But for now let us go back to a time when life was happier for her, back to her childhood. In a small town in Italy, a small baby girl was born. The baby was born to a couple who had waited many years to have children. The couple named her Gina. Gina was born to a rather wealthy family. When they lived in Italy they had a rather comfortable lifestyle. Still, her parents hoped for a better life. Her father thought he could become an even wealthier merchant if he could go to London.
Gina's parents started saving up money to pay the fare for the three of them, and by the time she was 5 they had enough. They left during the fall after her 5th birthday. Then when they were on their trip to London tragedy struck. Their boat was caught in a catastrophic storm. The only survivor was Gina. She was left half dead, bruises covering her arms and legs. She lay floating on a piece of the ship for 3 days, barely concious. On the 4th morning a ship saw her and kindly pulled her aboard. Her rescuer's ship was headed to a small town in England and during the trip all the crew fell in love with the small Italian girl with her head full of black curls. They all took turns nursing her back to health and after three more days she was able to get up & walk around.
Two weeks later when they reached England it was decided that she would live with a kind young widow until they found out more about her. The widow was a very sweet woman and she soon fell in love with Gina too. The widow was a very learned woman and knew many languages and taught Gina English, Chinese, Russian, and Latin. Gina was very happy with her and the widow treated her as one of her own. However, this happiness was short lived. When she was only 9 the widow too to the plague. The widow had left everything to Gina, but since she was not old enough to run the widow's large estate a greedy duke took over.
The wretched duke and his snobbish wife made poor Gina a servant. She had absolutely no luxuries and little food. As if that was not enough, day after day she had to watch her wonderful adoptive mother's money being wasted by these selfish snobs. It was almost too much for her to take. One day when she was 16, she and some other servants went down to the docks to survey a ship that was going to take the duke to London. There she heard the sailors telling magnificent tales of pirates, even girl pirates. Gina was fascinated by these stories. She had always dreamed of such adventure. She wished one day that she too would be a female pirate.
The ride back was a gruelling one. The roads were not paved back then and incredibly bumpy. Though Gina did not seem to notice, her head was in the clouds dreaming of life on the sea. Gina had one close friend at the estate where she lived. Her name was Marie. Marie was the same age as Gina and she worked in the laundry. They saw each other quite often and over the years had become close friends. As soon as Gina got home she tole Marie everything she had heard. Marie who was also fascinated with adventure was anxious to know more too. They decided that someday they would both travel the sea together.
By the time both girls were 18 they found their way to go out to sea. They had talked to several sailors and soon were going to sail with them. They had however kept their gender a secret, disguising themselves as young men looking for adventure. For if they knew they were women they surely would have never helped them! The days went by fast, and before they knew it the day came when it was time to run away. That night the girls took the little they had and stole away to the docks. A kind servant had agreed to help them get there.
Gina & Marie loved being on the ship and since everyone thought they were young boys they were treated as such. They had not been on the ship long before they came upon some real life pirates! The crew did their best to protect themselves but they were outnumbered. Everyone on the ship was either captured or dead. Gina & Marie had both been captured. They were taken aboard the pirate brig and were imprisoned.
The pirates were actually also women disguised as men. Gina & Marie did not realize this until some time after, on the day they were to be killed. At the time neither party knew they were all women. Then when the pirates were just about to be killed, Gina & Marie begged for mercy from the captain. Gina started telling them of how they had gotten on the other ship and a little of her past and then showed that she was a woman. She asked them to have pity on the both of them. The pirates had not interrupted her for her story was much like most of their own.
When Gina finished telling her tale of woe the captain came forward. The captain then showed that she herself was a woman. After that she invited them to be crewmates on the brig. You see, the captain had a similar past herself and knew they would be hardworking. The girls of course took this generous offer. They started as just kitchen helpers which was tiresome work, but they enjoyed every minute of it. The captain had a soft spot for Gina and they became fast friends. Over the next 4 years they looted and pirated all down the coasts, and soon Gina became her first mate. Gina had been one of the most hardworking and she wanted to show just how much she appreciated her.
When Gina was 24 she was made captain. Their former captain had come down with an illness and eventually died. She left everything to her. Now being captain, Gina was one of the most successful female captains, with mountains of gold and many ships. Her crew was made up of 175 women and she never let a man aboard her ship. She traveled far and wide across the world exploring and pirating with her first mate Marie and her all female crew.
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