From swashbuckling heroines to weary prostitutes, images of women pirates have been as varied and colourful as the seas on which they have plied their centuries-old trade. As far back as 480 BC, when Artemisia commanded her Greek trireme, women have taken to the high seas in pursuit of life and liberty; but the realities of their lives have been lost in a murky fog of sexual and racial preconceptions.

Contributors Anne Chambers, Dian Murray and Julie Wheelwright, as well as editor Jo Stanley, take a wholly fresh look at these mythical figures and give us a riveting insight into a wild and salty world hitherto all but obscured from view.

"To shine a harsh light into these half forgotten pockets of women's experience is what gives feminist history a good name… In the case of pirates, well, thieves and murderers they may have been, but it still delights us that women before Margaret Thatcher proved themselves so nonchalantly capable of leading warlike bands of desperate men and escaping to a quiet retirement at the end of the tale."
SUNDAY TIMES

"This book succeeds admirably. It is by turns questioning, sceptical, imaginative, personal. The authors reconstruct, suppose and, above all, tell what can be known. It's written with wit and a light touch."
EVERYWOMAN