Women Pirates

Dr N K Srinivasan

An interesting topic. Read about this in "Kid's Almanac

2010"---that is a National Geographic book for kids.I felt that I

should 'broadcast' this to a wider audience...Hence this article.

When women felt less freedom at home or on the land or in

politics,they felt more freedom to do what they liked on high

seas.[Recall that women did not get voting rights till about 100

years ago in most countries. In the USA, the 19th Amendment

,giving women voting rights, was passed in 1920!]

Most pirates had their own Code of Conduct.In that, women were

forbidden to join ships; in facr men pirates had strict codes

against messing with women..Yet some women dressed as men and

joinde the ships;some married men pirates and joined their

ships.The chinese women pirates were large in number.

1 MARY READ & ANNE BONNY

They did pirating in the Carribeans, in early 1700's. The exact dates are not
known.

After Mary Read lost her husband, she was in great need of money.She joined a
merchant ship sailing to the West Indies. The Carribean islands were the dens of

pirates.Some English pirates took over her ship.They threatened Mary.She should
join the band as a pirate or she would be killed. Mary became a pirate.

Soon she had a chance to prove her mettle.She picked up a fight with another
pirate who called her boyfriend for a duel.Mary picked up the duel, fought herself
with the pirate and killed him,without getting a single scratch.

Mary met Anne Bonny, who ran away to sea with another famous pirate--Calico
Jack. Mary and Anne joined Jack's ship as pirates. Together they attacked ships

and took mostly small items like fishing gear and food items. But British
Government clamped on these pirates, calling them "Enemies to the Crown of
Great Britain."

Anne Bonny

Mary Read and Anne Bonny were captured by the British Navy in 1720.

Mary died of fever while in prison. WE know nothing about the end of Anne.
2 Rachel Wall --New England in the USA,late 1700's

Rachel pirated from the Coast of Maine ,along with her husband George and his

crew. After storms they will raise a flag of distress; when ships approached
them,they would capture the sailors and kill them. In two summers of piracy, they
killed about 20 men and had a booty of $6000 in cash--- a large sum those days

plus valuable goods. They played such tricks regularly.

Rachel was caught in Massachusetts and hanged in 1789. One historical note:

She was the last person to be hanged for a crime in that state.The state of
Mass. abolished death sentence later.

3 Cheng I Sao

Cheng I Sao was a large-scale pirate in the South China Sea. She commandered a
fleet of 2000 ships in her craft of piracy.She became a pirate when she married

a famous pirate. They seized and looted hundreds of ships and kidnapped people.

Cheng paid her pirates in cash for each head they brought back after an assault.

Cheng was not caught easily by the Chinese government...She plied her piracy for
many years and retired on her own. Then she had a second career as a

smuggler.She died peacefully at the age of 69-- one would say "after a rewarding
career".!

4 Mary Crickett

She was anoter pirate operating in colonial America. In 1728, she was sent to the

colony of Virginia ,and later convicted of piracy and hung.

I am sure there were other women pirates to write about...I shall

add more as I keep fishing for them in the literature.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------