In a shocking revelation from history, the harrowing fate of captured female pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy has resurfaced, leaving modern audiences aghast. The brutal reality for women like Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who defied societal norms and took to the seas, was one of merciless trials and grim consequences, often determined long before they ever stood in a courtroom.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, British Admiralty Courts showed no leniency for women who dared to take up piracy. These courts, devoid of juries and fairness, swiftly condemned female pirates not just for their crimes against the empire but for transgressing deeply ingrained gender norms. Witnesses were coerced, and testimonies manipulated, ensuring that justice was a mere façade.

Bonny and Read, captured in 1720, faced a predetermined fate. Their desperate bid for mercy—pleading pregnancy—was a fleeting reprieve, illustrating the dire circumstances women faced. Many were not so fortunate, meeting their ends at Execution Dock, where public hangings served as chilling reminders of the empire’s unforgiving grip on piracy.

Public floggings preceded executions, subjecting women to brutal humiliation, while others vanished into lives of concubinage or slavery, their identities erased. Captured female pirates were often confined aboard rotting prison ships, enduring disease and maltreatment, their stories lost in the annals of history.

This urgent rediscovery of the brutal realities faced by female pirates underscores a dark chapter of gendered oppression and imperial control. Their stories, once silenced, demand recognition. As we reflect on their fates, we must ask: what does their erasure from history reveal about power, justice, and the voices we choose to remember? The echoes of their suffering resonate in the silence of the gallows, demanding to be heard.