Female Pirates
The rule of pirates, to not allow women on board, was not always true. Ann Bonny and Mary Read were the best known exception to the rule. There was also the Irish Grace O'Malley, called "Graine Mhaol" because of her short hair, Ching Shih, queen of Chinese pirates who took over her late husband's enormous pirate fleet when he was killed in a typhoon in 1807, Charlotte De Berry an Englishwoman, Fanny Campbell from Massachusetts, and the ruthless Ann Mills.
Grace O'Malley was the daughter of a famous Irish family of sea rovers. She was married to two of the greatest chieftans in the West of Ireland. She based her piracy in Clare Island in Clew Bay. She renounced her piracy in 1586 and recieved a pardon from Queen Elizabeth.
Ann Bonny and Mary Read
Ann Bonny was an illegitimate child. Her father was a lawyer, William Cormac, and her mother the family maid, Mary Brennan. Born in Ireland in 1698, she moved with her parents to Charleston, South Carolina, following the scandal of her birth. Her father was a prominate lawyer and wealthy merchant.
Ann was said to have red hair and an Irish firey temper. One story is that she stabbed a servant girl with a butcher knife. She married James Bonny, a penniless fortune hunter. James took her to the Bahama's as a pirate, after her father disinherited her from her fortune. James became an informer for Governor Woodes Rogers to clear out the pirates. Anne, who liked the pirate life, left him for John Rackham. "Calico Jack" had stopped pirating for a royal pardon and bought her lavish presents and offered to purchase her from her husband. James then went to the governor who threatened to have Ann flogged if she did not return to her husband. Ann and Jack decided to run away and go back to pirating.
When Ann was pregnant, Calico Jack left her with friends in Cuba, until she gave birth. She rejoined Calico Jack at sea, leaving the child in Cuba, with friends. Anne fought in men's clothing, was an expert with pistol and cutlass and considered as dangerous as any male pirate.
Jack took forced sailors from captured vessels as his crew. A young sailer who went by the name of Mark Read was captured. He captured Ann's attention, and turned out to be a young English woman named Mary Read. Rackham agreed to let Mary keep her disguise and join the pirates.
Mary Read was also illegitimate and her mother dressed her in men's clothing to fool relatives into thinking she was her deceased son to get his inheritance. Later, Mary entered the King's service as a cabin boy. She served as a foot soldier and a dragoon in the War of the Spanish Succession. Here she fell in love and married her tent mate and they went to Holland in 1698. When her husband died of fever she went back to dressing as a man to make a living and signed aboard a Dutch ship as a sailor.
In 1709 Mary Read, and several other West Indies women, wrote a letter to Queen Anne, in England, begging for their husband's pardon! Her husband, who had turned to piracy in the West Indies, had been arrested and jailed in England, and was sentenced to hang. Mary stated she was 25 years old, which would have been the same age that the pirate woman was, since Mary Read was born in 1684. Her husband was not pardoned but hanged and Mary went back into the Naval service.
In October 1720, off the coast of Jamaica, their ship was attacked by a British sloop while the pirates were all drunk. Mary and Ann tried to fight off the British and when they lost, Mary turned on the pirates killing one while screaming that they all were cowards and should "come up and fight like men".
In Jamiaca they were put on trial. Mary and Ann were sentenced, like the rest of the crew, to be executed. Both women were pregnant at the time and when asked if they had anything to say, they pleaded to the judge, "Milord, we plead our bellies" and their execution was stayed. Calico Jack Rackham was put to death November 17, 1720, and Mary's lover was relesed as he was a forced sailor. Mary later died of fever in prison on on April 28, 1721 at age 37, before having her child. Parish records for the district of St. Catherine indicate she is buried in a cemetery there. It's not known how many children she'd had previously or how many times she was married.
There is no record of Ann's execution. She gave birth to a son, and he is recorded in the Parish records of St. Catherine, on April 25, 1721. It is rumored that her wealthy father bought her release after the birth of her child.
Ann is beleived to have survived. Her son, by John Rackham,is said to have inherited an estate in Princess Anne County, Virginia. There are records that Anne married into a Charles Town family. Her father may have made a deal with the family. Ann was married in December, 1721 and ended up on a plantation in York County, Virginia. Bible records show Anne gave birth to eight children during her marriage.
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