Anne Bonny

Anne Bonny (1697-?) was a pirate of Irish descent who sailed with Calico Jack Rackham throughout the Caribbean.

Early life

Much of what is known about Anne Bonny is based on Captain Charles Johnson's "A General History of the Pyrates." Official records and contemporary letters dealing with her life are scarce. Various sources disagree about her birth year, but it was probably between 1697 and 1705. ^*

Anne Bonny, born Anne Cormac in County Cork, Ireland, was a daughter of attorney William Cormac and his maidservant. Her mother was named either Mary or Peg Brennan. When the affair became public, Cormac with his new wife and newborn child, left Ireland for Charleston, South Carolina where he made a fortune and bought a large plantation.

Marriage and later affair with pirate

What records of her that do exist seem to reflect is that she was intelligent, quick tempered, and pretty in her appearance. When Anne was thirteen she had supposedly stabbed a servant girl in the belly with a table knife. However it is uncertain, because her mother herself was a servant woman. At sixteen, Anne married a sailor and small time pirate named James Bonny. James Bonny hoped to win possession of his wife's family estate, but Anne was disowned by her father.

According to legend, Anne started a fire on the plantation in retaliation against her father's decision. James Bonny then took his new bride to New Providence (modern-day Nassau), Bahamas, a pirate hub and base for many pirate operations, where he became an informant for Governor Woodes Rogers.

While in the Bahamas, Anne Bonny began mingling with pirates at the local drinking establishments, and met the pirate "Calico Jack" Rackham, with whom she shortly thereafter became involved in an affair. Rackham offered to buy Anne from James Bonny in a divorce-by-purchase, but James refused. He complained to the governor, who sentenced Anne to be flogged and to return to her legal husband. Anne Bonny and Rackham instead eloped together.

Life as a pirate

According to a superstition at that time that women aboard ships brought bad luck, it has been alleged that Bonny was not allowed to join Rackham's crew. Legend says that Bonny disguised herself as a male to come aboard the Revenge, Rackham's pirate ship. Anne and Jack stole a ship at anchor in the harbor and set off to sea, putting together a crew and taking several prizes. She took part in combat alongside the males. Also according to legend, she stabbed another pirate through the heart when he discovered her true sex.

However, according to the most recent History Channel documentary, True Caribbean Pirates, which aired July 9th, 2006, Bonny never hid her identity, and was well-known by the other pirates, having mingled with them socially, and she was readily accepted as a crew member.

Over the next three years or more, she and Rackham saw quite a few successes as pirates, capturing many ships, and bringing in an abundance of treasure. Although Bonny would become one of the most well known pirates in history, she never commanded a ship of her own, nor was she ever the deciding factor as to what ships they attacked. It is likely that her reputation as being a female pirate would be what would eventually lead to her fame. However, she was by all accounts competent, good in combat, and respected within pirate ranks.

Meeting Mary Read

Bonny was not to be the only female pirate on Rackham's ship. A woman by the name of Mary Read also disguised herself as a man to join the crew, after her ship was taken during a raid. Bonny and Read became close companions to one another, and when Bonny walked in on Read undressing one day, she discovered her secret. The two women agreed to keep this from everyone, and Bonny swore not to reveal that Read was really a woman. It was indicated in the writings of author and Captain, Charles Johnson, that at least at first their attraction to one another was of a romantic nature, but that is not known beyond a doubt. ^*

However, Read's true sex would not remain secret for long. Rackham became suspicious of Bonny's close relationship with the new sailor, and demanded an explanation. When Read confessed that she was actually a woman, Rackham allowed her to stay on as a member of his crew, eventually revealing her secret to the other crew members. However, this had no effect on her service, and she was accepted on board the ship as Bonny had been. ^*

Capture and imprisonment

In October of 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet, who was working for the governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates did not put up much resistance as many of them were too drunk to fight. However, Read and Bonny, who were sober, fought fiercely and managed to hold off Barnet's troops for a short time. After their capture, Rackham and his crew were sentenced to be hanged by the Governor of Jamaica. Jack hid while the pregnant(and recently proved )ladies deal with a great number of captors. Bonny is reported to have chastised the imprisoned Rackham (who wanted to see her one last time) by saying, "I am sorry to see you there, but if you had fought like a man, you need not be hanged like a dog."

After their arrest and trial, Read and Bonny announced during the sentencing phase that they were both pregnant. According to the latest information recently released by The History Channel, both were in fact pregnant, although there is no mention as to who the father of either child was. Both women received a temporary stay of execution until they gave birth. Mary Read soon died in prison most likely from a fever, but also it's been alleged she died during childbirth.

Mystery disappearance of Anne Bonny

Bonny disappeared from the historic record while in prison. There is no record of her release or of her execution. This is somewhat unusual and has led some to theorise that her father ransomed her and gave her an opportunity to begin a new life. Other sources claim that she returned to her husband, or even that she resumed a life of piracy under a new identity. The latter is very unlikely, as a female pirate would have been something to take notice of. The most accepted scenario is the first, that her wealthy father paid a ransom for her release. ^*

There was at least one other scenario, indicating that Anne Bonny had became involved romantically with a Doctor named Michael Radcliff. Bonny had allegedly convinced her fellow pirates to spare Radcliffe's life in an earlier incident, and he had sworn his allegiance to her for that deed. This scenario alleges that it was by Dr. Radcliff that Bonny was pregnant. The Governor, said to have been Governor Lawes, secretly granted her a pardon on the terms that she leave the islands never to return, in the company of Dr. Radcliff. In this scenario, it is also proclaimed that her legal husband, James Bonny, had died by this time, having been killed during a hurricane. It goes on to say that she and Dr. Radcliff departed for Norfolk, Virginia two days after the pardon, where they later joined a party of pioneers headed westward, where they disappeared from any public records. to John Carlova's , Mistress of the Seas, he totally agreed with that scenairo. There's a possibility that Captain Roberts wrote the governor "telling him to let Anne Bonny go or feel the thunder of his pirate guns from Port Royal to Kingston and back again."Her only possible escape was to marry and start a new life.[http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/4704/annebonny.html

Although there is no proof to substantiate any of the mentioned scenarios, the latter would explain her disappearance from history. Her father being a wealthy prominent man, it is unlikely that no one would have ever recorded her return to his estate. Had she returned to piracy, her exploits at the least would have eventually surfaced, and the fact that she was a female could not have been kept secret for any length of time on board a ship, with everyone living in close quarters. However, it is certain that she was not executed, as all executions were meticulously recorded. A secret pardon seems plausible, and beginning a new life was easy to do in the early days of America. ^* However, it is likely that no one will ever know the final outcome of Anne Bonny's life.

External links

Anne Bonny at TheWayofthePirates.com

References

Defoe, Daniel: A General History of the Pyrates 1999: Dover Publications (reprint). ISBN 0486404889
Nash, Jay Robert: Look For the Woman 1981: M. Evans and Company, Inc. New York. ISBN 0871313367
Cordingly, David: Pirates: Terror on the High Seas - from the Caribbean to the Shouth China Sea 1996: Turner Publishing, Inc.. ISBN 1570362858

1697 births | 1720 deaths | Pirates

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