Grace O' Malley
It has been yet another
successful raid. Never mind the fact that Sir Bingham
has had ships following me around trying to hinder my success. My
ships are smaller and much more agile. My men have been trained
well
and can control the ships on their own, but they also heed my
directions immediately. McSweeney
should know better than to think that he does not have to pay me a
tax. I am the reason that these waters are safe. He has
come and gone
through MY waters before. Well, that is his loss, for my men
and I
took double the cargo we were going to charge him initially.
Although
I probably shouldn't have done that. I probably just should have
thanked him for giving my men a challenge.
McSweeney
thought that since his ships were bigger than mine that he could just
push past us. Well, he had another thing coming. It all
started off easy enough. McSweeny
was coming into port, but before he could get to close we approached
for our tax. Well, that arrogant captain just went full speed
ahead
and tried to ram us. Tactically that was the smart move, because
his
ships are bigger and had there been an impact we would have been
defeated. However, McSweeney
didn't realize how agile my own ships are. My ships gracefully
stepped
aside from his and managed to converge on his. At this point he
knew
he had lost and my men took what they wanted.
That alone would have made the day very successful. However Sir Bingham
has a tendency
to stick his overlarge nose in my business. Sir Bingham
caught the tail end of my success against McSweeney.
Unfortunately for him, however, that he was spotted before we got
underway
with our celebrations. We once again turned about to defend the
port
and the precious cargo we had just obtained. Sir Bingham's
advantage was not just the fact that he had more ships that I. He
also
had been following me around and watching my movements. He
knew
how my ships reacted, both some of their strengths and
weaknesses.
It
is with this knowledge that Sir Bingham
was even able to put up a small fight.
I
guess you could say that I was slightly arrogant as well, because he
put up more than a small fight. We fought for hours.
Neither of us
had the advantage. The sheer number of men and ships was giving
my men
a strong adversary. The swift agility of my ships compensated for
some
of his advantage, but there was no discernible victor. Nor did it
appear that there would be one anytime soon. Since neither of us
like
losing, we eventually came to a truce, for the moment. We allowed
the
other to leave to fix their ships and mend their men. We agreed,
however, that should we meet again, it would be to the death. And
death
I will have. I will not allow my men to be unprepared for our
next
encounter.
Author's Note:
Lady Grace is most known for her prowess at defending what is hers and
what she wants. This story proves to be no exception to
that. My
previous two stories have been about "unsuccessful" pirates. I
now
plan to have stories about successful pirates. I think this story
of
Lady Grace is a good shift. It shows that she was able to raid
the
McSweeney and take some of their cargo. However it also shows
that she
did not do so unscathed. Bingham was able to stop Grace from
making a
clean get away.
However, even against Bingham I would not say that Grace
lost - more
that the battle was tied. If anything, this tie will make Grace
train
her men harder, so that when she does finally meet up against
Bingham
it will be an easy defeat. Initially Bingham had the advantage
because
he had been observing Grace and her ships for a while. After
fighting them, however, that advantage is now lost. If anything,
Grace has
just
added another tool to her own arsenal, the strengths and weaknesses of
Bingham.
The next story in my project should focus on a complete victory.
I
think that this will bring the whole project around full circle.
I
think that it will also show the varying degrees of piracy.
Piracy
itself is a gamble. Therefore you are not going to win every
time.
This is true for both men and women pirates. I think that women
just
have a harder battle to get there. They should also have the
advantage
because most men would take their skill for granted. Men
would think
that it is not even going to be a close fight because they are up
against a women. Well, these women have proved their worth.
Bibliography:
Renaissance-Central by Rosemarie Colombraro. Websource
Image Information: The meeting
of Grace O' Malley and Queen Elizabeth I. Websource