Females Convicted of Piracy

When we think of pirates, we think of Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd and other infamous men but there were two females who crossed the gender line. The only two women known to have been convicted of piracy during the early 18th century were Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

Anne Bonny: Born Anne Cormac sometime between 1697 and 1702, possibly in County Cork, Ireland. She was a red haired beauty with a feisty temper. She married a poor sailor named James Bonny between 1714 and 1718 and they moved to the Bahamas, which was a pirate hub at the time. Anne liked to frequent the local bars where the pirates hung out and she met John "Calico Jack" Rackham with whom she had an affair. The Governor learned of the affair from Anne's husband and sentenced her to be flogged. She later escaped with Rackham to live as pirates and they stole a ship which was renamed Revenge.

Mary Read: Born in England in the late 17th century to the widow of a sea captain, she was illegitimate. Her mother began to disguise her as a boy after the death of her older legitimate brother so they could continue to receive money from the grandmother's estate. Mary continued to dress as a boy, later found employment on a ship and even joined the British military disguised as a male. It is reported that she proved herself through battle but fell in love with a Flemish soldier and revealed her secret.

When Mary married, she dressed as a woman for the first time in her life. Her husband died young, she resumed dressing as a male and joined the military in Holland. After hostilities abated, she became bored and left the military. She boarded a ship for the West Indies and the vessel was taken by pirates led by Rackham and his companion, Anne Bonny. Mary revealed her gender to them and joined their crew as a pirate.

Mary and Anne were both fierce fighters, more so than a lot of the men in the crew. When their ship was boarded by government troops near Jamaica only the two women and one male from the crew put up an admirable defense.

The entire pirate crew, along with Rackham, were convicted of piracy and sentenced to hang but Anne and Mary were spared the noose because they were pregnant. Mary died in prison in 1721 from complications of childbirth. Anne is believed to have been ransomed by her father and she relocated to South Carolina. She married a local man and bore 8 children. Anne died at the age of 80, an honest woman.

Anne Bonny and Mary Read were two women who entered a man's world and were a match for any of them.

source:
Wikipedia.com