Mary Read and Anne Bonny

Mary Read and Anne Bonny

Mary Read and Anne Bonny as illustrated in "Historie der Engelsche Zee-roovers" (1725) - the Dutch version of "Johnson's Pirates".

Of Mary Read

Mary Read was born in England. Her mother being abandoned by her husband, a sailor, got herself with child by another so Mary was illegitimate. Now it chanced that Mary's mother had a son begot by her husband which had since died so the mother, thinking to profit from her in-laws dressed Mary as a boy. Perhaps it was this which caused her to think of becoming a sailor. We shall never know.

For a time the two of them were kept by Mary's grandmother but she died and so Mary, being thirteen, dressed once more in boy's clothes and shipped aboard a man-of-war where she served some years. Then she left this to serve in Flanders with a regiment of foot in the late wars. All the time she hid her sex from her comrades until chance caused her to fall for a young man. She revealed that she was a maid when they shared the same tent but would not give herself to him until he consented to marriage. Thus was she forced to reveal her true identity to all, but the wars being over, they resolved to set up an inn near the castle of Breda.

Sadly, her husband died and trade grew bad after the Treaty of Ryswick sent the troops home. Mary got passage on a ship bound for the West Indies which was overtaken by pirates. Later she would say that she took to "going on the account" reluctantly but the fact was that she, a woman, joined the pirates. Among the evidence against her was that from someone who fell into conversation with her. He asked her if she feared for her life or for the death she must suffer if she was caught.

"She answered, that as to hanging, she thought it no great hardship, for were it not for that, every cowardly fellow would turn Pirate, and so infest the seas that men of courage must starve; that if it was put to the choice of the Pirates, they would not have the punishment less than death, the fear of which kept some dastardly rogues honest......so that the trade in a little time would not be worth following."

Of Anne Bonny

Anne Bonny was also illegitimate, born in Ireland where her father was an attorney. This father had the child by his maid and longed for her to be close to him so he had her dressed as a youth so that she could pass as his clerk. But his wife discovered his ruse and would not have bastards in her house whereupon the husband set up home with his maid. But this scandalised society so that, by degrees, he lost his clients and so was forced to sail to the Carolinas, where he later became a merchant.

Eventually the maid died and Anne kept her father's house. It is said that she once became so angry with one of the servants, a young girl, that she killed her with a casement knife. On another occasion a young man tried to force himself upon her but she broke his body so badly that he lay at death's door for some time. The final straw came when she contracted a bad marriage against her father's wishes and was turned out of the house. They sailed for the Island of Providence where she fell in with Calico Jack Rackham, known pirate. Soon she had resolved to go to sea with Rackham and got herself in men's clothes once more.

Rackham's Flag

Of Calico Jack Rackham

Rackham was quartermaster to the pirate Captain Vane but Vane proved a coward and a drunkard so he sailed away in the "Neptune" - there being two ships. Rackham became captain of the other "The Kingston" on 24th November 1718. Eventually he came upon two sloops and thinking that they meant to fight, he and his crew took to their boats and abandoned the Kingston, leaving behind two women who had been taken with the ship and kept to be used by the crew.

Rackham and his crew lived in the woods. They had some of the cargo as well as two boats and a canoe. Rackham resolved to take the King's pardon and he and six others set off in the best boat. On reaching Cuba they took a sea boat and sailed to Providence in May 1719. They were granted a pardon and sold their goods. There Rackham became acquainted with Anne Bonny, who was then married to James Bonny. Rackham fell for Bonny and spent much of his money on her till he was forced to join the crew of Captain Burgess, lately a pirate but also pardoned. Burgess was now a privateer, commissioned to seize Spanish vessels.

The voyage was successful and Rackham returned with a goodly supply of prize money and proceeded to enjoy his mistress. But this caused a scandal and so the Governor himself threatened to have Bonny whipped for her indiscretions whereupon the two of them assembled a crew and stole a sloop of between thirty and forty ton from one John Haman.

Soon they took a Madeira-man then went to an island to careen their ship. There they spent Christmas in drinking and carousing. Then they went to sea again and had much success, taking several ships. But Captain Woodes Rogers, who was governor of the Bahamas did send out a well armed sloop and recapture their prizes so the pirates had to flee to Cuba.

There they were set upon by a Spanish ship that was towing a captured English sloop. That night Rackham and his men got into a longboat and boarded the captured ship and made a good escape with it. In August 1720, he sailed around the north and west of Jamaica but found little. In September they took the nets and tackle from seven or eight fishing boats then headed to Haiti (Hispaniola) where they stole cattle and kidnapped some French hunters. Shortly after they took a sloop but the Governor sent a ship, commanded by Captain Barnet to seize the pirates.

This ship chanced on Rackham whilst he and his men were drinking with some turtle fishermen on board ship. The pirates set sail but were soon overtaken and boarded, most of the crew putting up little resistance save Mary Read and Anne Bonny.

On November 16th 1720 a Court of Admiralty was held at St Jago De Le Vega. Sentence of death was passed upon them and Rackham and his crew were hanged the next day. Afterwards Rackham was taken down and hung in chains as an example.

We Plead Our Bellies

At the trial it was testified as to the ferocity of both Read and Bonny, they being like two hellcats and the last to surrender. Both were to be sentenced to hang but pled their bellies. And so they were examined and it was found that both were quick with child.

Mary was with child from a young man who had been forced to join the crew. She was so smitten with love for this youth that she could rest neither night nor day. She became his friend by talking against the pirate life then, when he welcomed her as a mate she made her sex known by casually showing him her breasts which were very white. They became lovers but one day it chanced that her young man fell into a quarrel and was forced to go ashore to fight a duel. Fearful of his death, Mary picked a quarrel with the same sailor, fighting him with sword and pistol till he was dead.

But for Mary Read there was to be no escape from death. Whilst in prison she took ill, as is common when one has to breathe such foul air. She had hopes that after the child was born she would have found favour and a pardon but it was not to be for shortly after the trial she died of a violent fever.

As for Anne Bonny, she was allowed to see Rackham before he was due to hang. Her words to him were hard.

"That she was sorry to see him there, but if he had fought like a man, he need not have been hanged like a dog."

Anne Bonny was more fortunate than Mary Read, being confined until the time of her lying in and afterwards reprieved. What is become of her since we cannot tell but it is certain she was not executed.

Of the Truth

The substance of the story is true. There was a pirate called Calico Jack Rackham, who served with Vane and who then set out on his own account. The section which covers his activities is probably true for the most part although he was probably not so successful as suggested.

There were also two female pirates named Read and Bonny among the crew. Neither of them were hanged. As to their early life, there is no proof at all. Neither is there any evidence of Read's lover among the crew. None of them admitted as such. Both women were pregnant.

At the court trial - actually held on the 28th November, 1720 - the pirates haul was held to be a few fishing boats and tackle worth £10 and some sloops worth about £1000. They had not killed anyone. Dorothy Thomas, a witness, described the women as wearing...

"Men's 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 murder (Thomas); and they should kill her to prevent her coming against them; and (Thomas) further said, That the Reason of her knowing and believing them to be Women then was, by the largeness of their breasts."

(Trial transcript - PRO CO 137/14/XC18757)

At other times it was testified that the women wore dresses. The men's clothes seem to have been worn when working or on a raid. A certain Thomas Dillon observed them on board ship, Anne Bonny with a gun in her hand. He noted that both women were cursing and swearing.

So what we have is two women who were active crew members but hardly the demons they were painted to be, who had sexual relations with persons unknown but without the romantic frisson that Defoe gave them.