Powerful on land and sea: an analysis of history's attitude to the lives and careers of two female pirates; Grainne Mhaol and Anne Bonny

This dissertation is concerned with assessing historians' attitudes to women in history and, more specifically, to women in piracy (which has traditionally been considered a male preserve) by comparing the lives of two female pirates, Grainne Mhaol and Anne Bonny. Although both women chose piracy as a career, their reasons for doing so were extremely different. Grainne turned to piracy because legitimate trading was unavailable to her, due to English control of Galway city. Anne turned to piracy as a means of escaping a loveless marriage and the rigid social roles of early 18th century America. The culture in which each woman grew up, and the historical status of women in these cultures, had a major influence on their ability to achieve high status as pirates. By analysing the reasons why their careers and fame as pirates were so different I have shown that, although their contemporaries accepted them as pirates, historians have deleted them from history, dismissing them as fictitious characters or prostitutes or lesbians. The result has been the creation of an illusion in which piracy was an entirely male domain.