(taken from Uppity Women of Medieval Times by Vicki Leon)
One spring night in 1582, a German ship laden with silver coin lay anchored in Falmouth Harbor on the south Cornwall coast. Silently an English ship drew alongside -
With cutlass and pistol in had, the captain and crew of the English ship overran the treasure ship and killed the crew. What daring and swashbuckling pirate could do such a dastardly deed? It was none other the Lady Killigrew the wife of England's vice admiral of Cornwall!!
Queen Elizabeth I took a dim view of such goings on and brought the bold lady to trial where she was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Horrors! But the good queen later relented and reduced the sentence to a very long stay in jail.
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