History’s Famous Women Pirates: Grace O’Malley, Anne Bonny and Mary Read
By Charles River Editors
Illustration depicting Grace O’Malley meeting Queen Elizabeth I
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Introduction
Grace O’Malley (circa 1530- circa 1603)
“When analyzed within the historical context of the traumatic epoch in which she lived, she emerges as a fearless leader, by land and by sea, a political pragmatist and tactician, a ruthless plunderer, a mercenary, a rebel, a shrewd and able negotiator, the protective matriarch of her family and tribe, a genuine inheritor of the Mother Goddess and Warrior Queen attributes of her remote ancestors. Above all else, she emerges as a woman who broke the mould and thereby played a unique role in history. It is thirty years since my biography first helped write Granuaile back into history—she had more than created her own legend.” - Anne Chambers, Granuaile: Grace O'Malley - Ireland's Pirate Queen
In the 400 years since her death, Grace O’Malley has represented many things to many people, including queen, legend, pirate, and folk hero. Her nickname, Granuaile, was given to her by the Irish peasants whose cause she supported, and that name had its origins in the fact that she chopped off her hair when she took to the sea as a young girl. Though she spent plenty of time on land with a family and estates, her life and legacy have been defined by the time she spent sailing.
Like many figures of the Elizabethan Era, it’s often hard to separate fact from fiction when discussing the life and career of Granuaile, whose native Ireland was undergoing a dramatic transformation as England’s Tudor rulers began trying to seize control of it. Granuaile became a powerful ruler in her own right, which led to conflict with England, during which she proved a more than able opponent. She is best remembered for her piracy against the English, but that eventually led to negotiations between the famous folk hero and Queen Elizabeth I, and by the end of the Nine Years War, she was leading raids against England’s enemies.
Given her background, heritage, and life, Granuaile was a natural candidate to become an Irish folk hero, a powerful symbol of courage, defiance, and independence. History’s Famous Women Pirates looks at the life and legends of the famous female pirate, attempting to separate fact from fiction while analyzing her lasting legacy. Along with pictures depicting Granuaile and important people, places, and events in her life, you will learn about the famous pirate like you never have before.
18th century depiction of Anne Bonny and Mary Read
Anne Bonny (1702-??) and Mary Read (??-1721)
“NOW we are to begin a History full of surprizing Turns and Adventures; I mean, that of Mary Read and Anne Bonny, alias Bonn, which were the true Names of these two Pyrates; the odd Incidents of their rambling Lives are such, that some may be tempted to think the whole Story no better than a Novel or Romance; but since it is supported by many thousand Witnesses, I mean the People of Jamaica, who were present at their Tryals, and heard the Story of their Lives, upon the first discovery of their Sex; the Truth of it can be no more contested, than that there were such Men in the World, as Roberts and Black-beard...” - Captain Charles Johnson, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates
The people who have lived outside the boundaries of normal societies and refused to play by the rules have long fascinated the world, and nowhere is this more evident than the continuing interest in the pirates of centuries past. As the subjects of books, movies, and even theme park rides, people continue to let their imaginations go when it comes to pirates, with buried treasure, parrots, and walking the plank all ingrained in pop culture’s perception of them.
One of the most famous pirates of all time, and possibly the most famous woman to ever become one, was Anne Bonny. The Irish-born girl moved with her family to the Bahamas at a young age in the early 18th century, which at that time was a hotbed for piracy by the likes of Blackbeard, but the redhead with a fiery temper would go on to forge her own reputation. After marrying a poor sailor who accepted clemency to give up piracy, Anne began a legendary affair with Calico Jack Rackam and became pregnant with his child, but that did not stop them from plundering the high seas aboard his pirate ship Revenge, at least until they were captured by British authorities. Anne avoided execution by “pleading her belly”, getting a temporary stay of execution due to her pregnancy.
It is at that point that Anne Bonny drops off the historical record and becomes the stuff of legends. It’s unclear whether she was eventually executed or pardoned or even ransomed, and it’s unclear what became of her child. Her relationship with Mary Read aboard the Revenge is also the stuff of legends, and people have been filling in the gaps ever since.
Among all the pirates of the “Golden Age of Piracy”, none were as unique as Mary Read, who was one of just two known women to be tried as a pirate during the Golden Age, alongside her own crewmate (and possible lover) Anne Bonny. Like Anne, Mary Read was an illegitimate child who spent some of her childhood dressed up as and disguised as a little boy through incredibly strange circumstances. But unlike her future shipmate, Mary ultimately took a liking to it, and she continued to disguise her gender to take on roles reserved for men, including in the British army. During that time, she fell in love with a Flemish soldier and eventually married him.
Mary Read might have been content to live out her life with her husband in Holland, but after his death, she headed for the West Indies, only to have her ship commandeered by pirates. But Read, who had worked on a ship before, was only too happy to join the pirate crew and play the role of privateer. And in 1720, that crew was captured by Calico Jack, who already had his lover Anne Bonny as part of his crew and now unwittingly added a second female when Mary opted to join.
Together the three played a legendary role as shipmates and possible lovers while continuing their piracy around the Bahamas, only to eventually be captured by authorities in October 1720. Most of the crew was executed, but Mary was able to successfully “plead the belly” and thereby receiving a stay of execution. This spared her the noose, but Mary would die of illness while still imprisoned in 1721.
History’s Famous Women Pirates looks at the mysterious lives and legends of the two famous female pirates, attempting to separate fact from fiction while analyzing her lasting legacy. Along with pictures depicting Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and other important people, you will learn about the famous pirates like you never have before.
History’s Famous Women Pirates: Grace O’Malley, Anne Bonny and Mary Read
About Charles River Editors
Introduction
Grace O’Malley
Chapter 1: Early Years
Chapter 2: A Wife and a Pirate
Chapter 3: A Tale of Vengeance
Chapter 4: The Good Wife
Chapter 5: A Pirate to the End
Bibliography
Anne Bonny & Mary Read
Chapter 1: Mary Read’s Early
Years
Chapter 2: Anne Cormac
Chapter 3: Anne Bonny
Chapter 4: Mary Read Becomes a Pirate
Chapter 5: Calico Jack
Chapter 6: 1720
Chapter 7: Anne and Mary’s Legacies
Mary Read and Anne Bonny’s Entry in A General History of the Pyrates
Bibliography
Grace O’Malley
Chapter 1: Early Years
Grace O’Malley was born around 1530 in Ireland, with both of her parents, father Eoghan Dubhdara O’Maille and mother Margaret, being from Clew Bay in Country Mayo. As a clan chieftain, Eoghan was very powerful and one of only a handful of Irish chiefs who had not yet knuckled under to English domination and King Henry VIII. Margaret was just as independent; unlike most women of her age, she had personal wealth in the form of land in Umhall, Ireland. She had inherited this property from her own mother and would in turn pass it on to her daughter.
Ireland in the 15th century
Unlike most of their neighbors, the O’Malleys made their living from the sea, sailing up and down the western coast of Ireland trading merchandise within their own country, as well as Scotland and even far away Spain. They were also known to practice a little piracy on the side, attacking and plundering ships that made their way into their territory. Because the ocean was both their home and their livelihood, they built several castles along the coast, helping them come to dominate most of what is now South-West County Mayo in Ireland. They were even able to tax anyone who fished along the shores of their territory, including fishermen from as far away as England.
According to English law at that time, Henry VIII was King of England, but only Lord of Ireland. Because of the nature of travel and communication, there was much less direct supervision of the Irish people by the English crown, so the Irish people were primarily under the supervision of their own countrymen, princes and lords who had rule the land for generations.
Henry VIII
According to Irish tradition, Grace was a bit of a renegade from birth. One story claims that while she was still very young, she wanted to go on a trading trip to Spain with her father. When trying to explain to her why she could not accompany him, Eoghan made the mistake of saying that it was because her long hair would tangle up in the ship’s ropes. Seeing this situation as easily solvable, Grace cut her hair short, like the style worn by the sailors themselves. Her father, though embarrassed by her appearance, still knew when he was beaten and allowed her to go with him. For her own part, Grace earned the nickname “Grainne Mhaol”, which meant “Bald Grace.” The name stuck and over time evolved into Granuaile, as she was often known.
While Granuaile spent most of her early years at her family’s castle in Belclare, she was probably sent to live with another family by the time she was 12 years old. Fosterage, as this was known, was a common practice among Anglo-Saxon nobility at that time, in the belief that exposure to the skills and culture of other families made a girl more well-rounded and marriageable. There was also a greater chance for her to come into contact with young men from similarly placed families. As a result of the fosterage, Granuaile received the high level of education typically given to the daughters of nobility at that time. While mathematics and the sciences were not considered necessary for young women, they were taught at least some foreign languages, and when Granuaile met with Elizabeth I later in her life, she was able to converse with the queen in fluent Latin. She also appears to have known a smattering of English, Scottish, Spanish and French, possibly picking up these other languages during her travels around the English Isles.
Henry VIII is remembered primarily for his several wives and the various fates they suffered, but his treatment of his subjects, especially those in Ireland, was even worse. Around the time Granuaile turned 13, Henry instituted a new policy concerning the Irish. Called “surrender and re-grant,” it was based on idea that all the lands of the English Isles were dependent on the English monarch for government and protection. Those chieftains who gave up their lands to the Henry and recognized him as King of Ireland instead of the previously titled Lord of Ireland retained control of their property and clans. However, they would also be required to live by English law and show up for all called parliament meetings.
According to Granuaile’s chief biographer, Anne Chambers:
“Thus started the Tudor conquest of Ireland by means of a policy of subtle effectiveness. As the chieftains and lords accepted the terms and titles of the English king, so they became obligated to abandon the Irish laws and customs that had endowed them with their positions of power in the first place. Their acceptance of the English terms ran contrary to the Gaelic principles of election and land tenure. Some chieftains felt coerced into acceptance, others did so out of greed or disillusionment with the impermanence of the Gaelic system, which allowed for little continuity, but most accepted only for as long as it suited their own purpose.”
By the time he died in 1547, Henry had managed to take control of much of Ireland, as one chieftain after another agreed to his terms, but the O’Malleys felt no such need for English rule. The fishing along the coast provided them with enough income to maintain their former glory and power.
Chapter 2: A Wife and a Pirate
In 1546, Granuaile married Donal an Chogaidh O Flaithbheartaigh (“Donal of the Battle”), the heir of the O’Flaherty clan and thus an excellent match for the only child of the great O’Malley chieftain. The two newlyweds soon settled into Donal’s castle near Slyne Nead on the coast of Bunowen, a beautiful setting for the two to begin their life together. Looking across the Killary fiord, Granuaile could see the lands at Umhall that would one day be hers. There was also a deep harbor from which Donal could sail his boats.
Though Granuaile may have often looked out her window with longing when these boats sailed away, she was at this point in her life content with the role of wife and mother. During the first years of her marriage she bore Donal three children in rapid succession. The first, Owen, was easygoing and not aggressive at all, very unlike either of his parents. The second child, daughter Margaret, was strong-willed and determined like her mother. Their last child, Murrough, was considered to be the child most like his father; he was aggressive and always seemed to be looking for a fight.
Unfortunately, Donal’s own aggressive nature soon caught up with him, and sometime in the early 1550s he was killed in a battle with a nearby clan, the Joyces. Following his death, Granuaile immediately seized hold of the leadership of her local clansmen. She started by extracting revenge against those who had killed her husband, sailing her ships up the coast to recapture the castle he had died defending. According to Irish law and tradition, Granuaile was entitled to one-third of Donal’s estate as well as her own dowry upon his death, but Donal’s clan claimed that they could not afford to return the dowry, or even to give Granuaile here share of the estate. This appears to have been true, since Granuaile took no measures to force the payment due to her. It is likely both the dowry and the estate had already been spent on Donal’s many battles.
Of course, by this time Granuaile must have realized that piracy rendered the need for Donal’s money moot. She then triumphantly returned to her family home on Clare Island, and though she did not inherit from the estate, many of her husband’s people remained loyal to her and her sons and happily followed her back to her father’s home.
Clare Island
As it turns out, Bunowen castle proved to be an excellent port from which Granuaile could begin her new life as a pirate. It provided an excellent view of Clew Bay, allowing those in its tower to see any ship that passed, and the castle itself was so situated that most of those passing never even noticed it until it was too late and the pirates were upon them.
Before long, Granuaile and her men were regularly attacking ships sailing in and out of the nearby port at Galway., and their deeds became so notorious that at one time the citizens had ascribed above the town gate, “From the ferocious O’Flaher
tys, Good Lord deliver Us.” Just as her father had before her, Granuaile determined to extract a toll from any ship that passed through her waters. Using swift and maneuverable galleys, she and her men would seem to appear out of nowhere, forcefully board a merchant vessel, and demand a portion of the cargo as a sort of “protection money.” Their intimate knowledge of every cove and bay along their native shores made them nearly impossible to catch.
Eventually, the local merchants and fishermen were complaining to the English Council in the capital city of Dublin. One such complaint read, “The continuing roads used by the O’Malleys and O’Flaherties with their galleys along our coasts, where there have been taken sundry ships and barks bound for this poor town, which they have not only rifled to the utter overthrow of the owners and merchants, but also have most wickedly murdered divers of young men to the great terror of such as would willingly traffic.”
It is only fair to note that not all of Granuaile’s business activities were illegal. She also hired her ships out to transport “gallowglass” fighters, who were Scotsmen hired each summer by Irish chieftains to help fight battles over land and property. Granuaile would use her fleet of galleys to bring them to Ireland in May and then return them to Scotland the following September.
As time went on, Granuaile added to her own crew, recruiting men from many different Irish clans. The fact that they were willing to leave their own families and lands to follow this woman is a testament to two factors. First, the political situation in Scotland at that time saw laws being enacted by the Tudors that had weakened family ties and left many clan members feeling adrift in a new type of society. Then there was Granuaile herself, who apparently possessed an ability to lead and motivate people who previously had no affiliation or loyalty to her.
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