The following is a list of women pirates & privateers who may or may not have lived. The list was compiled by author / historian John Richard Stephens (Fern Canyon Press), Joan Druett (She Captains, Hen Frigates, etc), Christine Lampe of "No Quarter Given" and Ken Kinkor, Acting Director of Expedition Whydah. Portions of this list appear in Tamara J. Eastman and Constance Bonds’ booklet "The Pirate Trial of Anne Bonny and Mary Read."
| Pirates | Privateers |
A Few Women Pirates
| Name | Date / Location / Notes |
Early Pirates |
|
| Ch’iao K’uo Füü Jëën |
Chinese legend from c. 600 B.C. |
Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus (in Greece) |
480 B.C., Mediterranean. |
Elissa ("Dido") |
c. 470 B.C., Mediterranean, legendary founder of Carthage |
Queen Teuta of Illyria |
232 B.C. to 228 B.C., Adriatic Sea. |
Viking/ Pirates |
|
Princess Sela |
c. 420 A.D., Norwegian Viking |
Princess Rusla |
Norwegian Viking. |
Russila and her sister Stikla |
Norwegian Viking. |
Wigbiorg |
800s A.D., Viking. |
Hetha |
800s A.D., Viking. |
Wisna |
800s A.D., Viking. |
| post-850 A.D. (some wrongly say. 450 A.D.), Swedish Viking. |
|
Ladgerda |
c. 870 A.D., Viking |
ÆÆthelflææd |
"Lady of the Mercias." |
Pirates of the 16th Century |
|
1500s, Atlantic, commanded three galleys and 200 men. |
|
Sida al Hurra |
1510-1542, Morocco. |
Lady Killigrew |
1530-1570, Atlantic. |
Mrs. Peter Lambert of Aldeburgh |
Suffolk - late 1500s. |
Pirates of the 17th Century |
|
Elizabetha Patrickson |
1634. |
Jacquotte Delahaye |
1650s-1660s, Caribbean buccaneer. |
Anne Dieu-le-veut |
1660s, Caribbean buccaneer. |
La Marquise de Frèèsne |
late 1600s, Mediterranean. |
Maria Lindsey (fictional?) |
early 1700s, Canadian East Coast. |
Anne Bonny, aliases Ann Bonn and Fulford, possibly also Sarah Bonny |
1719-1720, Caribbean. |
Mary Read, alias Mark Read |
1718-1720, Caribbean. |
Mary Harvey (or Harley), alias Mary Farlee |
1725-1726, Carolina. |
Mary Crickett (or Crichett) |
1728 |
Fanny Campbell (fictional) |
|
Rachel Wall (fictional?) |
1780s, New England Coast. |
Maria Cobham (fictional?) |
Atlantic |
Pirates of the 19th Century |
|
Sadie the Goat |
1800s, New York State. |
Catherine Hagerty |
1806, Australia and New Zealand. |
Charlotte Badger |
|
Margaret Jordan |
1809, Canadian East Coast. |
Asian Pirates of the 19th & 20th Century |
|
1810s, South China Sea |
|
T’ang Ch’en Ch’iao (nicknamed "Golden Grace") |
|
Lo Hon-cho (Honcho Lo) |
Took over command on husband’s death in 1921, was a supporter of the Chinese revolution. |
Wong |
1922, united her 50 ship fleet with Lo Hon-cho’s 64 junks. |
Lai Sho Sz’en (Lai Choi San) |
1922-1939, South China Sea, commanded 12 junks. |
P’en Ch’ih Ch’iko |
1936, commanded 100 pirates. |
Ki Ming (this may be another name for P’en Ch’ih Ch’iko). |
|
Huang P’ei-mei |
1937-1950s, leader of 50,000 pirates. |
Linda |
1980s, Philippines. |
A FEW FEMALE PRIVATEERS
| Name | Date / Location / Notes |
Jeanne de Montfort ("The Flame") |
1343, English Channel plundering French ships, fighting with the English for Brittany’s independence. (Some list her, Jeanne de Clisson and Jane de Belleville as pirates - especially the French.) |
Jeanne de Clisson ("The Lioness of Brittany") |
1343, English Channel plundering French ships. |
Jane de Belleville |
Late 1340s, coast of Normandy plundering French ships. |
| 1719, Caribbean. |
|
Flora Burn |
1741, American East Coast. |
Sarah Bishop |
1778-1780, this New Yorker was forced to join the crew of a British privateer during the Revolutionary War. |
Mary Anne Talbot, alias John Taylor |
On a French privateer, 1793-1794 |
Several black women (probably slaves) were cooks onboard the Duke, a British privateer |
Early 1800s, Pacific. |
Anonymous female commander of French privateer La Baugourt |
1805, West Indies. |
| Anonymous French female privateer |
1811 |
