Sea.

After officials captured her in 1801, Zheng Yi, who was a veteran pirate, married her, and she quickly proved herself capable of managing finances and enforcing strict crew discipline as she directed key naval operations.

When Zheng Yi died in 1807, she worked her way into his position and took control of the fleet by marrying his adopted heir and securing loyalty from key captains.

Within a few short years, Ching Shih commanded a fleet that, according to Qing naval reports, included over 600 ships and an estimated 70,000 men, though modern historians suggest these numbers may have been exaggerated.

She issued rules that banned theft from the common stores and rape, and that ordered death sentences for disobedience.

Her approach allowed her to maintain order among crews from different backgrounds, and her ability to negotiate with regional warlords and foreign traders expanded her influence across Guangdong’s coastal trade networks.

After several failed attempts to destroy her fleet, the Qing government offered her a full pardon in 1810, and since she accepted on good terms, this allowed her to keep her fortune and secure posts for her officers.

The official sent to negotiate, Bai Ling, pardoned over 17,000 pirates as part of the deal.

After she left piracy, she reportedly opened a gambling house and lived in comfort until her death in 1844, though this detail remains uncertain.

Her success in sustaining and commanding such a massive enterprise appears to have had no equal among other pirates in recorded history.

Amid the sixteenth-century conflicts between Irish clans and English expansion, Grace O’Malley became a powerful leader from the west coast of Ireland.

She was born around 1530 into the O’Malley clan of Mayo, and she grew up on ships and learned to navigate coastal waters and negotiate sea trade as she practised warfare by sailing with her father.

Because she refused to allow gender to restrict her access to power, she cut her hair and wore men’s clothing to join crews more easily.

Her first marriage to Donal O’Flaherty spread her influence into new waters, and after his death, she returned to her childhood lands and operated independently.

Over the following decades, she attacked merchant ships, charged tolls on foreign vessels, and built a reputation among both allies and enemies as a pirate queen.

Her conflict with English administrators grew worse in the 1580s when they imprisoned her sons and seized her property.

The English Governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, recorded her actions in his reports and planned to crush her influence.

Eventually, in 1593, she sailed to London to plead her case before Queen Elizabeth I, and the two women are said to have spoken in Latin during a private audience, during which O’Malley demanded the release of her family and the return of her lands.

The Queen agreed to several requests, likely viewing O’Malley as a useful force to calm western Ireland.

After returning home, she resumed control of her fleet and lived into old age, dying sometime after 1603.

During the brutal War of the Breton Succession, Jeanne de Clisson was a noblewoman from Brittany who lost her husband, Olivier, when the French king accused him of treason and ordered his execution without trial.

The event took place at Les Halles in Paris in 1343, which destroyed her family’s reputation and forced her into financial ruin.

However, rather than accept defeat, she vowed revenge and sold her remaining lands to fund a private fleet of warships.

Her ships were painted black and equipped with red sails and became known as the “Black Fleet,” which patrolled the English Channel for over a decade.

Jeanne and her crews targeted French vessels, looted cargoes, and executed captured nobles, reportedly by beheading them on deck.

She operated with the support of King Edward III of England, who welcomed her attacks on French supply lines during the Hundred Years' War and supplied her fleet.

After years of successful raids, Jeanne eventually left piracy, married an English nobleman, and lived out her remaining years in a quiet life away from the wars.

By the time of her death around 1359, her reputation as a pirate avenger had spread widely across Western Europe, and her story continued to appear in chronicles, ballads, and political pamphlets for generations.