What do you think of when you picture a pirate? Is it Blackbeard wearing a menacing scowl with his band of swashbuckling scallywags behind him? Or maybe you’re seeing Calico Jack with his fancy, colorful clothes and boisterous personality. Maybe you aren’t picturing either of those but, instead, are seeing Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow, a mischievous, flamboyant man with a penchant for getting himself into trouble. What you probably aren’t picturing is a small Asian beauty who ruled her crew with an iron fist, or a fiery red headed Irish lass whose actions single-handedly kept her people from English rule. You may have heard about Anne Bonny and Mary Read, but do you know about Queen Teuta or Jacquotte Delahaye? Here are six of the most fearsome, successful pirates to ever sail the seven seas you haven’t read in your history books.

1.Jeanne de Clisson-The Lioness of Brittany

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In the early years of the Hundred Years’ War, a wealthy French nobleman by the name of Lord Olivier III of Clisson fought valiantly for whom he perceived to be the rightful King of France, Philip the Fortunate. King Edward, however, managed to convince the French nobleman that he, Edward, was the rightful ruler. Lord Olivier switched sides and royally pissed off Philip. In return for his “betrayal”, Philip the Fortunate and a group of loyalists ambushed Lord Olivier at a jousting competition in Nantes where they beat the crap out of him, declared him a traitor, hung him, and beheaded him. King Philip hung Olivier’s head from the wall at Nantes and went on his merry way, satisfied that he had gotten his man. What he didn’t realize, however, was that he had just opened a Pandora’s box of hell that would haunt him even after his death. That box had a name, and its name was Jeanne de Clisson, wife to the late Lord Olivier.

News of her husband's death brought great rage in Jeanne de Clisson. She promptly sold all Clisson lands and belongings, raising enough funds for the creation of her famous "Black Fleet". Her revenge against French nobility, military, and King Philip VI began in 1343 when she started attacking French ships in the English Channel. News of the arrival of "Lioness of Brittany" quickly spread across Europe. Few intentionally released prisoners spoke with horror about her fleet painted all in black with red sails, and of Jeanne de Clisson's rage against their crews and especially captured French nobility which received no mercy. According to some reports, Jeanne personally decapitated all high valued prisoners with an axe, before tossing their bodies into the sea. Her quest for revenge continued with same intensity even after King Philip VI died in 1350.

2. Jacquotte Delahaye-Back From the Dead Red

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This Haitian-born ginger sailed during the late 1600s as a buccaneer. Not much is known about her early life except that her father was French and her mother was Haitian. We know that her mother died giving birth to her brother, who was mentally impaired, and that her father passed while she was still young. In order to provide for her brother, Jacquotte turned to piracy. She gained quite a bit of notoriety, dressing as a man until her capture. Jacquotte faked her own death to escape the noose.

And then reunited with her crew, earning the auburn-headed lass the nickname "Back From the Dead Red." They went on to claim an entire island in the Caribbean as their own, Freebooter Republic. Jacquotte eventually died in its defense.

3. Sadie “The Goat” Farrell-The Gangsta Pirate

Originally a notorious gangster of New York in the late 19th century, Sadie earned her nickname, “Sadie the Goat” by biting her marks in the stomach before her male accomplices knocked them out and robbed them. She was eventually run out of Lower Manhattan by a rival and went on to join the Charleston Street Gang, where she and her comrades raised hell on the Hudson.

“Under her inspired leadership, the Charlton Street thugs considerably enlarged their field of operations,” Asbury wrote in 1928. “They stole a small sloop of excellent sailing qualities, and with the Jolly Roger flying from the masthead and Sadie the Goat pacing the deck in proud command, they sailed up and down the Hudson from the Harlem River to Poughkeepsie and beyond, robbing farmhouses and riverfront mansions, terrorizing the hamlets and occasionally holding men, women and children for ransom.” There were reports that Sadie compelled a few men to walk the plank.

4. Queen Teuta of Illyria-Teuta the Untamable

Following the First Punic War, Rome was a force to be reckoned with. They had expanded their empire and their naval forces ruled the Mediterranean. It looked to all that no one could stop Rome’s domination. On the eastern side of Italy, however, the Ardiaean kingdom and the people of Illyria had other plans. The Ardiaean Kingdom became a major power in the ancient world under king Argon. Like most ancient rulers of his time, Argon conquered neighboring lands in order to extend his territory. When he passed away, it was his wife, Teuta who took the throne. Teuta ruled with a fierceness and loyalty only to her fellow Illyrians. Her ships and fleets viewed all as enemies and they pillaged and pirated their way through the surrounding territories. Her people’s practices eventually led Rome to declare war against them and the Roman historians viewed her as a capricious and unfit ruler, but she alone had the courage to stand against the mighty Romans on the sea when very few others had the tenacity to do so.

Though this may well have been a biased view based on his focus on Roman histiography. According to Polybius, Teuta had a “woman’s natural shortness of view”, and that she “could see nothing but the recent success and had no eyes of what was going on elsewhere”. Polybius also mentions that Teuta supported the Illyrian practice of piracy, and pillaged her neighbours indiscriminately, as her commanders were ordered to treat all as enemies.

5. Grace O’Malley-The Pirate Queen

Grace O’Malley was born around 1530 in Ireland. As the daughter of a wealthy nobleman and sea trader, Grace was expected to do as most high born daughters of nobles did during the 16th century, marry and transfer her power to her husband. Grace did not do that. She completely rejected the role of the 16th-century woman and turned her father’s shipping and trading business into a fleet of fearsome pirate ships 20 strong, with hundreds of men under her command.

The O'Malleys were one of the few seafaring families on the west coast, and they built a row of castles facing the sea to protect their territory. From their base at Rockfleet Castle, they reportedly attacked ships and fortresses on the shoreline, plundered Scotland’s outlying islands, and taxed all those who fished off their coasts, which included fishermen from as far away as England. O'Malley's ships would stop and board the traders and demand either cash or a portion of the cargo in exchange for safe passage the rest of the way to Galway. Resistance was met with violence and even murder.

6. Ching Shih-The Pirate Empress

In 1801, pirate Zheng Yi, commander of the infamous “Red Flag Fleet”, was stricken at the beauty of a prostitute who worked on a floating brothel in Canton. He ordered his men to attack and bring the beauty to him. Ching Shih agreed to be Yi’s wife, but she wanted assurances that she would be respected and treated as an equal. Yi agreed and the two of them married and began to run the Red Flag Fleet together. During their six years of marriage, Shih helped her husband expand their fleet from 200 ships to, eventually, more than 1700 ships. Together with Wu Shi ‘er, Shih and her husband formed the Cantonese Pirate Coalition. When her husband died in 1807, Shih took charge, forming her own miniature empire.

Ching Shih was a strict and regimented pirate lord. She focused much on business and military strategy. She even went to great lengths to form an “ad hoc” government under which her pirates were bound to and protected by laws and taxes. Any plunder that was seized had to first be presented to the fleet and registered before it could be distributed. Whichever ship captured the loot was entitled to retain 20% of its value, while the remaining 80% was placed into the fleet’s collective fund.