Grace O'Malley was a real pirate. She was born in the late 1520s or early 1530s in Connaught on the northwest coast of Ireland. Her nickname in Gaelic was Granuaile.

Grace's childhood home was the fortress of Belcare. It was there that her father, Owen O'Malley (also known as Dubhdara [Black Oak] O'Malley) taught her to sail. Sailing was traditionally a male skill. Grace was fortunate to learn sailing, which was the basis of two of the main family income sources, piracy and fishing. The O'Malley clan also enjoyed hunting and gambling.

When she was about 16, she married the son of a neighboring chieftain. His name was Donal O'Flaherty. Donal was known for his battling and for his pride. His nickname was Donal-an-Chogaidh (Donal of the Battles). But his enemies had another nickname for him, An Cullagh (the Cock or Rooster). His castle was called Cock's Castle.

After about 15 or so years of marriage and three children, Donal was attacked and killed. The Joyce clan was presumed to be responsible. After they killed Donal, they attacked Cock's Castle. Grace O'Malley fought off the attack and defeated them. The castle has been known as Caislean-an-Circa (Hen's Castle) since then.

Despite her bravery and skill, she was not allowed to become chieftain after her husband died. She got a small portion of his land and then returned to her father's house. Going against custom, many of Donal's men followed her as their leader.

Grace continued to make her living as a pirate. Legend is that she gave birth to her fourth child, Theobald (also known as Tibbot), on-board her ship. The next day, they were attacked. They almost lost the battle until Grace came above decks to give her men a short, but to-the-point speech, "May you be seven times worse off this day for twelve months who cannot do without me for one day."

Eventually, Grace married again. She also continued to raid ships along the coast. In the spring of 1577, she was caught and imprisoned. Eventually, she was moved to Dublin Castle. Imprisonment in Dublin Castle almost always meant death. Although her son Owen was killed, she was released in 1579.

In the later years of her life, Grace and her clan were repeatedly harassed by the English governor of Connaught, Richard Bingham. At the age of 63, Grace sailed to London and had an audience with Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth granted her a stipend and the release of her son Tibbot from prison. She also ordered Bingham to stop harassing Grace and her clan.

Grace O'Malley was still leading raids from the deck of her ship as late as 1601. She died around 1603.

For an excellent biography of her and other woman pirates, read Booty, Girl Pirates on the High Seas by Sara Lorimer, 2002 Chronicle Press, San Francisco, California.