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County Mayo, Ireland Grace O’Malley

WHILE GROWING UP ON THE IRISH COAST IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, Grace O’Malley had a dream: to sail the seas with her father. When he objected that her long hair would get tangled in the ropes, she chopped it off. That antic not only earned her a ticket aboard, but a reputation for fearlessness, and the nicknames Gráinne Mhaol (meaning Grace the Bald) and Granuaile. All served her well: for the next sixty years, O’Malley terrorized the coasts as a pirate, chieftain, lover, and mother, emerging as a great legend in Irish history.

O’Malley’s first husband—with whom she bore three children—died young in battle, and she dealt with the loss by sailing back and forth between the Baltics and Spain for amber, silk, weapons, and wine (some of which she bought, much of which she stole). In time, she met “Iron Dick” Burke, owner of the swanky Rockfleet Castle, and after a brief courtship they married under Brehon law, which states “for one year, certain.” They say she divorced him after the trial run and kept the castle. By then, she was an international outlaw, and authorities offered a handsome reward for her capture. In 1593, the British seized several members of her family as prisoners, and she sailed to England to petition Queen Elizabeth for their release. Though O’Malley refused to bow before Her Majesty—saying she herself was a queen, and furthermore, not an English subject—Elizabeth took a liking to her, and granted amnesty under the condition that the O’Malleys stop pilfering from Great Britain. She agreed, but quickly resumed her pirate ways, albeit mostly against the “enemies” of England.

Commune with O’Malley’s spirit in County Mayo, Ireland, an endless stretch of pristine beaches and islands that were nearly emptied during the Potato Famine. A seven-foot, four-inch bronze sculpture of the pirate queen was unveiled at Westport House a few years ago, and her Rockfleet Castle still stands near Newport (and is open to the public during the summer). Hop on a boat at a nearby pier and sail to Clare, the mountainous island she called home (as do about 200 people today). On the eastern edge of the island are the ruins of a tower house known as Grace O’Malley’s Castle; near the southern coast is a small Cistercian abbey that contains the O’Malley tomb, that reads, “Invincible on Land and Sea.”

Then enjoy exploring the rest of County Mayo, which is well off the beaten path (though that might change once O’Malley’s life becomes the subject of a new Broadway musical called The Pirate Queen). Scuba divers will delight in the sea life: everything from squat lobsters and cuckoo wrasse to tompot blennies. The best time to visit the region is during the first two weeks of August, when locals throw a joyous festival called Scoil Acla that includes much singing and dancing on the rocky headlands of Achill Island. Then spend a few days at the world-class Delphi Mountain Resort and Spa, where you can dine on Killary mussels and sea bass after a long, hard day of tai chi and seaweed treatments.

RECOMMENDED READING

Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O’Malley by Anne Chambers