Hidden Britain AtlasOpen the map
All places › Pirates
Pirate

Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen

Rockfleet Castle, County Mayo

An Irish chieftain who ruled the western seas and met Elizabeth I face to face.

Gráinne Ní Mháille, or Grace O'Malley, led her family's fleet of ships along the west coast of Ireland, trading, raiding and demanding payment from passing ships. Legend says she gave birth at sea and fought off Algerian pirates the next day.

Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.

Open Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen on the mapReport a sighting here
When
c.1530–1603
Where
53.8900, -9.6700
Group
Pirates

Visiting

Rockfleet Castle stands on an inlet near Newport. Clare Island, her family's base, has her tomb.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

Buy on AmazonAll books by Cale Mills

Nearby mysteries