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Pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy

© Cindy Vallar

In November 1720, Calico Jack Rackham and his crew stood in the dock of the Admiralty Court on Jamaica. What made the trial sensational? Two of the accused were women. Although history records instances of female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read are the best known. Rackham arrived in New Providence two years before his capture and served as quartermaster aboard Charles Vane's pirate ship. The crew quarreled with Vane and elected a new captain - Jack Rackham - then they put Vane ashore. In 1719, Woodes Rogers granted Rackham a pardon. Soon afterward he met Anne Bonny, the illegitimate daughter of an Irish lawyer who lived in South Carolina.

Anne came to New Providence after marrying a destitute seaman named James Bonny and running away with him. Eventually, she became Calico Jack's mistress, disguised herself in men's clothing, and joined his crew. One day they captured a ship and invited her crew to join their ranks. At least one did. Legend says Anne took a liking to this newest pirate, but when she approached him, the man revealed he was actually a woman named Mary Read.

Raised as a boy, Mary joined the navy for a time before enlisting in the British army. During her service, she fell in love with another soldier, whom she married. They retired and opened a tavern. When her husband died, Mary returned to the sea.

When an armed naval sloop launched a surprise attack against Rackham's ship in 1720, Anne and Mary fought while Calico Jack and the others were either drunk or slept belowdeck. At their trial victim Dorothy Thomas swore, "That Two Women, Prisoners at the Bar, were then on Board the said Sloop, and wore Mens Jackets, and long Trouzers, and Handkerchiefs tied about their Heads; and that each of them had a Machet and Pistol in their Hands, and cursed and swore at the Men, to murther [murder]" her. Two additional witnesses testified Anne and Mary "were very active on Board, and willing to do any Thing; That Ann Bonny...handed Gun-powder to the Men, That when they saw any Vessel, gave Chase, or Attacked, they wore Men's Cloaths...That they did not seem to be kept, or detain'd by Force, but of their own Free-Will and Consent."

The entire crew was convicted and sentenced to hang, but Anne and Mary plead their bellies (meaning they were pregnant). Since English courts would not put an innocent babe to death, the women earned reprieves. The men were executed on November 27th. Mary died in prison five months later. Anne's fate remains unknown.

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