Top 10 Most Notorious Female Pirates Of All Time

Kris [email protected] September 05, 2021 | 15:05

Even though piracy was an occupation dominated by men, there have been a number of women who found success in it. Take a look at the list of the top 10 most notorious female pirates of all time below!

Top 10 most notorious female pirates of all time

By definition, pirates are individuals who commit a robbery or an act of violence by boat or ship on another ship that usually has valuable cargo. Historically, pirates have been in existence since the 14th century BCE during the age of the ocean raiders known as the Sea Peoples. Piracy is best accomplished in narrow waters where a ship can be herded to a position where its defenses are rendered useless.

Despite being a field dominated by men, there have been some famous women in history who have made their way into the history books. The reason for a low number of women was a document that was known as the ship’s contract, which prevented women from becoming part of a ship’s crew. Due to these restrictions, most female pirates did not go by the designation of “pirate” even though their actions were synonymous to piracy. Some female pirates, such as Anne Bonny and Mary Read, decided to dress up and act like men.

The list of 10 most notorious female pirates of all time

#1. Charlotte Badger

#2. Ching Shih

#3. Anne Bonny

#4. Mary Read

#5. Jacquotte Delahaye

#6. Jeanne de Clisson

#7. Sadie the goat

#8. Grace O’Malley

#9. Sayyida al-Hurra

#10. Rachel Wall

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#10. Rachel Wall

Rachel Wall’s biography is peppered with myths and legends, but if certain tales about her are true, she was one of the first and only American women to try her hand at piracy. As the story goes, Wall was a Pennsylvania native who ran away from home as a teen and married a fisherman named George Wall. The couple settled in Boston and tried to scrape out a living, but constant money problems eventually led them to turn to a life of crime. In 1781, the Walls procured a small boat, teamed with a few low-life mariners and began preying on ships off the coast of New England. Their strategy was as ingenious as it was brutal. Whenever a storm passed through the region, the buccaneers would dress their boat up to look like it had been ravaged by rough seas. The comely Rachel would then stand on the deck and plead for aid from passing ships. When the unsuspecting rescuers came near, they were promptly boarded, robbed and murdered.

Photo: New England Historical Society

Wall’s siren song may have lured as many as a dozen ships to their doom, but her luck ran out in 1782, when a real storm destroyed her boat and killed George. She continued her thieving on land, and was later arrested in 1789 for attacking and robbing a Boston woman. While in prison, she penned a confession admitting to “Sabbath-breaking, stealing, lying, disobedience to parents, and almost every other sin a person could commit, except murder.” Unfortunately for Wall, the mea culpa was not enough to sway the authorities. On October 8, she became the last woman ever executed in Massachusetts when she was hanged to death in Boston

#9. Sayyida al-Hurra

A pirate Queen and the ally of the infamous Turkish pirate Barbarossa, Sayyida al-Hurra was the ruler of Moroccan city Tetouan. Actually Sayyida al-Hurra is a title for a noble lady and her real name is unknown. Ruling from 1515 to 1542, she controlled the western part of Mediterranean Sea. She supposedly became a pirate to take revenge on the Christian rulers. She married the king of Morocco later, but was eventually overthrown by her son-in-law. Her remaining life is lost to history.

#8. Grace O’Malley

During a time when most women were denied an education and kept restrained to their homes, pirate Grace O’Malley led a 20-ship fleet that stood up to the might of the British monarchy. Also known as “Granuaille,” or “bald,” for her habit of cutting her hair short, O’Malley was born into a powerful clan that lorded over the coastlines of western Ireland. After taking the reins in the 1560s, she continued a family tradition of piracy by plundering English and Spanish shipping vessels and attacking rival chieftains. Her escapades were legendary—one tale claims she did battle at sea only a day after giving birth—but they also drew the ire of the authorities. She was forced to repel a siege against her stronghold at Rockfleet Castle in 1574, and later did 18 months behind bars after she was captured during one of her raids.

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O’Malley resumed her marauding after her release, but more trouble arrived in the early 1590s, when British authorities impounded her fleet. With nowhere else to turn, the 63-year-old buccaneer appealed directly to Queen Elizabeth I for assistance. During a famous royal audience in London, O’Malley portrayed herself as a tired and broken old woman and begged the Queen to return her ships, release one of her captured sons and allow her to retire in peace. The gambit worked, but it seems that “Granuaille” didn’t keep up her end of the bargain—records show that she and her sons continued pirating until her death in 1603.

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#7. Sadie the goat

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American pirate of the 19th century, Sadie Farrell earned her unusual nickname for her violent modus operandi. On the streets of New York City, Sadie won a reputation as a merciless mugger by head-butting her victims. It's said that Sadie was chased out of Manhattan when a fellow female tough, Gallus Mag, brawled with her, biting off Sadie's ear.

To flee the city, she wrangled a new gang to steal a sloop in the spring of 1869. With a Jolly Roger flapping above them, Sadie and her crew became pirates that swept the Hudson and Harlem Rivers for booty. She'd lead raids on the farmhouses and posh mansions that dotted the river's side, occasionally kidnapping folks for ransom. By the end of summer these raids became too risky as the farmers took to firing upon the sloop as it drew near. So, Sadie the Goat returned to the mainland, where she made peace with Gallus Mag, who returned to Sadie her lost ear which had been pickled for posterity.

Known now as "Queen of the Waterfront," Sadie took her dismembered ear and placed it in a locket, which she wore around her neck for the rest of her days.

#6. Jeanne de Clisson

Known as the Lioness of Brittany, she was the wife of Olivier III de Clisson and a mother of five. She became a pirate to take revenge on the French King Philip VI, after her husband was executed for treason. She sold all of her properties and bought three warships. Jeanne and her crew terrorized the English Channel, capturing only French ships and killing most of their crew. She retired from piracy in 1356 and later married English lieutenant Sir Walter Bentley.

#5. Jacquotte Delahaye

Photo: Pinterest

This woman was a pirate who plied her trade in the Caribbean Sea in the 17th century. Jacquotte is an important figure in history because she was among the few women who carried our piracy at that time. However, some debate still exists over whether or not she existed. The only account of her activities comes from a French fiction writer known as Leon Treich.

#4. Mary Read

Born in England in the late-17th century, Mary Read spent most of her youth disguised as her deceased half-brother so that her penniless mother could scam the boy’s grandmother. Hoping to quench her thirst for adventure, she later adopted the name Mark Read and took on a succession of traditionally male jobs, first as a soldier and later as a merchant sailor.

Read turned pirate in the late-1710s, after buccaneers attacked the ship she was working on and impressed her into their ranks. She later found her way aboard Calico Jack Rackam’s boat, where she met and befriended Anne Bonny and revealed herself to be a woman.

Read only sailed with Calico Jack for a few months, but during that time she won a fearsome reputation. One of her most famous exploits came in October 1720, when she and Bonny fought like banshees during an attack by pirate-hunters. “If there’s a man among ye,” she supposedly screamed at the male buccaneers cowering below decks, “ye’ll come up and fight like the man ye are to be!” Despite Read’s heroics, she and the rest of Calico Jack’s crew were captured and charged with piracy. Read avoided execution by admitting she was “quick with child,” but she later came down with a fever and died in prison.

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#3. Anne Bonny

Photo: Irish Examiner

Born Anne Cormac in 1698, this Irish lass with luscious red locks and a dangerous temper became an icon of The Golden Age of Piracy (1650s-1730s) after marrying small-time pirate James Bonny. Anne's respectable father disowned her over the marriage, so she and her new husband moved to a portion of the Bahamas nicknamed the Pirates Republic, a sanctuary of sorts for scalawags. But the Bonnys were not happily married for long.

He was hanged, but Bonny's pregnancy earned her a stay of execution. However, no historical record of her death sentence was found. Some speculate that her affluent father paid a handsome price to have her set free.They divorced, and she took up with Calico Jack Rackham, first as his lover, then as his first mate of the ship Revenge. In October of 1720, she and the rest of Rackham's crew were captured despite Bonny and her bosom buddy Mary Read's valiant attempts to fight off the advancing English forces. Bonny blamed Rackham for their capture. Her last words to him in prison are recorded as, "Sorry to see you there, but if you'd fought like a man, you would not have been hang'd like a Dog."

#2. Ching Shih

Photo: Kidpid

Called often the most fearsome woman pirate in history, Ching Shih was a Chinese pirate who reigned over the waters of Chinese Sea in early 19th century. Formerly a prostitute, she was captured by pirates in 1801 and married the captain of the gang, Zheng Yi.

She took the command of the fleet, named Red Flag Fleet, following the death of her husband, and attacked British and Chinese ships. Her fleet grew by many times of its formal size. The Chinese government made a truce with her in 1810. She spent rest of the years running a brothel until her death in 1844.

#1. Charlotte Badger

Photo: RNZ

Charlotte was born in 1778 in Bromsgrove, England, and died in 1818 (or after). She was born to Thomas and Anny Badger (a poor family) and was baptized on July 31, 1778. To make ends meet, she used to engage in criminal activities, which was why she was caught and sentenced to seven years’ worth of penal servitude in Australia. While in Australia, she and another woman staged a mutiny aboard a ship.

She apparently settled in a Maori village in New Zealand with her daughter. She is remembered as being one of the first white women to settle in New Zealand and the first female Australian pirate.