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Source Record

Were there female pirates?

Why this source is used

Museum history article covering Mary Read and Anne Bonny as prominent women pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Start with the answer

Start with the answer What do ancient and early modern queer lives show? They show that same-sex love, queer social spaces and gender nonconformity existed long before modern LGBTQ+ identity language. Read the topic guide Ancient and Early Modern Queer and Gender-Diverse Lives Long before modern LGBTQ+ labels, historical records preserve same-sex love, queer social spaces and gender-diverse lives across empire, courts, taverns and seafaring worlds.

Source Status

Publisher
Royal Museums Greenwich
Type
archive
Reliability
high
Cited by
3 pages

Source Links

Open original source https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/were-there-female-pirates Accessed 4 June 2026 Open archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/were-there-female-pirates

Used by Topics

Ancient and Early Modern Queer and Gender-Diverse Lives

Used by Questions

What do ancient and early modern queer lives show?

Used by Timeline Events

c. 1718–1720 CulturalPeople

Mary Read and Anne Bonny — Gender-Defying Pirates

Mary Read and Anne Bonny sailed as pirates aboard the ship of Captain 'Calico Jack' Rackham in the Caribbean. Both disguised themselves as men to serve at sea — a world entirely closed to women. Read had lived as a man from childhood, serving in the military and fighting in Flanders before turning to piracy. Bonny, who had abandoned conventional domestic life, was described by contemporaries as ferocious in combat. When their ship was captured in 1720, they were among the last crew members still fighting.