In the early eighteenth century, just over 100 years after the Elizabethan heyday of English and Spanish piracy, there were still motley crews of French, British and American colonials on the high seas. Women are rarely heard of in these situations, and those that do get a passing mention in history were probably ‘companions’ to the real pirates. But one Irishwoman stands out from this unappetising crowd and is able to claim the dubious honour of being a pirate in her own right.
Anne Bonny was born in County Cork c.1698, the daughter of a servant, Mary Brennan, and her married employer, local lawyer William Cormac. Due to the scandal caused by the illegitimate birth, Mary, William and baby Anne left Ireland forever and fled to the New World. They settled in Charleston, South Carolina, where William bought and ran a successful plantation. Anne’s mother died and Anne grew up the spoilt mistress of a large house who was used to having her own way.
Anne was strong and sturdy and had a ferocious temper. In one account of her early life (A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates by Captain Charles Johnson alias Daniel Defoe), she is said to have knifed her maid for some minor misdemeanour. When she was the victim of a rape attempt, she beat up the would-be rapist so badly he took to his bed to recuperate. She is also said to have become an expert fencer and markswoman – skills that were to stand her in good stead later on.
The undisciplined Carolinas were full of people running away from past sins, and there was plenty of opportunity for a young woman with a wayward streak and an inheritance to get into trouble. As soon as she was old enough, Anne fulfilled the worst expectations of all who knew her by marrying one of the less savoury characters of the area – a pirate named James Bonny. Her long-suffering father appears to have disowned her at this point.
The couple gravitated to New Providence, in what is now Nassau, in the Bahamas, probably at James’s suggestion because of its reputation as a gathering place for renegade seamen. Surrounded by a wide choice of men of a certain type, it wasn’t long before Anne tired of her charmless partner and attached herself to a succession of lovers, eventually hooking up with someone quite exalted in pirate circles: Captain John Rackham, also known as Calico Jack.
When he found out, James Bonny charged his young wife with desertion and took her to court where, according to one of the more overheated stories, Anne was forced to appear naked. Bonny succeeded in getting a court order to prevent Anne and Jack from meeting. Legend has it that, to remedy the situation, Calico Jack suggested James Bonny put his wife up for auction and pocket the proceeds. This was not as bizarre a suggestion as it sounds, since divorce law in the early eighteenth century was largely focussed on compensating the divorced husband for the loss of his ‘property’. In any case, Anne’s response to this was to ignore the court order, pull on a pair of men’s breeches and elope with Calico Jack to his ship, The Revenge.
Once on board, Anne developed her reputation for a wild temper, but she was apparently competent and well able to use both sword and pistol in the performance of her duties, which mainly involved commandeering the goods of other ships. On one trip she met Mary Read from England – also dressed as a man and living the life of a pirate. Mary had actually been brought up as a boy in a vain attempt by her mother to secure an inheritance. When this ruse failed, Mary had continued in her male persona and run away, first to the army and then to sea. By the time she met Anne she was a pirate of some experience and was one of Calico Jack’s lieutenants.
Inevitably the women’s relationship has been the subject of much erotic speculation by earlier historians, many of whom preferred to believe that they had a lesbian relationship or – even better – enjoyed a menage à trois with Calico Jack. Anne was ‘not reserved in point of chastity,’ as one biographer waspishly points out, and she ‘took [Mary] for a handsome lad’. The story goes on to relate how Anne, intent on having her wicked way with the ‘handsome lad’, followed Mary into a cabin, threw her on the bed and ripped open her blouse to reveal not only her intentions but also her not inconsiderable bosom. The startled Mary startled Anne in turn when she responded by ripping open her own blouse. However, setting aside speculations, it is just about possible to believe, 200 years later, that Anne and Mary had a platonic relationship and worked, lived and fought side-by-side.
Around this time the British government issued a King’s Proclamation pardoning all pirates who gave themselves up. Calico Jack immediately availed himself of this opportunity to lengthen his life expectancy, but as soon as money ran short and he didn’t know how to get any more, he reneged on the deal and went back to sea. Soon Jack, Anne, Mary and the crew of The Revenge were up to their old tricks in the waters around Jamaica.
In November 1720 a pirate-hunter named Captain Barnet attacked The Revenge. Legend has it that Anne and Mary were the only two that stayed to fight on the deck, and became so enraged as the rest of the pirates, including Calico Jack, cowered below that, in between fending off Barnet’s men, they fired their pistols into the hold, killing one of their own comrades and wounding others. Despite the women’s valiant efforts, the ship was overcome and the whole crew was taken to Jamaica and charged with piracy. All were found guilty and hanged.
All, that is, except for Anne Bonny and Mary Read. The two notorious women were tried separately and each claimed that she was pregnant, which they knew automatically postponed their date of execution. Pregnant or not, Mary Read died shortly afterwards of what was called prison fever – probably dysentery or something similar. As for Anne, she had one more meeting with Calico Jack on the day he was being taken to the gallows. Instead of comforting her hapless ex-lover, she roundly berated him, telling him that had he ‘fought like a man [on The Revenge], he need not have been hanged like a dog’.
Nothing more is known of Anne Bonny. It is possible that her rich and influential father took pity on her and got her off as she seems to have had at least one reprieve. One thing is certain: there is no record of her having been hanged.