Women at sea

There were women who made a life at sea either by choice, by chance, or by destiny. Some of the most notorious figures are prostitutes, slaves, fisherwomen, navywomen and pirates. There were a few women who went to sea with their seafaring husbands and became proficient sailors. The most romanticised and best known were the female pirates, one of whom is an ancestor of my husband's family - Grace O'Malley, my hero. She stowed aboard her father's ship dressed as a boy to go to sea. She was actually queen of the O'Maille Clan in the West of Ireland who commanded a fleet of vessels that became privateers out of necessity.

Here is a list of the most prominent women in sailing today. Naturally, there are many more, but these are skippers who have accomplished remarkable feats in a world previously belonging mostly to men.

**Contemporary Women Achievers in Sailing**
Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz	1976–1978	First woman to perform a single-handed circumnavigation.
Naomi James	1977–1978	First woman to perform a single-handed circumnavigation via Cape Horn.
Isabelle Autissier	1987-today	France, the first to attempt solo circumnavigation in round-the-world races Mini-Transat BOC, Vendee Globe, Around Alone
Tania Aebi	1985-1987	Maiden Voyage solo (almost) circumnavigation from New York on a 26 footer, Varuna. Youngest (at age 18-20) and first American woman to complete a solo circumnavigation
Kay Cottee	1988	First woman to perform a solo non-stop circumnavigation
Dawn Riley	1992-today	First captain of America's Cup Team (America3) and America's Cup Syndicate
Dame Ellen MacArthur	Now	The grand dame of the seas: my hero! Breaking records wherever she goes. Fastest person around the world in 71 days 14 hours in 2005.
Dee Caffari	2006	First woman to solo circumnavigate westabout (the hard way around) nonstop. Took 178 days.

For more information about women's achievements in sailing, visit the ISAF UK website. They have some terrific things there.

The following is a list of the known female pirates and privateers. If there is more information on a specific woman, a link is attached. If you know of others to be added please contact us.

Female pirates and privateers
Name	Time Period	Location
Queen Teuta	232 BC to 228 BC	Adriatic Sea
Sela	420 AD	A Viking Princess
Hetha	around 704 AD	Nordic Sea
Wigbiorg	around 704 AD	Nordic Sea
Wisna	around 704 AD	Nordic Sea
Alvilda (aka AElfhild, Alwilda, Alfhild)	Anywhere from 5th - 12th century	Sweden
Ladgerda	870 AD	A Viking
Jane de Belleville	mid-1300s	France / England
Jeanne de Clisson	1343	Fought with the British against the French for Brittany's independence. Nicknamed: "The Lioness of Brittany"
Jeanne de Montfort	1343	Fought with the British against the French for Brittany's independence. Nicknamed: "The Flame"
Grace O'Malley, a.k.a. Granuaile, Grana Weil, Graun'ya Uaile, "Queen of the West"	1500s	Atlantic Ocean : Ireland . Commanded three galleys and hundreds of men. Flew the White Seahorse aboard her ship the Moytura. Sailed up the Thames to see Queen Elizabeth.
Lady Mary Killigrew	1530-1570	Atlantic : Great Britian
Elizabeth Shirland	late 1500s	England
Mrs. Peter Lambert	late 1500s	Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Elizabetha Patrickson	1634
Charlotte de Berry	1640s	England
Maria Lindsey Cobham	18th century	England , Americas , France
Anne Bonny	1720	Caribbean
Mary Read	1720	Caribbean
Mary Harley (or Harvey) alias Mary Farlee	1726	Americas
Mary Crickett (or Crichett)	1728/1729	colony of Virginia
Rachel Wall (Scmidt)	1780s	Boston , Massachusetts
Anonymous female commander of French privateer LA BAUGOURT	1805	France
Catherine Hagerty	1806	Australia , New Zealand
Margaret Jordan	1809	Canada
Madame Ching	1800s	South China Sea
Mary Lovell	19th Century	Pacific/Asian waters
Gunpowder Gertie	late 1800s	Canada
Honcho Lo and Wong	1921	China
Lai Sho Sz'en (Lai Choi San)	1922-1939	South China Sea
P'en Ch'ih Ch'iko	1936	Led 1000 pirates
Huang P'ei-mei	1937 - 1950s	Leader of 50,000 pirates

For more on women seafarers, books/websites:

The White Seahorse by Eleanor Fairburn about Grace O'Malley
Granuaile by Anne Chambers about Grace O'Malley
Bold in Her Breeches: Women Pirates Across the Ages by Jo Stanley
Women Pirates and the Politics of the Jolly Roger by Ulrike Klausman
Hen Frigates: Passion and Peril, Nineteenth-Century Women at Sea by Joan Druett
Iron Men, Wooden Women: Gender and Seafaring in the Atlantic World, 1700-1920 by Margaret S. Creighton
She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea by Joan Druett
Seafaring Women by Linda Grant De Pauw
History of the Pirates of all Nations published in 1836
Anne Bonny and Mary Read: Fearsome Female Pirates of the Eighteenth Century by Aileen Weintraub
The Pirate Trial of Anne Bonny and Mary Read by Tamara Eastman
Daring Pirate Women by Anne Wallace Sharp
About Women Pirates by Jacqueline Church Simonds
Women Sailors and Sailors' Women by David Cordingly
Women Pirates: Eight Stories of Adventure by Myra Weatherly
Women of the Sea: Ten Pirate Stories by Myra Weatherly
Sisters of the Sea: Anne Bonny & Mary Read, Pirates of the Caribbean by Sandra Riley
Websites
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Women at sea

Contemporary Women Achievers in Sailing

For more on women seafarers, books/websites: