LEGENDARY FEMALE PIRATE

Anne Bonny (left) and Mary Read (right)

Anne Bonny was born in Kinsale, Ireland around 1697, and was the illegitimate daughter of lawyer William Cormac and his maid Marry Brennan. After William's wife made this news public, his reputation was ruined, so he left Ireland for a fresh start in the New World. He settled with his new family in Charleston, South Carolina where he started a new legal career, and bought a plantation.

Anne's mother died in her late teens, and she had to take care of her father's household. There are many stories about Anne's teen years, claiming she murdered a servant girl with a knife, and another about a man she put in the hospital for attempting to sexually assault her. When Anne was sixteen years old, she fell in love with a pirate, James Bonny. Anne's father was against the relationship, but she married James anyways. William disowned Anne, and this is when Anne Bonny's life changed forever.

James took his new wife to New Providence Island, currently Nassau, a pirate's sanctuary. He was struggling to support them both, and became a pirate informer for the governor Woodes Rogers. Anne was distraught over this, because she made many pirate friends. Anne's good friend, Pierre, a well-known homosexual who ran a famous ladies establishment, helped her leave her husband. Anne ran away with Calico Jack Rackham, a strong Pirate Captain, who offered to pay Anne's husband to divorce her. 

Anne became pregnant, and had her baby boy in Cuba. Little is known about what happened to their son, some say he was left with family, abandoned, or died at birth. She continued her pirate life with Rackman, eventually getting married while at sea. Anne often disguised herself as a man, although her shipmates knew her real identity.

Bonny, Rackham, and the infamous Mary Read stole the ship William; together they recruited a new crew, and set sail. They spent years in Jamaica, and enjoyed their success in capturing smaller vessels, and bringing in lots of treasure. During this time Mary and Anne became close friends, according to some accounts they had a romantic relationship as well. They were respected by their crew, and feared by officials, and military personnel in the Caribbean.

Anne Bonny fought along side her crew members in combat, and held her own very well. She was listed in the "Wanted Pirates" section of the continent's only newspaper at the time, The Boston News-Letter. Even though she was a renowned Caribbean pirate, she never commanded her own ship.

In October 1720, when Anne was only eighteen years old, their days of piracy would come to an end.By orders of the governor of Jamaica, Captain Barnet, commander of the British Navy attacked Rackham's ship. Almost all of Rackham's crew was drunk from celebrating because they managed to capture a Spanish commercial ship. They crew was immediately captured, and taken to Port Royal to stand trial. The trial was a huge sensation because of Anne and Mary's status on the ship. The two women escaped traditional restrictions, and in their own way, fought for equality between men and women.

The entire crew was found guilty of piracy, and sentenced to death by hanging. Women had no rights during this time, except it was illegal to execute a pregnant woman. They both claimed to be pregnant, and their lives were spared. Mary Read died in a Jamaican prison a year later from a fever, but Anne Bonny seemed to disappear. Some scholars say her father paid a ransom and brought her back to Charleston where she remarried, had children and lived out in the remainder of her life.