A PIRATE CAPTAIN CANNOT SAIL her ship without her crew; I too would be rudderless without the support of many wonderful people. I am deeply in debt to far too many people to thank everyone by name—if you feel you ought to be on this list, you definitely are! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you to my excellent agent, John Rudolph, who first had the idea that lady pirates deserved a book all their own. You have expertly guided me through the writing process every step of the way, and I will be forever grateful. Thank you to Jerome Pohlen, Ellen Hornor, and all of the lovely people at Chicago Review Press. It was a pleasure making this story into a book with you. I also owe a big thank-you to the whip-smart Jia Tolentino, who first gave my lady pirates a home at Jezebel.
A book like this required a staggering amount of research, and I could not have done it without the expert advice and counsel of a few brilliant people. Thank you to Dian Murray, who gave invaluable critique on Cheng I Sao. Carolyn McTaggart explained to me how Gunpowder Gertie came to life. Cindy Vallar helped me visualize what this book could be very early on and was a deep font of wisdom for all sorts of persnickety research questions throughout my writing. Thank you! Madeleine Smith, Caterin Obando, and my mom babysat my son so I could do all that research in the library, so heartfelt thanks to all of you. I also must thank all the wonderful librarians at Georgetown University and the Library of Congress (and heck, librarians everywhere) for all their help.
Thanks to all my friends who have held my hand, been my cheerleader, and sent me baked goods through the mail to lead me through (in alphabetical order): Alicia Carpenter, Laura Dupuy, Cara Narkun, Trystan Popish, Dauren Velez, and especially my longtime reader Bob Sorokanich. Eric Ray deserves extraspecial thanks for providing endless statistics and commentary, proofreading/fact-checking, and talking me off the ledge more than once. Eric, I wish I knew as much about the sea as you do, but I am at least smart enough to have you as a friend. All of you are heroes, and I could not have made it without you!
I have to thank my incredible family, without whom I would never have been brave enough to try to be a writer in the first place. Thank you, Mom and Dad, thank you, Victoria, and thank you, PJ. You guys are the absolute best. I am so lucky to have such an awesomely loving and supportive family.
The biggest of thank-yous goes to my wonderful husband, Tom, who, when I told him I was not going to be a practicing lawyer but was going to write a book about pirates instead, never told me I was insane and instead became my staunchest ally. You suffered many dinnerless nights, listened to long diatribes about subjects that you had no interest in, and performed endless hours of solo child care so I could do this thing. A thousand thank-yous, my darling. Without you, this would not have been possible.
My final thank-you is for my son, Theodore, who was created roughly the same time as the first draft of this book. You are a wonder, my little prince, and you inspire me to make the world a more compassionate, inclusive, and beautiful place so that you can grow up in it. I love you so very much.