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Anne Bonny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anne Bonny (c. 1698 – 1782) was an Irish pirate who plied her trade in the Caribbean.
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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.[1]
Anne Bonny, born 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.
The few records of Bonny which exist seem to reflect that she was intelligent, quick tempered, and pretty. When Anne was thirteen, she supposedly stabbed a servant girl in the belly with a table knife, although it is unclear whether this is fact or purely legend. 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. 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 had an affair. Rackham offered to buy Anne from James Bonny in a divorce-by-purchase, but James refused. He complained to the governor, who brought Anne before the court, naked, and sentenced her to be flogged and to return to her legal husband. Anne Bonny and Rackham instead eloped.
Legend tells that because of a superstition of the time that women aboard ships brought bad luck, Bonny was forced to disguise herself as a man in order to join Rackham's crew aboard the Revenge. 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 a 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 best-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 by her fellow pirates.
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.[2]
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.[2]^
In November 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 by the Governor of Jamaica to be hanged. Jack hid while the pregnant (and recently proved) ladies dealt 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 has been alleged she died during childbirth.
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 most accepted scenario is the first, that her wealthy father paid a ransom for her release. It is also extremely likely, though, that she escaped and resumed a life of piracy, seeing as the woman pirates who were successful in hiding their true sex completely escaped being recorded in history.
- Anne Bonny, along with Mary Read, is one of the main characters in the webcomic Sea Monsters by Gwendolyn Meer. The story is a modernized adaptation of the events of their lives.
- Anne Bonny and Mary Read are featured in the 11th movie of the Detective Conan anime series--Detective Conan: Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure as a crucial plot point.
- Anne Bonny makes a memorable appearance in Erica Jong's novel Fanny.
David Cordingly, "Bonny, Anne (1698–1782)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 18 Nov 2006