The High Seas Were Never As Deadly As When This Fearless Female Pirate Duo Ruled The Waves
The high seas were never as deadly as when the fearless female pirate duo of Anne Bonny and Mary Read ruled the waves.
The pair shattered stereotypes by fighting harder than their male crew members. They had guts and grit and caused mischief wherever they went.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read took up piracy in August 1720. In November of that same year, they were accused of piracy in the Caribbean and were forced to take the stand in Spanish Town, Jamaica.
A couple of their surviving victims recounted the women’s attacks. The female pirates cursed, fired their pistols randomly, struck people with cutlasses, and fought with their shirts open.
They were very unlike any other women mentioned in history. So, who exactly were they? And how did they become some of the most rebellious and daring pirates of the 18th century?
Much of their early lives is unknown. It is believed that Anne and Mary were both illegitimate children and were raised as boys to avoid being rejected by society. Anne ended up running away with a sailor named James Bonny to become a pirate.
They spent several years at sea together before arriving at Nassau on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, where they parted ways. Afterward, Anne passed the time by seducing sailors and pirates until she met Captain John (Jack) Rackham.
As for Mary, she joined the British Army while disguised as a young man. Then, she married a fellow soldier, but he soon died.
So, she resumed her male identity and rejoined the army. However, she was consumed by grief from the loss of her husband, so she was honorably discharged.
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She joined a merchant ship, which was attacked by pirates. She then joined the pirates and ended up in Nassau, where she supposedly met Anne and Captain Jack. Together, they sailed from Providence in August 1720 with a larger crew.
Anne thought Mary was a man and tried to seduce her. When Anne discovered that Mary was a woman, they became the strongest pair on the ship. They may have even started up a romantic relationship anyway.
Apparently, Captain Jack was so jealous of how close Mary and Anne were that he threatened to slit her throat. But when he found out Mary was female, he accepted their relationship.
According to a 1721 book, The Tryals of Captain John Rackham and Other Pirates, Rackham and his crew sailed onboard a captured ship named Revenge from August to late October 1720.
Their first attack occurred on September 3, when they seized seven fishing boats off the coast of Harbor Island in the Bahamas.
On October 1, the pirates managed to capture two merchant ships and stole more than £1,000. Their greatest triumph took place on October 19.
They captured another merchant ship off the coast of Port Maria Bay, Jamaica, and took its captain, Thomas Spenlow, hostage.
Later that same day, they seized a canoe belonging to a woman named Dorothy Thomas. Anne and Mary wanted to kill Dorothy, but Captain Jack was against it.
Their luck was starting to run out. Word of their exploits had reached the ears of the governor of Jamaica. Jonathan Barnet, a famed pirate hunter, was tasked with taking them down.
Barnet and his crew were able to overpower them easily since they were all drunk on stolen wine, except for Anne and Mary.
The duo tried their best to fend off the attackers, but they were no match against dozens of men. As a result, the pirates were arrested and sent to Spanish Town for trial.
The whole crew was condemned and sentenced to death by hanging. Shockingly, both Anne and Mary revealed they were pregnant, so they were saved from execution until their children were born.
Sadly, Mary died in prison in May 1721 of typhus. It’s less clear how Anne died. She may have managed to leave prison and return to the Carolinas, where she lived until the age of 82. Or, she may have died on the island in 1731.
The story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read shows how it was possible for women to thrive in such a dangerous, cutthroat world.
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