SO YOU WANT TO BE A BONNY PIRATE? by Yvonne Saxon

As a young girl I always wanted to be a pirate--I wanted the adventure, the travel, the high stakes and intrigue that life on the high seas might bring. Books like Treasure Island and swashbuckling old movies watched late at night fueled my romanticized, rose-colored glasses version of what a pirate's life might be. I also wanted a pirate birthday party for the longest time.

Could I have been a pirate during the "Golden Age"? Were there actually women pirates outside of fiction? How did they fare? What were their stories? Let's weigh anchor and examine history for some real-life examples.

There are about a hundred examples of women pirates in history, not counting those women deeply involved in assisting their male counterparts. How many secret houses and hiding places were created by women, as well as the untold numbers of smugglers, tavern keepers, money launderers, etc.?

 In such a male dominated environment, especially during the Golden Age of Piracy, ship's contracts banned women. They were seen as bad luck. Captains also feared that the men would fight over them. Because of this, women that became pirates typically disguised themselves as men in clothing and mannerisms.

For example, Haitian/Spanish Jacquotte Delahaye is said to have risen to command a hundred pirates in the mid-17th century. Reports vary as to whether she continuously dressed as a man, or used a male alias after faking her death.

Martha Farley was tried in a Virginia (USA) court for piracy in 1726. The three men tried with her were executed, but Farley was spared, possibly because she didn't take an active militant role, but only eavesdropped for information on prisoners they'd taken on ship.

Mary Critchett and a crew of five men were escaped felons who stole a ship on the Rappahannock River, sailed it to the Chesapeake Bay and captured another ship. They were caught, tried and executed for piracy in Virginia in 1729.

Flora Burn served as one of the thirty-five sailors aboard the American privateer ship HMS "Revenge" that operated on the eastern coast of North America in 1741.

Perhaps the earliest female pirate to be born in the United States itself, Rachel Wall was notorious. In 1781-1782 she participated in luring several ships through false distress which were then captured and plundered. Said to have retired from piracy after her ship came under attack, but allegedly kept on robbing ships at night. She was imprisoned and hanged in 1789.

Countless more stories of female pirates exist, and the harsh reality is nothing like the adventures I dreamed up as a girl. Yes, there were female pirates-- many more than I mentioned here. Some fared better than others, many ended up in prison or executed, others lived to an old age or disappeared with their treasure.

I'll still talk like a pirate every September and have fun at pirate festivals; after all, it's a part of our coastal Virginia and eastern North Carolina history and heritage. I may even get that pirate birthday party one day!