10 Lesser Known Female Pirates

January 17, 2026

10 Lesser Known Female Pirates

Jeanne De Clisson “The Lioness of Brittany”

In 1343, the French King Philip VI made a fatal mistake: he executed the Breton nobleman Olivier de Clisson for treason. He assumed his widow, Jeanne de Clisson, would go into quiet mourning. Instead, the noblewoman sold her lands, bought three warships, and painted them pitch black with blood-red sails. Jeanne took to the English Channel as a pirate, hunting down French ships with a singular, terrifying goal.

For thirteen years, the "Black Fleet" terrorized the French aristocracy. Jeanne earned the nickname "The Lioness of Brittany" for her specific brand of brutality; she would capture French merchant vessels, slaughter the entire crew, and personally behead any French aristocrats found on board with an axe. Crucially, she always left one survivor alive to return to the King with a message: the Lioness was still hunting.

Her reign of terror only began after a harrowing escape where she spent six days adrift in a rowboat, watching her young son die of exposure. This trauma fueled a decade of piracy that only ended when she retired to England to marry an English knight. The Lioness eventually died of natural causes in 1359, having achieved a level of vengeance that few in history could match.

Sayyida Al -Hurra Pirate Queen of the Barbary Coast

Born in Granada and died in Morocco, Sayyida Al-Hurra rose up to power and fell right back down. Through her first marriage with Moulay Ali Al-Mandri, Governor of Tetouan, she rose to power. She took on leadership in his absence, and when he passed she became leader of Tetouan, as per the decision of her brother-in-law. After taking over she continued her reign independently and began to take over military leadership and ran ships through the Iberian Peninsula, while expanding the fleet. She became known as “ The undisputed leader of the pirates in the Mediterranean”. Later, due to the conflict with Portugal over merchandise and her piracy, it created conflict within her own home and social circle. This ultimately led to her removal of power, from a set-up from her grandson in-law. He physically seized her power and ousted her. Afterwards, she returned to her childhood home in Chefchaouen to live a regular commoner life.

Grace O’ Malley (Grainne Mhaoi)

Grace O’Malley is most reputed for her bravery as a princess transformed into a triumphant Pirate Queen. She was originally a princess and snuck onto a pirate ship pretending to be a man where she was known for shaving her head to appear more masculine. She commonly sailed towards Scotland and would pirate cattle, as they were a valuable commodity of the time. She would also troll other ships for tolls to travel the seas ruled by her family. This provided a large profit to her clan. In lore, she is most spoken about with the birth of her youngest son Tibbott. While giving birth on her ship, her ship was seized by Algerians. Upon hearing of this, she strapped her son to her chest and went to the deck with her men and successfully fought the attackers off. She is also noticed for her war strike to avenge her eldest son’s death in a conflict with Captain John Bingham. Lastly she was also known for being close allies with Elizabeth I as the queen found her to be a good source of defence against enemies.

Rachel Wall

Rachel Wall’s story from beginning to death is fairly short. She was a woman who resided in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She eventually in travels married a fisherman by the name of George Wall, who had shortly later left and come back to invite her on an adventure to be pirates. She accepted happily. They went on pirating ships of the Atlantic Ocean on the American coast. Together they would pretend to be sailing a damaged ship and total had killed 24 shipmen and taken over 12 ships. Eventually, George and most of the crew had died in a shipwreck, although Rachel survived. After the shipwreck, Rachel continued to pirate until she was hanged for her crimes in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1789.

Maria Lindsey

Maria Lindsay, wife of Eric Cobham, many debate on their existence, whether they were merely just a myth. Maria began her career journey as a lady of the night when Eric, an already violent and known criminal, had found her. In 1740, the couple got married, and she joined him in his piracy crimes. They traveled among multiple countries, including France and England and even Canada. This had a reputation for tormenting and torturing men they would capture in their raids. They wound up settling in France, where they became incorporated into a high society, serving in the local magistrate. Over time, Maria had developed a terrible habit of alcoholism. One night mysteriously, she wound up going over a cliff just outside of their estate. The town never established whether it was suicide, an accident, or murder.

Christina Anna Skytte

Christina Anna Skytte was a contradiction. She was a Swedish baroness and a pirate. Not much is known about her. Her piracy begins with her brother Gustav Skytte. Eventually, Christina Skytte and her husband Gustaf Drake became partners with Christina's brother in piracy. Eventually, they attacked and sunk the wrong ship. It washed ashore, and the kingdom quickly found accountability to them. Christina and her husband then ran to Denmark to avoid arrest. Her brother did not escape and was placed on trial and put to death. Christina and her husband later returned to Sweden where her husband was tried and pardoned, and together she settled with her husband in Edaby Gard.

Flora Burn

Flora Burn is a pirate from the Golden Age of pirates. She began her pirating career in 1741 and pirated the oceans off the eastern coast of America. She is primarily known for being one of the few female pirates who entered and remained under female identity during their piracy. Flora never had to disguise as a man, yet she was treated like one in taking on all the same duties. She pirated under Benjamin Norton of Newport and was one of 28 seamen on her boat. Burns would collect ¼ of all that would be disbursed of the wealth collected in pirating. So, it is notable that she has leverage on her crew. Not much else is known about her otherwise.

Mary Read

For Mary, her life started out and remained under disguise as a man majority of her life. She started her life out in disguise as her dead half-brother to help her widowed mother keep her funds coming from her in-laws. Later when Mary was old enough, she had spent her time working to support her mother and family,t hen the British Army to help support the home. Eventually, she changed over to piracy and later married a fellow pirate. She became widowed and carried on with piracy. On one ship pirating under Calico Jack, she became closely acquainted with Calico Jack's wife, who was also pretending to be a man. The two became close friends. Shortly later Calico Jack learned Mary’s secret when he accused the two of having an affair. Soon after Mary got remarried to a pirate on the crew and upon getting pregnant, she and her husband sought to take shore at Jamaica. Their ship was attacked, and with only Mary and her new fellow friend Anne to‌ defend the ship while the men hid, this drew fur. A dispute formed that brought attention and led to trials uponshore, charging the entire ship of people with piracy and being hanged. Mary and her friend Anne used their pregnancies to delay the hanging, ‌ which worked, but later Mary wound up dieing of a fever a year later in jail.

Charlotte Badger

Charlotte was a well-known convict and sailed a boat known as the Venus. She was Australia's one and only female pirate. Little is known about her until she was convicted of a crime for breaking into a house in 1796. She served her time until 1803 when she was released and sailed to South Wales. This is where she met a crew of pirates and joined their ship, which was run by Samuel Rodney Chace. At this time, Charlotte had just given birth to a baby. There was also another woman known as Kitty that was aboard. Later, Charlotte and Kitty would team together and kick most of the men on the crew off of the ship, in a takeover with Charlotte Badger. Although she‌ never forced Charlotte to leave. Maori people had cost numbers. Kitty wound up missing while her husband was away fighting a battle with Maori people; it is believed to have possibly been a jealous Maori woman. When her daughter was about 8 years old, an Englishman had rescued her from the Maori people and brought her back to England, where she settled as his wife.

Indegla Gathenheilm

Another lady pirate of the Pirate Golden Era, Indegla was also not well known, but made her own impact in history with a ship. Ships were not foreign to her as she came from a bloodline of ship owners, makers, and merchants. She was also a privateer. During her first marriage, much of her time was occupied specifically with motherhood. Although her second marriage was a pivot for her with a focus on business and further children. Upon her husband's death with the tradition of Sweden, she took over her husband's unconventional business. She became the queen of a pirate empire working under King Charles XII of Sweden. When the war ended and the peace treaty with Denmark and Prussia came, there was no longer any need for Idegla’s pirate empire. In turn, she was out of business. Her reaction was to sue the kingdom for wages she had as a racketeer for the crown, and in return they gave her military authority. She continued forward in life, managing the many businesses that she had inherited through her pirating work and eventually remarried. The remainder of her life was spent with her third husband, remaining living children, and her businesses until she was buried next to her husband.

References

Library of Congress

https://guides.loc.gov/feminism-french-women-history/famous/Jeanne-de-Clisson

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_IV_de_Clisson

Sayyida Al-Hurra: A Forgotten North-African Queen and Military Leader

By Amal El Haimeur

University of Kansas

amalelhaimeur@ku.edu

The Extraordinary Life of Grace O’Malley by biographer Anne Chambers

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/grace-o-malley-pirate-history-fact-fiction-legend

Rachel Wall, Pirate