THE PIRATE QUEEN OF IRELAND
Grace O’Malley had given birth just hours earlier, but as she stood on the deck of her ship, the fearless pirate queen knew there was no time to rest. A band of other pirates had attacked and boarded her vessel, and she had to lead her crew against them and protect her newborn son. O’Malley grabbed her sword and rallied her men for a counterattack. By the time the fighting was over, she had captured the other pirate ship for herself.
A fascinating description was recorded by Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, who met O’Malley in 1577: “A most famous, feminine sea captain... famous for her stoutness of courage... commanding three galleys and 200 fighting men... This was a most notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland.”
Gráinne Ni Mháille, anglicised to Grace O’Malley, led her own fleet with hundreds of men, spent nearly a lifetime at sea, and came face-to-face with one of the most powerful monarchs of the age, a woman she regarded as an equal.
Born in around 1530 in County Mayo, in western Ireland, O’Malley was the only daughter of chieftain Dudara O’Malley of the kingdom of Umhall. Ireland had its own distinct legal
