I posted the following under a different topic, but I thought that people looking for stuff on pirates or female pirates specifically might not find it. So I decided female pirates needed a topic all their own. I've already done all of these searches. I may as well give it to as many other writers as I can.
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Here are some links for Calico Jack Rackham, female pirates, and pirates in general. Mary Read and Anne Bonney were the female pirates who sailed with him. Another interesting subject might be modern pirates that still sail the seas, or cyber piracy.
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/lennon/897/rackam.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Jack
http://tiny.pl/8691 (Surnames that reveal Pirate ancestry - the Telegraph)
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/femalepirates/Female_Pirates.htm
There have been female pirates since the times of the Vikings. Grace O'Malley was a famous Irish pirate, who sailed around the time of Queen Elizabeth. If I ever do a historical book about pirates, or historical fiction, I'd love to do something on her.
I still can't find the documentary that I was originally thinking about. If I do, I'll post a link here, but here's a ton of stuff on Amazon about Grace O'Malley.
Note from moderator: edited to create [TOPIC] and to put in the tiny URLs.
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2005: In Back of the North Wind -- WINNER!
2006: Leopard's Paw -- WINNER!
2007: The Old Straight Track (finished) -- WINNER!
2008: The Other Side of the Wall -- WINNER!
2009: ???
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Sep 28, 2008 - 04 12
A couple of the links aren't working right. Here's the last link about Grace O'Malley.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywor...
And here's the surname link.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1560559/Surnames-that-reveal-Pira...
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Sep 28, 2008 - 09 29
Grace O'Malley wasn't really a pirate. She was a merchant captain.
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Sep 28, 2008 - 19 23
Technically during that time she was viewed as a pirate, among the British anyway.
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Sep 29, 2008 - 23 57
bump
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Oct 2, 2008 - 16 45
(I hope you don't mind me adding on!)
There is also a very badass Chinese woman who was called Cheng I Sao (also Ching Shih, etc.). She is probably THE most successful pirate ever, if only for that humongous fleet she promptly took over after her husband died and for her shrewd business tactics. Especially for her eventual monopoly of piracy in China. She even ended up with a happy ending: the Chinese government offered amnesty to all her pirates and herself if she would stop pirating and she died as a 69-year-old grandmother.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Shih
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/worklife/08/27/woman.pirate/index.html
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Oct 9, 2008 - 12 13
For the most part, female pirates where wenches, there to please the men. No joke. I had a friend that did a presentation for kids at a museum about pirates and she said she couldn't say much about female pirates, for that reason. Even the famous woman pirates were like that.
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Nov 3, 2008 - 15 59
I'm not sure about the real historical ones, but there is a historic-fiction book series that seems pretty realistic for the time period and such about a female pirate. (Well, she doesn't get into pirating untill the fourth book, but it still is really useful.) The author was a naval officer. Its the Bloody Jack series. Its very interesting, and might help, if you've got time to read it that is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Jack_(novel)
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Nov 4, 2008 - 17 14
Anne Bonney and Mary Reade are two really well known, historical, female pirates, but there were others.
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Nov 4, 2008 - 17 14
Anne Bonny and Mary Reade are two really well known, historical, female pirates, but there were others.
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Nov 14, 2008 - 07 11
And Bloody Anne Bonny does have her own Action Figure.
http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/anne-bonny-pirate-action-figure-5
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Nov 14, 2008 - 08 10
Belit, of R. E. Howard's Conan story 'Queen of the Black Coast' is an interesting fictional pirate queen, if you're interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%AAlit_(Robert_E._Howard)
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Nov 14, 2008 - 12 05
What are you TALKING about?!
I have read a great deal on Grace O'Malley and she is one of my personal heroes. The English sure considered her a pirate, with multiple (and occasionally successful) attempts at her arrest. She took over her father's trade. ^_^
This woman also got married several times, once under a traditional agreement that if after 1 year either party was unsatisfied they could declare the marriage annulled...because she liked the guy's castle. He went a way and when he returned he was locked out and she screamed form the wall "I renounce you!"
When her ship was attacked only hours after the birth of one of her suns, she fought anyway. And won.
She captured and plundered countless ships. She was the definition of a pirate.
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Sometimes, things are set in stone;
Sometimes you have to set them there with a plastic spork.