Read, Mary and Anne Bonney

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Read, Mary and Anne Bonney

Eighteenth-century pirates.

Bonney, Anne (1700-?). Name variations: Ann Bonny. Born in 1700 in County Cork, Ireland; date of death unknown; daughter of William Cormac and an unknown servant; married James Bonney, in 1718; children: unknown.

Family emigrated to South Carolina; stabbed servant (1713); emigrated to New Providence (1719); met "Calico Jack" Rackham and stole ship (1719); captured Dutch merchantship (1719); met Mary Read (1719); captured by Royal Navy (1720); "Calico Jack" Rackham hung (1720); sentenced to death (1720); disappeared (1721).

Read, Mary (1680–1721). Pronunciation: Reed. Born in 1680 in England; died in Jamaica on April 28, 1721; parents' names unknown; married (husband died c. 1712–13); children: none.

Moved to London (1684); grandmother died (1693); joined Royal Navy (1694); joined British army; fought in War of the Spanish Succession (somewhere between 1702–12); Treaty of Utrecht (1713); signed on as a crew member aboard a Dutch merchantship; captured by pirates and met Anne Bonney (1719); captured by Royal Navy (1720); sentenced to death (1720); died of natural causes (1721).

On a still night in the fall of 1720, a Royal Navy sloop, commanded by Jonathan Barnet, slipped alongside a lone ship riding at anchor off the north coast of Jamaica and demanded identification. The answer came back that she was commanded by "Calico Jack" Rackham. Since Rackham was an infamous pirate, there was a brief exchange of cannon fire before sailors of the Royal Navy swarmed aboard. The skirmish which ensued was bloody and brief. The crew of the pirate ship was drunk and put up only a token resistance before fleeing below decks. Two of the crew, however, stood their ground, fighting furiously with pistols, cutlasses and boarding axes, killing and wounding several Royal Navy sailors. One of these pirates fired a shot into the hold, where the rest of the crew was hiding, and screamed at them to come up and fight like men. Without help, however, the pair was soon overpowered. But their stubborn resistance greatly impressed their captors.

As Jonathan Barnet towed the pirate ship into the harbor, the news of Calico Jack's capture quickly spread throughout Port Royal. Barnet was praised for his bravery by the governor, Woodes Rogers, and received a reward of £200. But Barnet's triumph was overshadowed by the sensational revelation that the dueling pair of pirates, who had staged such a furious last stand, were not, in fact, men, but women—Anne Bonney and Mary Read. Daniel Defoe, who did much to popularize their story, wrote: "Some may be tempted to think the whole story no better than a novel or romance; but … it is supported by many thousand witnesses."

Anne Bonney was the illegitimate daughter of an unknown servant and William Cormac, an Irish attorney. The liaison which resulted in Anne's conception took place while Cormac's wife was in the country for her health. Suspecting her husband of infidelity upon her return, Mrs. Cormac secretly took the place of the servant in bed. "The husband came to bed, and that night played the vigorous lover," according to Defoe, "but one thing spoiled the diversion on the wife's side, which was, the reflection that it was not designed for her."

The Cormacs soon separated, and a few months later the servant gave birth to Anne. To conceal the child's identity, she was dressed as a boy, and Cormac claimed that Anne was the son of a relative. When the charade was discovered and Cormac defied popular convention by setting up housekeeping with his mistress, his clients began to desert him. Sensing the futility of his predicament, Cormac immigrated with his young family to Charleston, South Carolina. Once established in the colonies, he became a prosperous plantation owner and a prominent member of the community.

Anne grew up to be a headstrong and volatile young woman, whose fiery temper often got her into trouble. Local gossip had it that she had stabbed a servant with a table knife when she was only 13. When her mother died, Anne took over the responsibilities of housekeeper, but her father's wealth made her an attractive catch on the Charleston marriage market. She rejected all suitors, however, and on one occasion apparently beat up an ardent young man who tried to seduce or, more probably, rape her.

Like it did for many people of the age, the romance and the adventure of the sea fired Anne's imagination, and she began to frequent the waterfront, disguised as a man. Her father, confident that she would outgrow this eccentricity, humored her and made plans for her marriage. But these were upset when Anne eloped with a young sailor named James Bonney, whom she had met in a dockside tavern. Infuriated by his daughter's disobedience, William Cormac disinherited the newlyweds. For a time, the couple tried to scratch out a living on the Charleston docks. When this proved to be impossible, they set sail for the Bahamas, determined to seek their fortune on the island of New Providence. When James found a job as a paid informant for the governor, reporting on the movements of pirate vessels, Anne did not approve of her husband's occupation and the marriage ran into difficulty.

It was on the island of New Providence that the pirate Calico Jack Rackham first met Anne. In 1719, Governor Rogers had announced an amnesty for all pirates, and Calico Jack Rackham had turned himself in. Soon after, he and Anne fell in love. Since divorce by sale was still being practiced by the British lower classes, Rackham offered to buy Anne from her husband. But James, who detested Rackham, denounced the lovers to the governor, and Rogers threatened to strip and flog Anne publicly if she did not return to her husband. Anne ignored his threats.

With pitch and tar her hands were hard Though once like velvet soft, She weighed the anchor, heaved the lead And boldly went aloft.
—Anon.

To further complicate matters, Rackham was now virtually penniless, having spent most of his money living beyond his means. So Anne plotted with him to seize a sloop riding at anchor in the harbor. The ship—owned by John Haman, a wealthy merchant and privateer who lived on a nearby island—was reputed to be the fastest vessel in the Caribbean.

On a dark and rainy night, Anne Bonney, wearing male clothing, accompanied Rackham and his confederates upon their raid. Once aboard, Bonney, armed with a broadsword and pistols, surprised the night watch and held them at gun point. Rackham and his companions raised the anchor and took the wheel. As they sailed past a fort and a man-of-war at the entrance to the harbor, they managed to outwit the sailors who hailed them, claiming that their anchor chain had broken. Once outside, they raised the mainsail and a loud cheer rose from the crew as they made for the open sea.

Raiding ships between Cuba and Jamaica, the crew prospered. Allegedly, they had no idea of Anne's gender, even when she was put ashore to deliver and abandon a child. Bonney proved an able seafarer and a fierce swordswoman. It seems improbable, however, that she was able to keep her gender a complete secret, given the proximity of life aboard an 18th-century sailing ship.

Like Anne, Mary Read had a troubled childhood. Her mother married a sailor, but he abandoned her while she was pregnant. With a small son and another child on the way, the young mother found herself faced with the prospect of supporting a family. She moved from London to the countryside, hoping to find employment. It was there that Mary was born in 1680. They remained in the country for four years, until financial necessity forced them back to London.

Read's brother died prematurely, and since no one in London knew of Mary's existence, her mother dressed her up in boy's clothing and passed her off as her dead son. The scheme worked well, and Mary's grandmother gave the family an allowance of a crown a week. When Read was 13, however, her grandmother died, and she was forced to earn her own living. She was apprenticed as a footboy to a wealthy French woman, but she craved excitement and ran away to sea, signing on as a cabin boy aboard a British man-of-war. Later she joined the army, serving as an infantryman and dragoon in Flanders during the War of the Spanish Succession. Her bravery earned her the esteem of her fellow soldiers and the admiration of her officers, from whom she won several commendations. No one seems to have suspected Mary Read's gender.

She soon fell in love, however, with a handsome young soldier in her regiment. Although Read managed to conceal her feelings, she began to neglect her military duties. These signs might have passed unnoticed, if not for Read's new habit of accompanying her companion without permission, whenever he was sent on a dangerous mission. She found it increasingly difficult to suppress her feelings. At length, writes Defoe, "as they lay together in the same tent, and were constantly together, she found a way of letting him discover her sex, without appearing that it was done with design."

When the campaign in Flanders concluded (c. 1711–12), Read donned female clothing and married her former comrade-in-arms, much to the delight and amusement of her fellow soldiers. The officers of the regiment took up a collection, which helped the young couple to open a tavern near Breda, in Holland. Named "The Three Horseshoes," the tavern was a popular haunt for officers and soldiers of her old regiment. Initially business prospered, but misfortune soon overtook Read. Her husband died prematurely, and the Peace of Utrecht (1713) deprived the tavern of its clientele.

Hoping to make a fresh start, Mary once again donned male attire and rejoined the army, but she found peacetime soldiering dull and soon deserted. Her love of adventure then led her to enlist on a Dutch merchantship bound for the West Indies. When the vessel was attacked at sea and plundered by pirates, the delicately handsome young English sailor was invited to join the pirates. Mary Read promptly agreed—thus becoming the second, albeit unknown, female crew member. The Dutch ship had been commandeered by Calico Jack and his sidekick Anne Bonney.

The new pirate took Anne Bonney's fancy. Disappointment may have turned to laughter, however, when Bonney discovered that the object of her desire was another woman—Mary Read. Rackham noticed the growing intimacy between Anne and the young Englishman. Jealous, he threatened to cut the latter's throat, forcing Anne to reveal the secret of Read's identity. Rackham never divulged the secret and benefited greatly from Mary Read's presence on board. Together, Bonney and Read made a formidable team. They demonstrated unfailing daring and prowess, thus accounting for much of Rackham's fame and success. As Defoe noted, none among the crew "were more resolute or ready to board or undertake anything that was hazardous."

The crew plundered a number of English ships out of Jamaica and pressed many of their crew members into service. One of these, who won Mary Read's heart, became her messmate and companion, a relationship that followed much the same pattern as her experience in Flanders. "When she found he had a friendship for

her, as a man," wrote Defoe, "she suffered the discovery to be made, by carelessly showing her breasts, which were very white." The couple fell in love, and Read later declared before a Jamaican court that they had been married in "the eyes of God." She looked upon her marriage as being as valid as any sanctified by the church.

Then one day the young seafarer quarrelled with a shipmate, who challenged him to a duel. In accordance with the ship's articles, the two opponents were to be set ashore to fight to the death. Read was filled with dread for the safety of her lover. Being a skilled and experienced swordswoman, she insisted on taking his place. At the appointed time, she and the pirate were set ashore and the duel began. Both opponents fired their pistols, missing each other. Then they drew their cutlasses. Read's less agile opponent began to tire. Summoning up his last reserves of strength, he lunged at her and overbalanced. Read almost severed his head with the stroke of her cutlass, and her opponent crumpled slowly to the ground. At her trial, Read acknowledged the veracity of the story, but refused to name her "husband" for fear of implicating him.

Clearly Captain Barnet of the Royal Navy respected the raw courage of the two heavily shackled pirates who stood before the court in November 1720. Their gender, however, still remained a closely guarded secret. Then, Anne Bonney and Mary Read were sentenced by the court to hang, along with Rackham and the rest of his crew. When the judge made a routine inquiry as to whether any of the condemned had anything further to say, the courtroom was astounded by the reply: "Milord, we plead our bellies," answered Bonney and Read. By law, the court could not take the life of an unborn child by hanging the mother. The courtroom erupted in laughter, which soon turned to shocked incredulity when a doctor examined the two prisoners and declared that they were indeed both women and both pregnant.

Rackham was allowed to visit Anne Bonney on the morning of his execution. The reunion was short and acrimonious. Anne, still outraged by his conduct during their capture, muttered, "If he had fought like a man, he need not have been hanged like a dog." This was poor consolation for Rackham, who was hanged later in the afternoon on Rackham's cay, the spot that still bears his name.

Bonney and Read were given separate trials. The evidence against them was damning and included the testimony of Dorothy Thomas , one of their victims. Thomas testified that the two women had berated their follow pirates for not killing her, in order to prevent her from becoming a future witness. Captain Thomas Dillon, the master of a ship captured by Rackham and his crew, testified that the two women were "very profligate, cursing and swearing much, and very ready and willing to do anything on aboard." Neither Bonney nor Read refuted the accusations, and they were sentenced to be hanged after their babies had been born.

They both cheated the hangman, however. Bonney delivered her child and disappeared, probably with the assistance of her father, who wielded considerable influence among the island's planters. Read was not so fortunate. She died in prison, just before she was to deliver her child. Read might have earned a pardon from the court, had it not been for one comment. She was asked by the judge how she could live as a pirate, with the constant threat of prison and the noose hanging over her head. According to Defoe, "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."

The geography of Anne Bonney's and Mary Read's odyssey echoed the imperial hot-spots of contemporary Europe: Ireland, Flanders, Carolina and the Caribbean. They fled the law and the ever-expanding British empire, seeking refuge in the anti-colonial Caribbean pirate fraternity. But they also sought to flee the sexual stereotypes of an era. The changing conditions of 18th-century Europe increasingly disrupted hierarchical power, and made it easier for women to escape the strictures of their gender by donning male clothing. This phenomenon was undoubtedly more common than some historians have suggested, and the fact that only a handful of women were ever caught, is a testament to their ingenuity. In the eyes of the law, European women were perpetually under the control of a male figure—father, husband, brother, uncle, or son. The case of Anne Bonney and Mary Read demonstrates that it was possible to break this cycle and to share in the higher income, higher status world of male society, albeit a lawless one.