Pirates In Ireland

Pirates In Ireland

If you come on any tours of Ireland you will come across references to PIRATES !!

But dont worry if you are on a cruise ship…you wont meet any live ones.

There were several pirates with Irish connections , the two most famous of them women.

Anne Bonny (c. 1700) was the bastard child of a Cork lawyer and the family maid , who sailed first to Carolina , where she escaped from a weak husband to take up with pirates. Disguising herself as a man , she had a brief and unusual career before being tried and sentenced to be hanged for piracy in Jamaica. Pregnant , her sentence was delayed until the delivery of the baby , after which she disappeared.

Grainne (Grace) O’Malley (c. 1530 – c.1603) assumed control of the family domains on the Atlantic coast of Mayo on her husbands death. Her ships harassed the British fleets on the West coast of Ireland until her arrest by Sir Richard Bingham in 1586. She was ultimately spared and even had an audience with Queen Elizabeth I in London , where she is said to have assumed regal equality with the English monarch and insisted on speaking only in Irish.

Ireland tours have so much more to offer than just scenery. The history is varied , colourful , and often….unexpected !!