Wonder Woman of the Week: Jacquotte Delahaye

Pirates often amuse our curious desire to sail seas of discovery, but one pirate- and this week's Wonder Woman- took to the seas for a different reason. Jacquotte Delahaye was the daughter of a French trader and a Haitian creole woman. Jacquotte's mother died in childbirth and her father abandoned her at a young age- leaving the young girl not only in need of taking care of herself, but also her mentally handicapped younger brother. And the only way for a young woman to make money in the 17th Century Caribbean was through piracy.

Several stories surround the mysterious pirate queen of Haiti. One discloses a tale of Jacquotte going into hiding when several countries placed a bounty on her head. She disguised herself as a man for several years to avert capture and eventually returned to piracy when the authorities gave up the chase. Since everyone thought the pirate had died, Jacquotte earned the name "Back From the Dead Red" upon her return.

Delahaye led gangs of hundreds of pirates and even captured a small island in 1656- renaming her new commune the "Freebooter Republic." When authorities arrived to reclaim the island, Delahaye led a violent defense and died in a shoot-out during the siege of the island. Jacquotte is rumored to be the mother of fellow redhead and pirate Dinah Delahaye who was renowned as a master sword fighter and pirate who controlled her own pirate fleet.