Piracy is normally considered to be a macho, bloke dominated domain and in the most part I guess that’s pretty true. Black Beard, Blue Beard, Red Beard – all blokes. I’d say that in general it’s the males that tend to be the most vicious and bone headed gender. Personally I blame testosterone and a genetic predisposition for showing off, but that’s just my theory. Throughout history however, there have been a fair few female pirates rummaging around the high seas. Here’s a couple of my personal favourites from the mists of time. Let’s begin in 19th century NY with Sadie the Goat….

1) Sadie The Goat

Sadie Farrell, or Sadie the Goat, started out as a notorious and vicious gang leader in New York’s “bloody” 4th Ward. The 4th Ward was a particularly violent place to live and at the time had one of the highest population densities in the world. Just making it to your 21st birthday was considered a victory.

Sadie started her criminality on dry land and was renowned for her odd mugging technique: she would head-butt her victims in the stomach (hence the name “Goat”) giving her male colleagues a chance to give the victim a slung-shot. A slung-shot, just so you know, was when a ruffian would tie a knot in a thick bit of rope and smash it round someone’s head. Apparently it was quite effective.

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