Anne Bonny and Mary Read weren't captains. Grace O' Malley was. She even met with the queen of England, Elizabeth I...
She was nicknamed "Granuaille", which means bald, because she cut her hair short to appear more like a man. She was said to be very resolute, stalwart and brave.
Grace was born about 1530 in Connaught, on the west coast of Ireland. Her father was a chieftain on Clare Island and at Belclare, and had ships that did fishing, trading and, --- pirating. Grace went to sea as a young girl on them. When she was sixteen she married Donal O' Flaherty, and moved to Donal's castle. She had three children by him, but then, he died and Grace returned to her father, taking up the command of the O' Malley fleet.
She married again. This time to Richard Burke, another chieftain, and moved her base of operations to Rockfleet Castle in County Mayo. This was her land home for the rest of the thirty seven years of her life. (You can still see Rockfleet Castle today on the damp, windy coast of Ireland.)
Clew Bay was where Grace anchored her fleet. whose ships were galleys, having oars, besides sails. Ireland was under the rule of the English, whose queen was the formidable Elizabeth Tudor. British aristocratic officials exerted an terribly oppressive rule on the Irish. (Everyone knows this, I guess.) So, the local Irish chieftains were constantly in rebellion. This rebellion included Grace, naturally. Grace's ships also, being piratical, preyed upon Irish chieftains and Irish merchants. In the 1570s arguments against her by the merchants caused the governor of Connaught, Sir Edward Fitton, to send an expedition against her. But, Grace's forces beat them back.
Her husband Richard died in 1583 and Grace realized she was in trouble because, according to Irish tradition, a wife had no right to her husband's lands. So, she raided and raided and raided again. The man who succeeded Sir Edward Fitton as governor, Richard Bingham, became very upset about this and sent a mighty force against her, impounding her fleet at Clew Bay. In answer to this Grace, in desperation, sent a missive to Elizabeth the queen.
Elizabeth granted her an audience. They met at Greenwich palace in September of 1593. Grace promised to defend Elizabeth's lands from all her enemies. She must have really impressed the queen because a few days later Elizabeth sent a letter to Richard Bingham to "sort out some maintanence for the rest of her living for her old years". (Elizabeth was a very canny woman and could be a bit unscrupulous; this was NOT the first time she'd dealt with pirates, of course... Remember Francis Drake?)
Grace O' Malley died about 1603 at Rockfleet. Her son Tibbot then faithfully continued Grace's promise to defend Queen Elizabeth.
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