Equal Opportunity on the High Seas: Ann Bonney

When you think of the pirates of yore, images of grizzled, scarred men with cutlasses in their teeth, parrots on their shoulders and echoes of "yo ho ho" are what probably comes to mind. Edward Teach - Blackbeard - captain of Queen Anne's revenge and alleged to have gone into battle with lit wicks in his beard is the preeminant name that comes to mind. Jean Lafitte has a more romantic image that the grotesque Teach, but they were just two of dozens of pirates that were either good guys, or bad guys, depending on who benefitted from their acts.

But among the hoary and hairy captains and crews were a few of the gentler sex. Foremost among them, and equally as worthy of the buccaneer crown and as man, was the redoubtable Anne Bonney.

Anne was born out-of-wedlock in County Cork, Ireland, probably in 1697, to a wealthy father, attorney William Cormac, and a serving maid, Marry Brennan. To avoid the ensuing scandal, Cormac subsequently took his family to Charleston, South Carolina where he resumed his law career and later owned a plantation. However, Anne proved to be a lightening-rod for scandal herself, possessed of "a fierce and courageous temper". After her mother's death, and following incidents in which she was reported to have stabbed a serving girl, and "soundly thrashed" a would-be rapist, Anne brought her childhood to a resounding close at aged 16 by running off and eloping with James Bonney.

Himself a pirate, Bonney took Anne with him to a pirates hide-out in New Providence, Bahamas, but in 1718 when the Governor of the Island offered a pardon to any pirate, Bonney ratted out his former compatriots. Anne, disgusted with his cowardice and lack of loyalty, left her husband and turned instead to another pirate, Calico Jack Rakham (his love of spending money included the colorful clothing that lent him his nickname).

From a contemporary perspective if is difficult to note whether it was a wild love affair, or merely a matter of expediency for a young girl with no nake protector. Certainly Anne had proved herself capable of defending herself, but society was still nearly impossible to navigate for a young woman alone. Jack Rackham did offer to buy Anne from Bonney, but when he refused, they merely ran away together. Anne's career as a pirate began when the two, along with some of Rakham's fellow crew members boarded and took over his ship from its captain. The two sailed together on Rackham's sloop, the Vanity, and the later ship, The Revenge, flying the skull and crossbones. Anne dressed as a man, acknowledged as "the Captain's woman", raiding ships in the area of Cuba and Hispanola, primarily those carrying Spanish treasure. Of that time not much is known, but it is believed that Anne was put ashore in Cuba at one point apparently to have a child, which she left with friends before returning to sail with Rackham (though some stories indicate the child may have died in childbirth).

Following an attack on a Dutch ship, another woman, Mary Read, who had dressed as a man and gone to sea following the death of her husband, was taken on board. The two women became friends. Read, it seems, had a similar temperment to Anne,killing an adversary when her new lover on board was challenged to a duel.

With reputations "fierce as hellcats", the two women apparently fought side by side, and enjoyed their respective lovers, and life aboard the high seas.

But in 1720, when the Revenge lay at anchor, the women proved themselves to be the truest pirates of all. When a British sloop commanded by a Captain Barnett attached, the two attempted to rouse the drunken crew - who had fled belowdecks - to fight back. The women went so far as to kill one and wound several of their own crewmates by way of motivation, but the battle was lost and all were taken prisoner by the British and were removed to Jamaica to stand trial.

As was frequently a way out for a woman on trial, both Anne and Mary "pleaded their bellies", and, as pregnant women, they evaded the noose that was the fate of their comrades on November 16, 1720.

Legend says that Anne was permitted to visit her lover before the sentence was carried out, where it is claimed her last words to him were:

"Had you fought like a man, you'd not have been hang'd like a dog.".

Mary Read's fate is one of uncertainty. Records show she died of a fever in jail awaiting the birth of her child, but it has been surmised that she faked her death and was smuggled out in the shroud. Given her nature, it seems not unlikely that she would have fought her fate.

Anne Bonney, too, disappeared into history. Various postulations have been made, one suggesting she was saved by her wealthy father, who, despite having disowned her upon her elopement with Bonney, appeared and bought her freedom. Some believe she and Mary actually returned to American to live together and raise their children (and some sources of sailors with whom they traveled apparently believed the two women were involved in a lesbian relationship). A serious source, The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, however, says that Anne was married again to a Joseph Burleigh (thanks to her father and a hefty dowry, necessary one would imagine to convince any potential spouse to overlook her colorful past), and bore him eight children. And there is another wistful tale that says she made her way back to England where she owned and ran a tavern, regaling her customers with tales of her past adventures.

What is more astounding than any of the details of the wild and murderous life she led, was the fact that, as far as can be surmised, Anne Bonney was probably between 17 and 20 years old during her adventures with Jack Rackham.

Given that headstrong nature and her bloodthirsty career, it seems Anne would not merely have faded away. It would certainly be interesting to know what became of the young woman who fought and killed, and apparently loved, with abandon.