Notorious Pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Female Pirates Escape Noose by Being Pregnant

Apr 11, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Fate brought the Irish lawyer's daughter, Anne Bonny, and the English Mary Read, both illegitimate, together. These pirate women then created mayhem on the open seas.

Anne was born in Ireland in the late 1600s to prominent lawyer William Cormac and the family maid, Peg Brennan. Cormac avoided scandal by taking Anne and Peg to South Carolina, where he became a wealthy merchant.

As a young teen, Anne married James Bonny and accompanied him to New Providence Island, a noted pirate’s haven in the Bahamas. Bonny, however, had been an unsuccessful pirate, turned informer and aroused Anne’s contempt.

Anne Bonny Goes with Jack Rackham

Her attention was drawn to Jack Rackham (Calico Jack), a former pirate pardoned by Bahamas Governor (and former privateer) Woodes Rogers. Calico Jack offered to buy Anne from Bonny but was turned down.

Deciding that the only way they could be together was to return to piracy, Jack gathered a crew. He, his crew and Anne, dressed as a boy, sneaked aboard a fast merchant sloop anchored in New Providence harbor. Anne confronted the sailors on watch at gunpoint, threatening them with death if they resisted.

On this sloop, the Curlew, Calico Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny sailed the Caribbean, plundering coastal trading vessels and fishing boats. Anne gave birth to a child in Cuba, but left it there to continue “working” with Calico Jack.

Anne Bonny Befriends Mary Read

Crew members of a captured Dutch vessel joined Rackham and his pirates. Among them was a young boy who attracted Anne’s attention. Rackham, catching them together, threatened to kill both. The boy then revealed that “he” was female.

Mary Read, the new female member of Rackham’s pirate crew, had been born out of wedlock in England. Her mother had disguised Mary as a boy to obtain support for them. As she grew up, Mary preferred the freedom and independence of the male role She signed on as cabin boy of a man-of-war, then fought with distinction in the military during the War of Spanish Succession.

Eventually, Mary married a fellow soldier and settled down with him to have a normal family life in Holland. Then, after his death, she again adopted her male persona and signed on as a crew member of the Dutch ship on which Anne Bonny discovered her.

Women Pirates Try to Defend Ship

Rackham, Anne and Mary kept Mary’s secret and she continued to serve on the pirate ship. Both Anne and Mary built a reputation among pirates and victims alike for their violent tempers, blood thirsty natures and fierce fighting abilities. They were not nice women.

In October of 1720, Rackham and his crew were celebrating their success off Jamaica when they were surprised by a British man-o-war, the sloop Albion. The drunken male pirates hid below decks, leaving Anne and Mary to stand off the boarders. The two women fought ferociously, but were finally overcome and the whole crew was taken to Jamaica to stand trial.

Pirate Jack Rackham Hanged

Anne visited Jack on the morning of his execution and reportedly said: "I am sorry to see you here, but if you had fought like a man, you needn't be hang'd like a dog."

Jack Rackham and his men were sentenced to hang on Nov. 16, 1720. Anne Bonny and Mary Read were tried and sentenced to death one week later. Both announced that they were pregnant and the sentences were temporarily stayed.

Mary is believed to have died of fever in 1721 while in prison. No record of Anne’s execution has been found. Perhaps her influential father freed her, or Bonny came to claim her.

Sources:

Cawthorne, Nigel, A History of Pirates: Blood and Thunder on the High Seas (Toronto: 2003)

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