Susan F. Craft
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Anne
Bonny and Mary Read as depicted on a Jamaican stamp
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While
researching for my work in progress, Cassia, a post-Revolutionary War romantic
suspense that takes place in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I wanted to
learn all I could about pirates. I ran across some fascinating (at least to me)
information about two female pirates - Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
Anne
Bonny, born in the late 1660s in County Cork, Ireland, was the illegitimate
daughter of William Cormac, a lawyer, and his housemaid. The family immigrated
to a plantation in Charleston, SC, where she grew up and eventually eloped with
James Bonny, who took her to a pirates’ lair in the Bahamas. She left Bonny in
1718 to become the mistress of Captain John “Calico Jack” Rackham.
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Captain John "Calico Jack" Rackham
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She claimed
that Bonny had turned informant in order to receive the king’s pardon offered
by Bahamian Governor Woodes Rogers. She sailed with the captain on his sloop Vanity
and, dressed as a man, soon became an infamous pirate. She had a child by
Rackham and retired from piracy long enough to deliver the baby. She left her
infant son with friends in Cuba and returned to piracy.
Mary
Read, born about 1690 in Plymouth, England, was the illegitimate daughter of a
woman whose seaman husband left on a long voyage and was never heard from
again. When their money ran out, Mary’s mother took her to London to ask her
mother-in-law for help. The woman didn’t like girls, so Mary’s mother dressed
Mary as a boy and made her pretend to be her son. Mary masqueraded as a boy for
many years, even after the woman died. After working as a footboy to a French
woman, she enlisted as a male in a foot regiment in Flanders and later in a
horse regiment, serving with distinction. Giving up her double life, she fell
in love with and married a fellow soldier, and they became innkeepers of the
Three Horseshoes in Holland. Her husband died young, and when Mary’s finances
dwindled, she reverted back to men’s clothing and went to sea on a Dutch
merchant ship. English pirates commandeered the ship that eventually was
overtaken by Captain Rackham.
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Anne Bonny as depicted from a
Dutch version of Charles Johnson's
A General
History of the Pyrates
(the authorship of this book is a
mystery in itself). |
Anne and Mary discovered each other’s
cross-dressing secret and became close friends. Mary fought in a duel to
protect her fiancé, killing her opponent. The women became known as ruthless
and bloodthirsty “fierce hell cats,” with violent tempers.
In
late October 1720, Rackham's ship was attacked by a British Navy sloop. The
drunken male pirates quickly hid below deck, leaving Anne and Mary to defend
their ship, but they were soon overwhelmed, and the entire crew was captured
and taken to Jamaica for trial.
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In the 17th and 18th
centuries many pirates
sailed under a plain black
flag, conveying
that they were outlaws not
bound by any
rules of engagement. |
Calico
Jack and the male members of his crew were tried on November 16, 1720, and
sentenced to hang. Anne and Mary were tried one week after Rackham’s death and
were also found guilty. But at their sentencing, when asked by the judge if
they had anything to say, they replied, “Mi’lord, we plead our bellies.” Both
were pregnant. British law forbade killing an unborn child, so their sentences
were temporarily stayed.
Some
say Mary died of a fever in prison before the birth of her child. Other reports
say she escaped. There is no record of Anne’s execution. Some reports say her
wealthy father bought her release after the birth of her child, and she settled
down to a quiet family life on a small Caribbean island. Others believe she
lived out her life in the south of England as a tavern owner who entertained
the locals with tales of her exploits. If the latter, what tales those must
have been!!!
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