Dwarf, Duellist, Soldier, Slave: The Life of Jeffrey Hudson
Jeffrey Hudson was 18 inches tall when he burst out of a pie in front of Charles I's queen. He later killed a man in a duel and spent years enslaved by pirates.
Piracy
Pirates, privateers and raiders at sea.
The Most Successful Pirate That Ever Infested Any Sea
Rahmah ibn Jabir terrorised the Persian Gulf for forty years. Blind, partially crippled and surrounded in 1826, he took his young son below decks and lit the powder.
The Lioness of Brittany: A Widow's Revenge at Sea
When France beheaded her husband and spiked his head over Nantes, Jeanne de Clisson took up arms, massacred a garrison and went to sea to kill French merchants.