Nine pirates, from Grace O'Malley to Ching Shih: who they were, what they really did, and which famous stories about them are fact and which are legend.
Each one has a map tour at getridoftheteacher.com/pirates
The pirate queen of Ireland, who sailed to London to bargain with Queen Elizabeth.
| Born | About 1530, in the west of Ireland |
|---|---|
| Died | About 1603, at Rockfleet Castle, County Mayo |
| Irish name | Gráinne Ní Mháille |
| Base | Clew Bay, with castles on Clare Island and at Rockfleet |
| Ships | Galleys: fast ships with sails and oars, rowed by up to 30 men |
Fact: the meeting with Elizabeth really happened; the letters about it are still kept in London. Legend, maybe: that she cut off her hair as a girl, that she would not bow to the Queen, and the story of the Howth Castle gate. Nobody wrote those down at the time.
The Welsh buccaneer who raided Spain's richest towns and ended up a knight and governor.
| Born | About 1635, in Wales |
|---|---|
| Died | August 25, 1688, in Port Royal, Jamaica |
| Sailed for | England, as a privateer with permission from the governor of Jamaica |
| Base | Port Royal, Jamaica |
| Famous raids | Portobelo 1668, Maracaibo 1669, Panama 1671 |
Fact: the raids, and the fire ship at Maracaibo, are told by people who were there, including the buccaneer Alexander Exquemelin. But Exquemelin's book made Morgan out to be crueler than Morgan said he was, and Morgan sued the book's publishers in London, and won. The rum named after him came more than 250 years later.
The "King of Pirates", who made the richest robbery of his time and was never caught.
| Born | About 1659, probably near Plymouth, England |
|---|---|
| Died | Nobody knows |
| Also called | Henry Avery, John Avery, Long Ben |
| Ship | The Fancy, once the Charles the Second |
| Famous for | Taking the Mughal Emperor's ship Ganj-i-Sawai in 1695 |
Fact: the mutiny, the robbery and the hunt are all in court papers. Legend: plays and books soon told that he married the Emperor's daughter and ruled a pirate kingdom in Madagascar. None of that is true. One writer said he died poor in England, but nobody really knows.
The pirate hunter who was hanged as a pirate, and left the most famous buried treasure.
| Born | About 1654, in Dundee, Scotland |
|---|---|
| Died | May 23, 1701, at Execution Dock, London |
| Sailed for | King William the Third and a group of rich English lords |
| Ship | The Adventure Galley, then the Quedagh Merchant |
| Home | New York, with his wife Sarah and their daughters |
Fact: the Gardiners Island treasure was real, and was dug up in 1699. Legend: that more of his treasure is still hidden somewhere. People have dug for it on islands from Nova Scotia to Japan. Historians still argue whether he was really a pirate or a privateer treated unfairly by his powerful partners.
"Black Sam", the young pirate captain whose ship was the first pirate wreck ever proven by its own name.
| Born | 1689, in Devon, England |
|---|---|
| Died | April 26, 1717, in the wreck of the Whydah off Cape Cod |
| Also called | Black Sam, the Prince of Pirates |
| Ship | The Whydah Gally |
| Famous for | Capturing more than 50 ships in about a year |
Fact: the wreck of the Whydah was found in 1984, and its bell carries its name. Legend, maybe: the story of Maria Hallett, the Cape Cod girl he was going back to see. People on Cape Cod have told it for 300 years, but no record from the time mentions her.
The most famous pirate of all, who scared people more than he hurt them.
| Real name | Edward Teach or Edward Thatch |
|---|---|
| Born | About 1680, probably in Bristol, England |
| Died | November 22, 1718, at Ocracoke, North Carolina |
| Ship | Queen Anne's Revenge, about 40 cannons |
| Famous for | Blockading Charleston harbor in 1718 |
Fact: the wreck of Queen Anne's Revenge was found in 1996, and its cannons are in a museum. Legend: that he lit fuses in his beard (the book that says so, written in 1724, says under his hat), that he had fourteen wives, and that his treasure is buried somewhere. He told people he had hidden it where only he and the devil could find it.
The two women who sailed with Calico Jack, and fought when the men would not.
| Anne Bonny | Born about 1700 in County Cork, Ireland; grew up in Charleston, South Carolina; what became of her is unknown |
|---|---|
| Mary Read | Born about 1690 in London; died in prison in Jamaica in April 1721 |
| Captain | John Rackham, called Calico Jack |
| Ship | The sloop William, stolen from Nassau in 1720 |
| Caught | At Negril Point, Jamaica, late in 1720 |
Fact: their trial was printed in 1721, and you can still read it. Most of their life stories, though, come from one book, A General History of the Pyrates, written in 1724 by a Captain Charles Johnson, and nobody knows who he really was. Some of what he wrote is true and some is made up, and historians are still sorting out which is which.
"Black Bart", who took more ships than any other pirate of his time.
| Born | 1682, as John Roberts, in Pembrokeshire, Wales |
|---|---|
| Died | February 10, 1722, at Cape Lopez, Gabon |
| Also called | Black Bart |
| Ship | The Royal Fortune, a name he gave to several ships in turn |
| Famous for | Capturing more than 400 ships in under three years |
Fact: his articles, the rules his crew signed, were written down at the time. Legend, maybe: that he never drank anything but tea. People said so, and it may be true. He was certainly unlike most pirates: he wore fine red clothes and was said to dislike drunkenness on his ship.
The pirate queen of China, who led one of the biggest pirate fleets in history and retired in peace.
| Born | About 1775, in Guangdong, China |
|---|---|
| Died | 1844, in Canton (Guangzhou), China |
| Also called | Zheng Yi Sao, the wife of Zheng Yi |
| Fleet | The Red Flag Fleet: hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of pirates |
| Famous for | Beating the Chinese navy, and bargaining her fleet's way to a pardon in 1810 |
Fact: Chinese government records and the diary of Richard Glasspoole, an Englishman the pirates held for eleven weeks, both tell of her fleet. Legend: the numbers. People say 1,800 ships and 70,000 pirates, but nobody counted, and historians think the whole pirate alliance may have been smaller.
| Name | Lived | Who they were |
|---|---|---|
| Grace O'Malley | about 1530 – about 1603 | The pirate queen of Ireland, who sailed to London to bargain with Queen Elizabeth. |
| Henry Morgan | about 1635 – 1688 | The Welsh buccaneer who raided Spain's richest towns and ended up a knight and governor. |
| Henry Every | about 1659 – unknown | The "King of Pirates", who made the richest robbery of his time and was never caught. |
| William Kidd | about 1654 – 1701 | The pirate hunter who was hanged as a pirate, and left the most famous buried treasure. |
| Samuel Bellamy | 1689 – 1717 | "Black Sam", the young pirate captain whose ship was the first pirate wreck ever proven by its own name. |
| Blackbeard | about 1680 – 1718 | The most famous pirate of all, who scared people more than he hurt them. |
| Anne Bonny and Mary Read | about 1700 – unknown, and about 1690 – 1721 | The two women who sailed with Calico Jack, and fought when the men would not. |
| Bartholomew Roberts | 1682 – 1722 | "Black Bart", who took more ships than any other pirate of his time. |
| Ching Shih | about 1775 – 1844 | The pirate queen of China, who led one of the biggest pirate fleets in history and retired in peace. |
Dates with "about" are not known for certain. Pirates were robbers, and many of them hurt people; these pages tell what they did without making it a game.