“It is said that I have a fortune in fine cloths and jewels, and that I am richer than a queen. Not all of this is true. But it is true that I am fearless, that my real home is the sea, and that I have friends everywhere, from here to China and on to Madagascar.”

A crew of pirates of every colour and barrels of rum. Pirates singing, laughing, and coming to blows on the deck. Pirates celebrating the umpteenth victorious boarding in the Caribbean sea, and in their midst, the most daring of them all. Here he is, you can just make him out…but wait a minute…he’s no ugly mug, he’s a girl with honey blonde hair! And how does a girl get to be on a ship emblazoned with the Jolly Roger, the black and white flag of the pirates with its skull and crossbones? The story is a long one, just like her hair, now short, so very very short, was once so very long. Susan left London to seek her fortune, dressed as a boy, because it was safer that way and boys got paid better. She had sails on her mind and in her eyes. Ships to board, treasure chests to prise open, and in her soul vessels in flames, canons, battles, and hand-to-hand combat. The treasure? You want to know if there was any treasure? You bet there was!

This is the story of Susan the Pirate who nobody has ever truly known. An enigma to herself and others. Dressed as a man she crossed the seas and fought in battles, fearless in the face of peril, commanding the respect of her companions. She was not the only female pirate. Other young women chose to board merchant ships dressed as men and later on, the pirate vessels. Why did they do it? To flee from hunger, to see the world, to be free. Or more simply in order to become wealthy. The story of Susan is inspired by the life of Anne Bonny (1702-1782) and Mary Read (1685-1721), the two most famous female pirates who ever truly existed and who, along with Calico Jack, animated a much feared pirates’ crew in the Caribbean sea.