Princess Ruby – February 2026

“Cupid’s Span” by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen near the
Bay Bridge in San Francisco

I had the pleasure of speaking on the Princess Ruby as it sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu in February.

Talking about female pirates on the morning “Wave” show with the Cruise Director, Holly

I gave 5 talks about female pirates along the way. The ladies I discussed including:

Grace O’Malley
Queen Elizabeth I & Her Sea Dogs
The Killgrew women
Sayyida al-Hurra
Anne Bonny (of course)
Mary Read
Anne Dieu-le-Veut
Rachel Wall
Zheng Yi Sao

The audience decided that out of the political figures/pirates (Grace O’Malley, Queen Elizabeth I, & Sayyida al-Hurra) that Queen Elizabeth I probably wasn’t a real pirate, but just pirate adjacent. The Queen used pirates during her rule to accomplish her political goals since the English Parliament wasn’t keen on financially supporting a *gasp* single woman ruler *gasp* who had no interest in producing an heir! *gasp* *gasp*

I had a wonderful time with this themed series of talks about female pirates. Plus, I took my new favorite selfie on board the ship in front of this cool wall covered in graffiti hearts with my new glasses!

All-in-all a great time cruising the Pacific.