One of my Draw It! series of six books was this one about pirates, and I loved working on it, as I rather fancied myself as a pirate. I only got as far as firstly, rowing a little boat on Nottingham University boating lake aged ten, secondly doing a Competent Crew course sailing from Ipswich down the English east coast, narrowly missing Clacton pier – I’m very short sighted, and lastly sailing on a Dutch brigantine from Falmouth to Lisbon, for an Independent newspaper piece about a Tall Ships Race. None of this involved piracy.
In 2001 however, intrigued by stories of a sixteenth century Irish lady pirate, I travelled to County Mayo to find out about feisty Grace O’Malley, who apparently controlled that west coast, and gave birth to a son at sea whilst seeing off rival pirates. Sailing on a little ferry to Grace’s former headquarters on Clare Island, I visited her tomb, writing about my visit for the Guardian Newspaper.By several political machinations, the descendants of Grace O’Malley eventually became the Marquesses of Sligo. When I visited, the current Marquess’s wife was working in the gift shop of their home, Westport House. My letter to the Marquess requesting an interview was never answered. Their house was eventually sold, and the present 12th Marquess of Sligo now works as an estate agent in Australia.
Barnes Children’s Book Festival 2017