Although almost all pirate captains and admirals were men, there were a few female authority figures in the world of piracy—most notably Queen Elizabeth I of England. Dig into the backstories of other “pirate queens” including Ingela Gathenhielm; Grace O’Malley; Sayyida al-Hurra; and Cheng I Sao, who commanded tens of thousands of pirates in her fleet of 400 ships.