Who Was the Real-Life Pirate Queen?

While pirates are often thought of as male, numerous women are still remembered as some of the greatest pirates of their time. But what about the ‘pirate queen’? In the world of pirating, there was no traditional royalty, and no actual “queen.” However, several leading women were given the title in allusion to their daredevil, swashbuckling exploits.

There was one prominent female pirate who is now often referred to as the pirate queen, and she even became the inspiration for a contemporary Broadway musical of the same name. Her name was Grace O’ Malley. Other contenders for the title were Ching Shih, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read. 

Grace O’Malley was born in Ireland in around 1530, and was the daughter of Eoghan Dubhdara O Maille. At the time England had claimed Ireland, with King Henry VIII being titled “Lord of Ireland” although the Irish people were mostly left alone to govern themselves. O’Malley lived on Belclare and Clare Island in family castles where she was well educated. Her family had always been seafaring and she was involved in their plundering and piracy activities.

In 1546 Grace married the heir to another clan, Donal an Chogaidh O Flaithbheartaigh, and they had three children, two sons and a daughter who favored her mother. However, England muscled their way into Irish politics, and Queen Elizabeth I appointed another person within the clan to be the chief instead of O’Malley’s husband. He was later killed in an ambush in 1564. Two years later, she married Risdeard an Iarainn Bourke, and had a son named Tibbott. Despite being raised in a time where women were commonly thought to be weak, she showed great skill in planning attacks and defending her home.

Remarkably, Grace met with Queen Elizabeth I in September 1593 in Greenwich. This was to save her young son Tibbott. Despite the dangers and her reputation for piracy, she managed to successfully negotiate Tibbott’s freedom and maintain her own. She died at the age of 73 in 1603. The Pirate Queen musical premiered April 5, 2007. It was based on the 1987 book by Morgan Llywelyn, Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas, which tells an autobiographical account of ‘O Malley’s extraordinary life.

China has a history of sea faring, and yes, even pirates. Zheng Yi Sao, was a former sex worker who lived from around 1775-1844. At the young age of 26 she married Zheng Yi in 1801. When her husband died, she took charge of an estimated fleet over 1,800 ships and 80,000 men in the South China Sea during the Qing dynasty, a larger force than some of the well-known pirates who sailed in the Atlantic and Caribbean such as Blackbeard, Black Bart, or Captain Kidd had managed. Laura Duncombe, author of Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas, (2017) states that “[Ching Shih] was absolutely, unquestionably the greatest pirate who ever lived.”

Unlike other pirates who struggled after the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s – 1730s), whether they were captured, killed, or lost everything, Ching Shih has a happier ending. She did end up surrendering, but got to keep her loot and lived out her days in comfortable freedom. This retirement was in 1810, and she died in her late sixties in 1844. In popular culture a character in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise by the name of Mistress Ching, played by Takayo Fischer, is thought to be based somewhat on Ching Shih.

What Happened to Anne Bonny and Mary Read?

Anne Bonny was one of the more famous and well-documented women pirates during the Gold Age of Piracy. Like many members of the general population during this time, especially women, records of her early life are scarce, although some believe she was born in Ireland. The only account of her life comes from the book, A General History of the Pyrates, (1724) by Charles Johnson, although his claims are considered dubious. What we do know is that she joined forces with Mary Read, to become a fearsome pirating duo. 

Born in England, Mary Read dressed as a boy at a young age. She used this to get employment at the age of 13, eventually joining the British military. She got married, then joined the Netherlands military after being widowed. Later, she joined a pirate ship disguised as male and joined the crew. Bonny and Read sailed a part of the Rackham (Calico Jack) crew. crew was captured October 22, 1720 by Captain Jonathan Barnet near Jamaica. They were brought to trial and sentenced to hang with the rest of the crew.

At the time women to be executed would be given stays if they were found to be pregnant, as babies were thought to be innocent of their mothers’ crimes. Both Bonny and Read stated they were pregnant, allowing them to remain in jail. Read died in April 1721, although there is no mention of a baby, while no one knows what eventually happened to Bonny.