Thanks for the headsup! I am always on the lookout for more info! I'll likely give this one a read, and (unless someone beats me to the punch) will come back and let ya know what I think.

Coyote Breath... There was an "Anne Bonny" and a "Mary Read", but so far as I know, no famous "Mary Bonny". Incidentally, they were shipmates (Ann and Mary). Mary disguised as a man with very few the wiser, and Ann the Captains woman, who dressed in whatever she liked but never tried to disguise the fact that she was female. The legend goes that Ann discovered the truth about Mary, and they became close friends (Mary being the only other woman on the crew). Captain Calico Jack Rackham grew quite jealous of the time they spent, and eventually, Mary had to reveal her secret to him to assuage his ego (and to keep from pissing off the Captain too much). Mary was reported to have fought a duel for her "Husband" (a shipmate), and at the last moment before slaying her opponent, revealed her gender so as to make the loss all the worse for the poor sot. I believe I read that she was raised by a relative as a boy for some sort of inheritance reasons, and so became used to life as a male at an early age. In the end, it is said that, when the ship was captured, it was the *women* who fought longest and hardest. One of them is reported as saying that, had they (the crew, or maybe more specifically, the Captain) fought like men, they would not have been captured, and so they deserved their fate (hanging).

Both women got a stay of execution, as they were both said to be pregnant. Mary died in jail, and I am unsure what happened to Ann. There is a woman *claiming* to be the descendent of Ann Bonny. I have heard it said that Ann got out of jail, and moved on to a more sedate, married life here in the "Colonies", though I do not know if this is complete myth.

A little more history on "Cheng I Sau" (who I came to know as "Madam Ching").

She was not only the most successful female Pirate. She was the most succesful pirate of *EITHER* gender in recorded history. She inherited her fleet after her husband died, and continued the "business" on her own with rather a great deal of success. Yes, fleet. She had a few hundred ships, I believe.

No female pirate compendium would be complete without her, and I am surprised that so many others have *no* mention at all about her.

Likely some of this is due to the fact that she was not a pirate from the "Golden Age of Piracy" (which also happens to represent specific places in the world moreso than others, as well as a certain time period).

Let's not forget that, though Grace O'Malley is called a "pirate", really, she was a Privateer, as she had a letter of mark from Queen Elizabeth I. So long as she only sacked the ships of the enemies of the crown, she was not considered a "Pirate" by her government.

I hope I have most of that right...it's been a long time since I read my Pirate history books.

And finally, a topic I know a little something about! ;D