Anne Bonny the Pirate Queen - A Brief History

Anne Bonny, widely known as the Pirate Queen, has gone down in legend. She was one of the few female pirates of her time, along with crewmate Mary Read, and much of her story is unknown. What we know of her comes from 'A General History of Pyrates' and it is very possible that elements are embellished. However, parts of it are verifiable through documentation such as records of her trial.

She was born Anne Cormac in Cork, Ireland and although her exact date of birth is unknown, it is speculated to be around 1700. Her birth was a scandal, her father being a reputable lawyer and her mother being a servant, so he left his wife and moved away with Anne and her mother. They eventually settled in what is now Charleston and her father became a merchant. It is said that from an early age, her temper matched her fiery red hair. She was rebellious and surrounded by rumours of her carousing various taverns and sleeping with their patrons. Against her father's wishes, Anne married James Bonny, a poor sailor who became an informant for the governor of the Bahamas. This led to Anne and James spending time with the pirates that James would later inform on. It wasn't long before Anne became disenchanted with her marriage and sympathetic towards the pirates with whom she was associating more and more in an attempt to escape her husband. Anne soon became involved with John Rackham, a charming pirate captain otherwise known as Calico Jack due to his affinity for garish clothing. Calico Jack offered to pay James to divorce Anne. James refused, however Anne ran away with Jack anyway, beginning a pirate life on his ship

Pirates were often superstitious, and one of the more popular superstitions was that having a female on board a ship was extremely bad luck. Even Blackbeard banned the presence of women on his ship, strangling and pitching them over the side if his crewmate were to take them captive. However, this did not deter Anne or Jack. It is said that when one man protested her presence, she drew her cutlass and stabbed him through the heart. Although it is widely rumoured that she disguised herself as a man, this isn't entirely accurate. She was known to her peers as a woman and only dressed as a man when engaged in conflict with other ships. Anne was considered as dangerous as any male pirate. She was also smart. One tale from Anne's years of piracy is that she dismembered a mannequin, smothered it in blood and stood over it with an axe as they engaged a French merchant ship. The ship surrendered their cargo without a fight.

Some time after stopping in Cuba to give to birth to Jack's baby, she met Mary Read, another female pirate who would become part of the crew. Anne and Mary quickly developed an intense friendship, which some accounts say became a romantic relationship. In October 1720, the men of the crew were mostly passed out from the night's drinking when the ship was attacked by a vessel under the control of the government of Jamaica. The men were too inebriated to fight, however Anne and Mary refused to surrender. Anne was said to be so frustrated with her crewmates she yelled, “If there’s a man among ye, ye’ll come up and fight like the man ye are to be!” Some say that when she recieved no response, she fired into the hold, killing one of the men. However, Anne and Mary continued to fight side by side against ther governor's men and were able to hold off the troops for a short time before inevitably being overcome and arrested.

Calico Jack and the men were immediately convicted and sentenced to hang. Anne and Mary, however, received stays of execution due to both being pregnant. Calico Jack was granted the opportunity to see Anne once more before his execution, but all she had to say to him was “If you had fought like a man, you need not have been hang’d like a dog.” Mary would later die of illness in prison, but what happened to Anne is a mystery. It is widely speculated that she was eventually released from prison, however, what happened after this is entirely unknown. The recorded career of Pirate Queen Anne Bonny ended after only a few years, but her bravery and boldness has propelled her to infamy.

Anne Bonny and Mary Read