Famous Pirate Girls. The most famous pirates

Notable female pirates

It is hard to imagine female fingers clutching a boarding ax instead of a fan or a ladle, but the history of piracy has preserved many names of charming women who, no worse than men, robbed the seas under the black banner of the Jolly Roger.

Alvilda - The Pirate Queen

One of the most famous female pirates is Alvilda, who robbed the waters of Scandinavia in the early Middle Ages. Her name is often found in popular books on the history of piracy. According to legend, this beautiful princess Alvilda, who lived around 800, the daughter of the Gothic king (or the king from the island of Gotland), decided to become a “marine Amazon” in order to avoid a marriage imposed on her by Alf, the son of a powerful Danish king.

The princess took with her all her servants, bought a ship and took up sea robbery. It was a real ship with Amazons, because there were no men on board at all, and only women went to board other people's ships. She has become the number one "star" among the sea robbers. For a long period, pirates successfully robbed off the coast of Denmark, capturing merchant ships.

Since the dashing raids of Alvilda posed a serious threat to merchant shipping and the inhabitants of the coastal regions of Denmark, Prince Alf himself set off in pursuit of her, not realizing that the desired Alvilda was the object of his persecution. Deciding to destroy the pirates, he found Alvilda's ship and attacked it. The Danes outnumbered the pirates and easily captured the ship. Having killed most of the sea robbers, Alf entered into a duel with their leader and forced him to surrender.

How surprised the prince of Denmark was when the pirate leader took off his helmet from his head and appeared before him in the guise of a young beauty, whom he dreamed of marrying. Alvilda appreciated the perseverance of the heir to the Danish crown and his ability to brandish a sword. The wedding was played right there, on board a pirate ship. The prince swore to the princess to love her to the grave, and she solemnly promised him never again to go to sea without him.

Is the story told true?

The researchers found that for the first time the legend of Alvilda was told to readers by the monk Saxon Grammatik (1140 - c. 1208) in his famous work “The Acts of the Danes”. He drew it either from the ancient Scandinavian sagas, or from the myths about the Amazons.

Alvilde's successor was the French Countess Jeanne de Belleville-Cpassin

The following story is more like the truth, it is confirmed by historical chronicles. We will talk about a charming aristocrat from Brittany, perhaps it was she who was one of the first among women to take up a pirate craft. Jeanne de Belleville, who was famous for her beauty and intelligence, was forced to become a pirate by a thirst for revenge.

During the Hundred Years' War, her husband, the noble lord Maurice de Bellevoul, was slandered, accused of treason and in 1430. executed, Jeanne was then 29 years old. When Jeanne de Belleville was returned to the body of her husband, she, along with her sons (the youngest was seven, and the eldest - 14) vowed to take revenge on the treacherous French king.

Having sold all the estates, Jeanne acquired three brigantines, staffed a team, put detachments of her vassals on ships and set off for the English Channel and Pas de Calais. Jeanne, having received a letter of marque from the English king - permission to attack the ships of France and her allies, called her ships the "Vengeance Fleet" and began her war at sea.

For four years, the countess' squadron cruised the straits, mercilessly sinking and burning all ships of the French flag. In addition to sea robbery, her flying detachments landed on the shore and attacked the castles and estates of those whom the countess considered guilty of her husband's death. Jeanne shipped all her booty to England. In France, she was nicknamed the Clisson Lioness, and Philip VI ordered: “Catch the witch alive or dead!

Several times her ships managed to elude the French fleet, but such luck could not last forever. One day, the Clisson Lioness flotilla was surrounded. When Jeanne had already lost two ships, she left the flagship with her sons and escaped with several sailors in a small boat.

It is known that Jeanne was distinguished by fearlessness, perhaps she was persuaded to flee by her comrades in arms, remaining on the surrounded ship, and their main argument was that Jeanne, captured or dead, would deliver great pleasure French king, but she did not want this at all.

Leaving the ship in a hurry, the fugitives did not take with them either water or provisions, six days later Jeanne's youngest son died, then several sailors died. The survivors were carried away by the current to the French coast in the region of Brittany. Jeanne de Belleville was lucky, she managed to find shelter in the possessions of Jean de Montfort, a friend of her executed husband.

The death of her son, the death of her fleet and friends forced the thirst for revenge to subside, and soon the corsair woman accepted the courtship of the nobleman Gauthier de Bentley and married him. Time passed and she again began to appear in public, the fate of her eldest son also turned out well - he became constable, the highest dignitary of France.

A hundred years after Jeanne, another aristocratic flotilla, the mother of the British lord John Killigre, appeared in the area of ​​​​her pirate activities, who led the pirates until her death in 1550. Her exploits were continued by Lady Elizabeth Killigow, the wife of her son.

The leader of the pirates had a wide network of informants on the shore who supplied her with information about the nature of the cargo on the ships and their weapons. So she would have been pirating, but one day, when her thugs attacked the Spanish galleon, its captain managed to hide in a secret room on the ship and reveal her secret. The amazed Spaniard saw through a hole in the panel that a charming woman was in command of the pirates destroying his crew.

At dusk, he managed to quietly leave the ship and swim to the shore. In the morning he hurried to the governor of Falmouth, and in his house he saw a lovely young woman, whom, of course, he recognized. The prudent Spaniard did not reveal himself in any way, having greeted the governor, he quickly bowed and went straight to London. There, his message caused a real shock to the king, who ordered an immediate investigation.

The investigation revealed that Elizabeth Killigrew was the daughter of famous pirate Philip Wolverston. From her father, she not only learned to master weapons perfectly, but also went through a real school of robbery raids. Her husband, the governor of Falmouth, was aware of his wife's hobby and did not oppose it, but on the contrary, supported her activities. The wife's hobby brought an excellent income.

When it smelled of fried, the Killigrews decided to flee with the loot on one of the pirate ships, but some “well-wisher” gave out a couple, and they were captured. Lord Killigrew was sentenced to death and his wife to life imprisonment.

Mary Blood, girlfriend of the famous filibuster Edward Teach, nicknamed "Blackbeard", is a beautiful, very tall (more than 1 m 90 cm) Irish woman. When she was heading to America, the ship on which she sailed was captured by Edward Teach. He was so struck by the beauty and growth of the girl that he immediately decided to marry her. Mary had no choice but to agree, because the pirates killed all the other passengers.

As a wedding present, Mary received a pirate ship along with its crew. She quickly got used to the sea robbers and began to take part in attacks on ships herself. Mary was madly in love with jewelry and especially diamonds, so she was nicknamed Diamond Mary. Pirate craft helped regularly replenish her collection of jewelry. However, passion for soulless stones won love.

In 1729 Mary's pirates captured a Spanish ship. When the prisoners were lined up on deck, she made eye contact with one of the tall Spaniards and disappeared. Mary fell in love with the handsome prisoner and soon fled with him to Peru. Tich made a lot of efforts to find and punish the traitor, but he never managed to find the couple that eluded him.

True or myth?

And at the end of this thread

I bring to your attention an article by historian Andrey Volkov about women pirates "Truth or Fiction".
“It should be noted that a number of researchers are very wary of the descriptions of the “exploits” of ladies under the black flag. Some believe that women have never been outstanding pirates and entered the history of sea robbery only because of the “egregious” fact of their intrusion into a purely male occupation, others speak of numerous exaggerations and distortions of facts in their biographies.

There are even pirates who are considered fictional ... For example, about the English pirate Maria Lindsay, as well as about her lover, the pirate Eric Cobham, no mention was found in the documents of the early 18th century, when, according to various publications, they did their atrocities. And this couple is described very colorfully. Maria Lindsay looks like a real pathological sadist: she chopped off the hands of the captives, and then pushed them overboard ... She also liked to use living people as a target for shooting exercises, and once poisoned the entire crew of a captured ship.

Together with their lover, they successfully completed their pirate "career", and bought a huge estate in France with the money they stole. And here, mind you, is a very curious ending to this whole story: unable to withstand the betrayals of her lover, exhausted from remorse for the crimes committed, Maria committed suicide by taking poison, and to be sure, she also threw herself off a cliff ... Well, right finished script for a box office film.

However, there is absolutely no reason to doubt the reality of female pirates, they really were. And the very possibility of a woman's active participation in the pirate craft is at least the story of the legendary Madame Wong, whose pirates rampaged in the eastern seas in the twentieth century. She organized a whole pirate empire, according to various estimates, numbering from three to eight thousand people. Its fleet, according to the Japanese police, in the early 60s was 150 ships and boats.

Despite all attempts to catch Madame, neither Interpol nor the police of several countries managed to do this. According to some sources, Madame Wong blew herself up in the cave where her treasures were hidden, according to others, having faked her death, she simply retired.

For most people, the word "pirate" is associated with the image of a bearded sea robber or a one-legged old man and such names as Edward Teach, Arouge Barbarossa and Calico Jack. However, among those who attacked ships and merchant ships, there were not only men, but also women, even more merciless, courageous and fearless. This article will introduce you to the nine legendary robbers of the seven seas. 1. Ann Bonnie Ann Cormac (her maiden name) was born in a small Irish town in 1698. This red-haired beauty with a wild temper...

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Everything from the Internet))) At a sea or pirate birthday party for the little ones, a simple game “Water-land” will be fun: a circle-island is drawn on the floor, inside it is land, outside is water. The children stand inside the circle on land, and then follow the commands of the leader, saying either “Water!”, Then “Land!”. At the same time, children jump out of the circle, then jump again. The host can constantly confuse them by repeating the same command.

Once upon a time, the pirates had a belief that a woman on a ship was bad luck, but this did not stop several ladies from joining the pirates and taking control of the ship and its crew in their own hands. Read on for the criminal careers of the five most ferocious female sailors in history.

1. Cheng Ai Xiao

One of the most famous pirates in history began her career in a Chinese brothel. Cheng Ai Xiao, or "Cheng's wife", was a former member of an ancient profession who married a well-known corsair named Cheng in 1801. The couple soon commanded one of the most formidable pirate armies in China. It numbered about 50 thousand people, several hundred ships and preyed on fishing boats and coastal villages in southern China, while feeling complete impunity.

After her husband's death in 1807, Lady Cheng cleared her way to power and partnered with her trusted lieutenant and lover, Chang Pao. Over the next few years, she worked her way to Southeast Asia and assembled a fleet that could compete with many countries. She also wrote a strict code of conduct for her pirates. For the rape of captured women, pirates were beheaded, and deserters were cut off their ears. Lady Cheng's bloody rule made her the number one enemy of the Chinese government, and in 1810 even the British and Portuguese navies were brought in to bring her to justice. Lady Cheng agreed to leave her fleet in exchange for all the riches she had looted. Thus, she "retired" and became one of the most successful pirates in history, and ran a gambling house for the rest of her life. Cheng died in 1844 at the age of 69.

2. Ann Bonnie

The notorious pirate Anne Bonnie was the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Irish lawyer. In an attempt to hide the girl's dubious origins, her father dressed her in boys' clothes and introduced her to everyone as a clerk in his office. Anne later moved to America, where she married a sailor in 1718. Together with her husband, Ann went to the island of New Providence, which at that time was teeming with pirates. It was there that she fell "under the spell" of the famous pirate Jack Rackham, who cruised between the countries of the Caribbean. For him, she left her husband.

Bonnie has always been known for her fierce manly nature. According to one legend, she almost beat a man to death who tried to show himself in charge. She also very quickly brought to everyone that she could drink rum on a par with men and own pistols no worse than her lover. A little later, she befriended another female pirate, Mary Read, and together they played a leading role in a whole boom of raids against small fishing boats and merchant schooners that took place in the summer and autumn of 1720. However, Bonnie's stay on the high seas was very short. Already in October of the same year, Jack Rackham's ship was captured by a gang of pirate hunters. Rackham and several other men were executed, but Bonnie and Reid managed to escape the noose as it was revealed they were both pregnant.

3. Mary Read

Born in England in the late 17th century, Mary Read spent much of her youth under the guise of her late half-brother. In this way, her impoverished mother could swindle money from the boy's grandmother. Hoping to quench her thirst for adventure, the girl took on the name of Mark Reed, and began to perform typical male work: first she served as a soldier, and later she was hired as a sailor on a merchant ship. Reed became a pirate at the end of 1710. The ship where Mary served was attacked by pirates, and she decided to join their ranks. She later moved to the Rackham team, where she befriended Ann Bonnie.

As part of Jack's team, she sailed for only a few months, but managed to earn herself a formidable reputation. One of the most famous episodes occurred in October 1720, when Mary fought like a banshee during an attack by hunters on pirates. She is said to have yelled at the men who cowered below deck, "If there are men among you that you should be, then come out and fight." Despite Reed's heroism, she and the rest of the team were captured and charged with piracy. Reed escaped the gallows as she was pregnant, but she later came down with a fever and died in prison.

4. Grace O'Malley

At a time when most women were denied education and forced to stay at home, the pirate Grace O'Malley ran a fleet of 20 ships that opposed the power of the British Monarchy. For her habit of wearing short hair Grace was also nicknamed "bald". O "Malley was the daughter of a powerful clan that ruled the west coast of Ireland. Taking the reins in the 1560s, she continued the family tradition of piracy, robbing Spanish and English ships and attacking rival leaders. Her escapades were legendary. According to one of the legends, she led a naval battle the day after she gave birth, but these same escapades became the ire of the authorities: in 1574 she had to repel the siege of Rockfleet Castle, and later she spent 18 months behind bars after she was captured during one of raids.
Immediately after the release of O'Malley, she resumed her looting, but in the early 1590s new problems appeared, as the British authorities detained her fleet. In the absence of support from O'Malley, who was already 63 years old, she turned directly to Queen Elizabeth I for help During a famous audience in London, Grace appeared before the Queen in the form of a tired and broken old woman and asked to return the ships and release one of her sons, and also allow her to retire in peace. This idea worked, but only O "Malley did not fulfill her part of the deal. Records show that she continued to engage in piracy with her sons until her death in 1603.

5. Rachel Wall

The biography of Rachel Wall is replete with myths and legends. But if any of these stories are true, then she was the first American woman to try her hand at piracy. The story goes that Wall was originally from Pennsylvania. As a teenager, she ran away from home and married a fisherman named George Wall. The couple settled in Boston and tried to make a living, but a constant lack of money forced them to turn to a life of crime. In 1781, the Wall family bought a small boat and, teaming up with several impoverished sailors, began their "hunt" off the coast of New England. Their strategy was as ingenious as it was brutal. Whenever there was a storm in the region, the pirates outfitted their boat as if it had been hit by the elements. Pretty Rachel stood on the deck and begged the ships passing by for help. When the unsuspecting rescuers got close enough, they were robbed and killed.
Wall's "Siren's Song" lured dozens of ships to certain death, but her luck turned against her in 1782, when her husband died during a storm, and the boat was indeed destroyed. She continued to engage in theft already on land, but in 1789 she was arrested for assaulting a woman from Boston. While in prison, she wrote a confession of "stealing, lying, disobedience to parents, and almost every sin that a person can commit except murder." Unfortunately for Wall, her "confession" was not enough to convince the authorities. Wall was the last woman to be executed in Massachusetts. On October 8, she was hanged in Boston.

A little over 100 years have passed since women first seriously declared their equality with men: the desire to do men's work, wear trousers, smoke and get married when they themselves want it. Until the middle of the 18th century, there was no talk of any equality. The mistress of the hearth, maid, secretary, saleswoman and governess - this is a small list of professions in which women could be involved.

The exception, perhaps, was the ladies of the Wild West, and even then only because the conditions of life did not endure ceremonies. The rest of the representatives of the weaker sex led the life that was imposed on them by men. But not all of them willingly put up with the fate prepared for them.

The girl became a pirate

There are legends in the history of seafaring and navigation that women, dressed in men's clothes, went to sea and even became captains of pirate ships.

The legend about Alvilde- a girl from Scandinavia, who opposed the will of her kind, prophesying her a profitable marriage. She went to sea, where she became a pirate. Alvilda, who lived more than a thousand years ago, is considered the first girl who ventured on a sea voyage. She endured all the hardships of the journey along with the men, for which she was elevated to the rank of captain of the ship.

Famous female pirates

A few centuries later, a Frenchwoman repeated the feat of a Scandinavian woman and went to sea already as the commander of a squadron of three ships. The reason for such a decisive step was the execution by the French king of her husband, who was a supporter of one of the contenders for the throne. The disappointed and heartbroken woman, instead of mourning her husband and moving on, went with her two children to England.

French Jeanne de Belleville

There, having got an appointment with the monarch, she asked him for permission to stand at the head of a squadron of corsair ships that fought the French. Since the action took place during the Hundred Years War, the English king did not refuse the request and indeed appointed the woman as the captain of the squadron. Jeanne fulfilled her obligation to the king. She not only more than avenged her husband's death, but also became a real threat to any ship that tried to enter the English Channel under the French flag.

Nicknames for female pirates

Three centuries ago, at the end of the 17th century, another woman earned the fame of a bloodthirsty pirate - Mary Read, better known as Bloody Mary. This girl, at the age of 15, ran away as a sailor on a warship. From there she got into an infantry regiment, and only after becoming a dragoon was she forced to reveal her gender, falling in love and marrying her comrade. The marriage, which did not last long, ended with the death of her husband in one of the skirmishes.

Mary, however, did not despair, but remembered her love for the sea and went on a trip on a privateer ship. Soon Mary's ship was in the hands of pirates, led by another woman named Ann Bonnie, who was just as young and courageous. Pirates, oddly enough, found mutual language and began to swim together. Despite the fact that they were female, their cruelty knew no bounds. Even the most notorious villains and those froze at the mention of names Mary Reid and Ann Bonnie. But fate, so cruel to many pirates, did not pass these women. Mary died in childbirth, and nothing is known about Ann's history. Most likely, she shared the fate of her team, hanged for piracy.

Mary Read and Ann Bonnie

It should be noted that, despite the above, the likelihood of a woman being included in a pirate ship was low. Especially when she reveals her true gender. The well-known prejudices about the presence of a woman on a ship existed among sailors, regardless of the legality of their activities.

Nowadays, the situation has changed dramatically and the crews of many ships in the world also include women. They serve not only in the surface, but also in the submarine fleet, performing their duties no worse than men.

My grandmother smokes a pipe in her Khrushchev room,
My grandmother smokes a pipe and sees the waves of the seas through the smoke.
All the pirates in the world are afraid of her and are rightfully proud of her.
Because grandma robs and burns their frigates,
But spares the elderly and children!
Sukachev Garik and the Untouchables

M ama is a pirate ... what could be more authoritative for a child, and it helps to keep her husband within limits.
For most people, the word "pirate" is associated with the image of a bearded sea robber with one leg and a boarded up eye. However, among the successful famous pirates, there were not only men, but also women. This post is about some of them.


Listen or download My grandmother smokes a pipe for free on Prostopleer

Scandinavian pirate princess Alvilda

One of the first pirates is Alvilda, who robbed in the waters of Scandinavia in the early Middle Ages. According to legend, this medieval princess, the daughter of a Gothic king (or a king from the island of Gotland), decided to become a "marine Amazon" in order to evade a marriage forced on her by Alf, the son of a powerful Danish king.

Having gone on a pirate voyage with a team of young women dressed in men's clothes, she became the number one "star" among the sea robbers. Since the dashing raids of Alvilda posed a serious threat to merchant shipping and the inhabitants of the coastal regions of Denmark, Prince Alf himself set off in pursuit of her, not realizing that the desired Alvilda was the object of his persecution.

Having killed most of the sea robbers, he entered into a duel with their leader and forced him to surrender. How surprised the prince of Denmark was when the pirate leader took off his helmet and appeared before him in the guise of a young beauty, whom he dreamed of marrying! Alvilda appreciated the perseverance of the heir to the Danish crown and his ability to brandish a sword. The wedding was played right there, on board a pirate ship. The prince swore to the princess to love her to the grave, and she solemnly promised him never again to go to sea without him.

Everyone is dead... Hallelujah! Is the story told true? The researchers found that for the first time the tale of Alvilda was told to readers by the monk Saxo Grammatik (1140 - c. 1208) in his famous work “The Acts of the Danes”. Most likely he learned about it from the ancient Scandinavian sagas.

Jeanne de Belleville

The Breton noblewoman Jeanne de Belleville, who was married to the knight de Clisson, became a pirate not out of a love of adventure and wealth, but out of a desire for revenge.

In the period 1337-1453, with several interruptions, there was a war between England and France, which went down in history as Hundred Years War. The husband of Jeanne de Belleville was accused of treason.
King Philip II of France ordered his arrest, and without any evidence or trial, on August 2, 1943, he was handed over to the executioner. Known for her beauty, charm and hospitality, the widow Jeanne de Belleville-Clison vowed cruel revenge. She sold her property and bought three fast ships. According to another version, she went to England, achieved an audience with King Edward and, thanks to her beauty, received three fast ships from the monarch for corsair operations against France.

She commanded one ship herself, the others - her two sons. The small fleet, dubbed the "Vengeance Fleet in the English Channel", became the "scourge of God" in French coastal waters. Pirates mercilessly sent French ships to the bottom, devastating coastal areas. They say that everyone who had to cross the English Channel on a French ship, first of all, wrote a will.

For several years, the squadron robbed French merchant ships, often even attacking warships. Zhanna participated in battles, excellently owned both a saber and a boarding ax. As a rule, she ordered the crew of the captured ship to be completely destroyed. Not surprisingly, Philip VI soon gave the order to "catch the witch dead or alive."

And once the French managed to surround the pirate ships. Seeing that the forces were unequal, Jeanne showed real deceit - with several sailors she launched a longboat and, together with her sons and a dozen rowers, left the battlefield, leaving her comrades-in-arms.

However, fate cruelly repaid her for betrayal. For ten days, the fugitives wandered the sea - after all, they did not have navigational instruments. Several people died of thirst (among them - the youngest son of Jeanne). On the eleventh day, the surviving pirates reached the coast of France. There they were sheltered by a friend of the executed de Belleville.
After that, Jeanne de Belleville, who is considered the first female pirate, left her bloody craft, remarried. Popular rumor said: she began to embroider with beads, got a lot of seals and settled down. This is what the life-giving cross does, which means a successful marriage ...

Leat kiligra

About two hundred years after Jeanne de Belleville, a new female pirate appeared in the English Channel: Lady Kiligru. This lady led double life: In society, she is the respected wife of the governor, Lord John Kiligru, in the port city of Falmet, and at the same time secretly commands pirate ships that attacked merchant ships mainly in Falmet Bay. Lady Kiligru's tactics proved successful for a long time, as she never left living witnesses.

One day a heavily loaded Spanish ship entered the bay. Before the captain and crew could recover, the pirates attacked and captured him. The captain managed to hide and with great surprise discovered that the pirates were commanded by a young and very beautiful woman, which in cruelty could compete with men. The Spanish captain made it ashore and quickly headed for the city of Falmet to inform the royal governor of the attack. To his new surprise, he saw a pirate sitting next to the governor, Lord Kiligru. Lord Kiligru controlled two fortresses, the task of which was to ensure the unhindered navigation of ships in the bay. The captain said nothing about what had happened, and immediately left for London. By order of the king, an investigation began, which brought unexpected results.

It turned out that Lady Kiligru carried violent pirate blood, as she was the daughter of the famous pirate Philip Wolversten from Sofolk, and as a girl she participated in pirate attacks. Thanks to her marriage to the lord, she gained a position in society, and at the same time created a large pirate company that operated not only in the English Channel, but also in neighboring waters. During the process, many mysterious cases of the disappearance of merchant ships were revealed, which until now were attributed to "supernatural forces".

Lord Kiligru was condemned to death and executed. His wife also received a death sentence, but later the king commuted it to life imprisonment.

Mary Ann Blyde

Irish Mary was exceptionally tall for her time - 190 cm and unearthly beauty. She became a pirate quite by accident, but she devoted herself entirely to this dangerous activity. One day she was on a ship to America and was captured by the most famous sea pirate in history - Eduard Ticchu, nicknamed Blackbeard. Thanks to her good upbringing, Mary Ann Blyde stayed with the kidnapper. Soon she proved herself to be an excellent student of Ticci and received her ship. Her passion was jewelry and gems. She and Ticch are said to have amassed $70 million worth of treasure, and together they buried it somewhere on the shores of North Carolina. Treasures have not been discovered so far.

All pirates, both men and women who did not die in battle, end their lives ingloriously: they are usually condemned to death penalty or life imprisonment. Mary Ann, however, had a different fate. In 1729, during an attack on a Spanish ship, she fell in love with a young man who was on that ship. The young man agreed to marry her, but on the condition that she abandon her occupation. Together they run away to Peru, and there their traces are lost...

Ann Bonnie

Ann Cormac (her maiden name) was born in a small Irish town in 1698. This red-haired beauty with an exuberant temperament became an icon of the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730s) after she secretly threw in her lot with a simple sailor named James Bonney. Ann's father, a respected person, having learned about his daughter's marriage, disowned her, after which she and her newly-made husband were forced to leave for the Bahamas, which at that time were called the Pirate Republic, a place where loafers and idlers lived. Bonnie's happy family life did not last long.

After her divorce from her husband, Ann met the pirate Jack Rackham, who became her lover. Together with him, she went to the open sea on the ship "Revenge" to rob merchant ships. In October 1720, members of Rackham's crew, including Anne and her bosom friend Mary Read, were taken prisoner by the British. Bonnie blamed her lover for everything. On the last date in prison, she told him the following: "It's a pity to see you here, but if you fought like a man, you wouldn't be hanged like a dog."

Rackham was executed. Bonnie's pregnancy allowed her to get a reprieve from her death sentence. However, the fact that it was ever put into action is nowhere in the historical records. Rumor has it that Anne's influential father paid a huge amount of money to have his unlucky daughter released.

Mary Reid

Mary Read was born in London in 1685. Since childhood, by the will of fate, she was forced to portray a boy. Her mother, the widow of a sea captain, dressed an illegitimate girl in the clothes of an early deceased son in order to swindle money from a wealthy mother-in-law who did not know about her grandson's death. Pretending to be a man in the Renaissance was easy, because all men's fashion was very similar to women's (long wigs, big hats, puffy outfits, boots), which Mary managed to do.

At the age of 15, Mary was enlisted in the British army under the name Mark Read. During her service, she fell in love with a Flemish soldier. Their happiness was short-lived. He died unexpectedly, and Mary, dressed again in a man's dress, went on a ship to the West Indies. On the way, the ship was captured by pirates. Reid decided to stay with them.

In 1720, Mary joined the crew of Jack Rackham's ship The Revenge. At first, only Bonnie and her lover knew that she was a woman, who often flirted with "Mark", making Ann wildly jealous. A couple of months later, the whole team knew about Reed's secret.

After the ship "Vengeance" was captured by pirate hunter Captain Jonathan Barnet, Mary, like Ann, managed to get her death sentence suspended due to pregnancy. But fate still overtook her. She died in her prison cell on April 28, 1721 from puerperal fever. What happened to her child is unknown. Some suspect that he died during childbirth.

Sadie Goat

Sadie Farrell, a 19th-century American pirate, got her rare nickname because of the strange way her crimes were committed. On the streets of New York City, Sadie gained a reputation as a merciless mugger who attacked her victims by headbutting them hard. Sadie is said to have been kicked out of Manhattan after she got into a fight with a fellow criminal, Gallus Meg, which resulted in her losing part of her ear.

In the spring of 1869, Sadie joined the Charles Street gang and became its leader after stealing a moored sloop on a bet. Farrell and her new team under the black flag with the Jolly Roger sailed along the Hudson and Harlem rivers, along the way robbing the farm estates and mansions of the rich, located along the banks, and sometimes kidnapping people for ransom.

By the end of the summer, such a fishery became too risky, as farmers began to defend their holdings, firing at the approaching sloop without warning. Sadie Farrell was forced to return to Manhattan and make amends with Gallus Meg. She returned a piece of her ear, which she kept for posterity in a jar with a special solution. Sadie, since then known as the "Queen of the Port", placed him in a locket, which she did not part with for the rest of her life.

Illyrian queen Teuta

After Teuta's husband, the Illyrian king Agron, died in 231 BC, she took over the reins of government, since her stepson Pinnes was then too young. In the first four years of her reign over the Ardiei tribe, who lived on the territory of the modern Balkan Peninsula, Teuta encouraged piracy as a means of fighting against the powerful neighbors of Illyria. The Adriatic sea robbers not only robbed Roman merchant ships, but also helped the queen recapture a number of settlements, including Dyrrhachium and Phoenicia. Over time, they expanded their influence into the Ionian Sea, terrorizing the trade routes of Greece and Italy.

In 229 BC, the Romans sent ambassadors to Teuta, who expressed dissatisfaction with the scope of the Adriatic pirates and urged her to influence her subjects. The queen derisively reacted to their requests, stating that piracy, according to Illyrian ideas, is a legitimate trade. How the Roman ambassadors reacted to this is unknown, but apparently not very politely, since after meeting with Teuta one of them was killed and the other was sent to prison. This was the reason for the start of the war between Rome and Illyria, which lasted two years. Teuta was forced to admit defeat and make peace on extremely unfavorable terms. Ardiei pledged to pay an annual burdensome tribute to Rome.

Teuta continued to oppose Roman rule, for which she lost her throne. There is no information about her further fate in history.

Jacotta Delaye

Jacotta Delaye was born in the 17th century to a Frenchman and a Haitian mother. Her mother died in childbirth. After Jacotta's father was killed, she was left alone with her younger brother, who suffered from mental retardation. This forced the red-haired girl to take up piracy.

In the 1660s, Jacotta had to fake his own death in order to escape the persecution of government troops. She lived for several years male name. When everything calmed down, Jacotta returned to her previous activities, taking the nickname "Red-haired, returned from the other world."

Breton lioness

Jeanne de Clisson was the wife of the wealthy nobleman Olivier III de Clisson. They lived happily, raised five children, but when the war broke out between England and France, her husband was accused of treason and executed by beheading. Jeanne vowed revenge on King Philip VI of France.

The widow de Clisson sold all her lands in order to buy three warships, which she dubbed the Black Fleet. Their crew consisted of merciless and cruel corsairs. Between 1343 and 1356, they attacked the ships of the French king sailing across the English Channel, killed crew members and beheaded with an ax all the aristocrats who had the misfortune to be on board.

Jeanne de Clisson hunted for sea robbery for 13 years, after which she settled in England and married Sir Walter Bentley, a lieutenant in the army of the English king Edward III. She later returned to France, where she died in 1359.

Anne Dieu-le-Veu

Frenchwoman Anne Dieu-le-Veu, whose surname translates as "God wants it", had a stubborn and strong character. She arrived on the island of Tortuga in the Caribbean in the late 60s or early 70s of the 17th century. Here she twice became a mother and a widow. Ironically, Ann's third husband was the man who killed her second husband. Dieu-le-Veu challenged Lawrence de Graaf to a duel to avenge the death of her late lover. The Dutch pirate was so mesmerized by Ann's courage that he refused to shoot himself and offered her his hand and heart. On July 26, 1693, they got married and had two children.

After her marriage, Dieu-le-Veu went to the open sea with her new husband. Most of his crew members believed that the presence of a woman on the ship meant bad luck. The lovers themselves laughed at this superstition. How their love story ended, no one knows for sure.

According to one version, Anne Dieu-le-Veu became the captain of de Graaff's ship after he was killed in a cannonball explosion. Some historians suggest that the couple fled to Mississippi in 1698, where they may have continued to engage in piracy.

Saida Al-Hurra

A contemporary and ally of the Turkish corsair Barbarossa, Saida al-Hurra became the last queen of Tetouan (Morocco); she inherited power after the death of her husband in 1515. Her real name is unknown. “Saida Al-Hurra” into Russian can be roughly translated as “noble lady, free and independent; a woman overlord who does not recognize any power over herself.

Saida al-Hurra ruled Tetouan from 1515 to 1542, controlling the western Mediterranean with his pirate fleet while Barbarossa terrorized the eastern. Al-Hurra decided to engage in piracy in order to take revenge on the "Christian enemies" who in 1492 (after the conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile) forced her family to flee the city.

At the height of her power, Al-Hurra married the King of Morocco, but refused to hand over the reins of Tetouan to him. In 1542, Saida was overthrown by her stepson. She lost all power and property; nothing is known about her further fate. She is believed to have died in poverty.

Grace O'MailBald Greine"

Grace was also called the "Queen of the Pirates" and the "Witch of Rockfleet" . O it is impossible to write briefly for this woman))) everything in her life was so interesting and confusing. Dumas smokes nervously. She was so famous that the Queen of England Elizabeth I herself met with her.

Grace was born around 1530 in Ireland, in the family of the leader of the O`Malley clan, Owen Dubdara (Umall-Uakhtara). According to legend, she “lost her hair” by cutting off her hair in response to her father’s remark that a woman on a ship was a bad omen, and after her father’s death, she defeated her brother Indulf in a knife fight, becoming a leader.

By marrying O'Flaherty's tanist Domhnall the Warlike, Granual became the head of her husband's fleet. Three children were born in the marriage - Owen, Murrow and Margaret.
In 1560, Domhnall was killed, and Granual, with two hundred volunteers, went to Claire Island. Here she (continuing piracy) fell in love with the aristocrat Hugh de Lacy, who, however, was killed by the MacMahon clan, which was hostile to him. Granual, in response to this murder, took their fortress and killed the entire clan.

A year later, she announced a divorce and did not return the castle; however, she managed to give birth in this marriage to a son, Tibbot. According to legend, on the second day after giving birth, her ship was attacked by Algerian pirates, and Granual inspired her people to fight, declaring that giving birth is worse than fighting. Considering that men will not have to give birth anyway, this is a dubious motivation. Apparently, female logic was the most logical then ....

Gradually capturing the entire Mayo coast, except for Rockfleet Castle, Granual married (according to Irish tradition, in the format of a "trial marriage" for a year) Iron Richard from the Burke clan.

In the life of Grania there were defeats; one day the British took her prisoner and placed her in Dublin Castle. Somehow, the pirate managed to escape, and on the way back she tried to spend the night in Howth. They didn't let her in; the next morning, she kidnapped the burgomaster's son, who went hunting, and released him free of charge, but on the condition that the doors of the city were to be open to everyone looking for an overnight stay, and there should be a place for them at every table.

Queen Elizabeth hosted her twice and wanted to enlist her in her service. The first time at the entrance, a hidden dagger was taken away from Grace and Elizabeth was very worried about the fact of his presence. Grace then refused to bow before the Queen because she "did not recognize her as the Queen of Ireland".
As Grace took a puff of snuff, one of the noble ladies handed her a handkerchief. Using it for its intended purpose, that is, blowing her nose, she threw the handkerchief into the nearest fireplace. Responding to Elizabeth's astonished look, Grace stated that they, in Ireland, once used a handkerchief are thrown away.

This meeting was captured in an engraving, the only lifetime image of a pirate; even the color of her hair is unknown, traditionally considered black, according to her father's nickname, but in one of the poems called red. Why her name was bald history is silent.

The pirate queen died in the same year as the queen of England - in 1603.

Zheng Shi

Zheng Shi has earned fame as the most merciless sea robber in history. Before meeting the famous Chinese pirate Zheng Yi, she made a living as a prostitute. In 1801, the lovers got married. The Yi fleet was huge; it consisted of 300 ships and about 30 thousand corsairs.

On November 16, 1807, Zheng Yi died. His fleet passed into the hands of his wife, Zheng Shi ("Zheng's widow"). Zhang Bao, the son of a fisherman, whom Yi kidnapped and adopted, helped her manage everything. They turned out to be a great team. By 1810, the fleet consisted of 1,800 ships and 80,000 crew members. Zheng Shi's ships were subject to strict laws. Those who violated them paid for it with their heads. In 1810, Zheng Shi's fleet and authority weakened, and she was forced to conclude a truce with the emperor and go over to the side of the authorities.

Zheng Shi became the most successful and richest pirate of all time. She died at the age of 69.

Madame Shan Wong

200 years after the death of the first Chinese "pirate queen" in the same waters where her fleets robbed, a completely worthy successor to her work appeared, who rightfully won the same title. Shang, a former Cantonese nightclub dancer who became famous as China's most seductive diva, married no less famous person. His name was Wong Kungkim, he was the largest pirate chieftain in Southeast Asia, who began robbing merchant ships as early as 1940.
His wife, Madame Wong, as her friends and foes called her, was a faithful friend and intelligent assistant to the pirate in all his operations. But in 1946, Wong Kungkit died. The story of his death is mysterious, it is believed that the pirate's competitors are to blame for it. When, in the end, two of Wong Kungkit's closest assistants came to the widow, so that she, purely formally (since everything had already been decided by these two), would approve the candidate they had named for the post of head of the corporation. “Unfortunately, there are two of you,” Madame replied, not looking up from the toilet, “and the company needs one head ...” After these words, Madame turned around sharply, and the men saw that she was holding a revolver in each hand. This is how the “coronation” of Madame Wong took place, because after this incident there were no hunters to talk with her about power in the corporation.

Since then, her power over the pirates has been unquestioned. Her first independent operation was the attack on the Dutch steamer Van Heutz, which was boarded at night at the anchorage. In addition to the seizure of the cargo, everyone who was on board was robbed. Mining Madame Wong amounted to more than 400 thousand pounds. She herself rarely took part in the raids and in such cases she always wore a mask.
The police of the coastal countries, knowing that the pirates were led by a woman named Madame Wong, could not publish her portrait, which negated the possibility of her capture. It was announced that there was a £10,000 reward for her photograph, and whoever caught or killed Madame Wong could name the amount of the reward, and the authorities of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines would guarantee him the payment of such an amount.
And one day, the head of the police of Singapore received a package with photographs, on which it was written that they were related to Madame Wong. They were photographs of two Chinese men cut into pieces. The caption read: They wanted to take a picture of Madame Wong.

That's almost all...

The theme of beautiful women among pirates is glorified by cinema... and every year it will only gain popularity.

Pictures (C) on the Internet. If they are highly artistic and colored, then they have nothing to do with the described pirate. I apologize to them and to you, I am sure real life they looked better...