Woman Pirates in the 19th Century


NameLifeYears ActiveCountry of originComments
Charlotte Badger and Catherine Hagerty1806EnglishWidely considered to be the first Australian female pirate. The ship Venus, due to a shortage of manpower, took on convicts including Badger and Hagerty as crew while in Australia. After docking at Port Dalrymple,Tasmania, the Captain went ashore and the crew seized the ship, sailing for New Zealand. Hagerty along with two other convicts, a woman named Charlotte Edgar and a child were put ashore at the Bay of Islandswith a supply of stores. Hagerty died shortly thereafter. The two men were arrested for piracy and Edgar remained to become one of the first settlers in New Zealand. Badger was never seen again.[11]
Margaret Croke (Margaret Jordan)1809Following a dispute with investors over his schooner The Three Sisters, Edward Jordan was on his way toHalifax to sort it out. Wrongly assuming his family was being sent to debtors' prison, he killed two crewman then threw the Captain overboard before commandeering the vessel with the help of the remaining crewman. The marooned Captain survived and testified against Jordan claiming Margaret, who was aboard with her son and three young daughters, was also involved. Margaret admitted hitting the Captain after he had hit her husband during an argument in her cabin before he decided to commandeer the vessel; the other crew member testified she was actually in fear for her life from her violent husband and had attempted to escape. Both Margaret and Edward were hanged for piracy.[12]
Johanna Hård1789 - 18??1823Sweden's last pirate; in 1823, recently widowed Hård, a farm owner on Vrångö Island, was arrested along with her farmhand Anders Andersson, farmer Christen Andersson, and one of Christen's farmhands Carl Börjesson and boatman Johan Andersson Flatås of Göteborg for piracy after the Danish ship Frau Mettewas found beached and plundered with a murdered crew. Evidence was presented that the five had followed the Frau Mette on Flatås fishing vessel the Styrsö and requested water. After boarding her they killed the crew. Johan Andersson Flatås, Anders Andersson, and Christen Andersson were sentenced to death and beheaded. Carl Börjesson was imprisoned in Karlstens fortress where he died 1853. The evidence against Johanna Hård was insufficient and she was released and subsequently disappeared.[13][14]
Sadie the Goat1869Operated around New York State as a member of the Charlton Street Gang. Named for her habit of headbutting her victims before taking their money.
Gertrude Imogene Stubbs alias "Gunpowder Gertie, the Pirate Queen of the Kootenays"1898-1903Fictional pirate who operated in the Kootenay Lake and river system of British Columbia, Canada. Told as an April Fools joke in the local newspaper, so many people believed it that it was later retold as historical fact on the CBC program, “This Day in History”.