Grace O’Malley was the powerful, brilliant, and diplomatic daughter of the Chieftan of the O’Malley clan in County Mayo, Ireland. She was well educated as a typical English Noblewoman but preferred the sea-faring pirate business world that her father enjoyed. Considering she was born about 1530, she was hundreds of years before her time.
I accidentally came across her as I researched the Joyce family in County Mayo for my Dad. One Joyce Cheiftan foolishly thought he could attack a “woman” and win glory for his clan. Not so. The Joyce clan lost and became subservient to the Pirate Queen.
She fought alongside the male members of her clan on the pirate ships as they acquired goods by force or diplomacy. And she successfully negotiated personally with the Queen of England to reclaim her right to be a pirate and reclaim her clan lands after losing a battle with England.
Later generations of Irish men erased her from history, but they failed to erase her from stories, legends, and songs. If she had been held up as a role model for women, the world might have been a different place.
Clew Bay, County Mayo, Ireland
You can click on the box in the upper right corner for a full view of County Mayo or to zoom in to see the tiny islands.
Clew Bay
The Joyce families lived on the tiny islands in Clew Bay on the West coast of Ireland. But my Dad did not know this when he named his sailboat “Knot A Clew.” He was fascinated by the historical context and the Pirate Queen. The red bubble marks the center of Clew Bay.
Rockfleet Castle – O’Malley
Rockfleet Castle is marked by the yellow bubble on the map of Clew Bay. This was the home of the O’Malley chieftain in the 15th century. Grace O’Malley was born and died in Rockfleet Castle according to legend. In one old map that I found, the entire area from Westport to Louisburg was marked “O Male.” With their castle on the north side of the bay, this indicates the O’Malleys controlled the entire bay.
Griffith’s Valuation
Griffiths’s Valuation took place between 1847 and 1864. Even though this was about 250 years after Grace O’Malley died, there are 801 households attached to the name Malley, O’Malley, and other common spellings of the family name in County Mayo. There were 431 households with the name Joyce.
Mr. Griffith and his team numbered all the tiny islands in Clew Bay. The largest island is Clare (No. 23) and is where Grace O’Malley was educated.
Patrick Joyce rented Island 68 from the Marquis of Sligo. The island was roughly 50 meters by 50 meters or about 26,000 square feet in 1855. Now those islands are underwater.
Imagine living on one of these islands without electricity or running water. Could you cut your own peat from the surrounding bogs and use that for heat and cooking? You fished and grew your own food. If you wanted to see someone outside of your family you had to take a boat. If you wanted more than you could grow, you scavenged shipwrecks with your clan.
Pirate Queen O’Malley
Being a pirate was a survival skill. And Grace O’Malley was one of the best.
