Anne Bonny | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bonny from the 1725 Dutch translation of Charles Johnson's book of pirates | |
| Born | c. late 17th century near Cork, Kingdom of Ireland |
| Died | Unknown; last recorded appearance in 1720 |
| Piratical career | |
| Type | Pirate |
| Allegiance | Calico Jack |
| Years active | August 1720 – October 1720 |
| Base of operations | Caribbean |
Anne Bonny (late 17th century – disappeared after 28 November 1720),[1] sometimes Ann Fulford,[2] was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of the few female pirates in recorded history.[3] What little that is known of her life comes largely from Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates.
Bonny was born in Ireland at an unknown date,[a] and later moved to London and then to the Province of Carolina. Around 1718 she married sailor James Bonny, assumed his last name, and moved with him to Nassau in the Bahamas, a sanctuary for pirates.[4] It was there that she met Calico Jack Rackham and became his pirate partner and lover. She was captured alongside Rackham and Mary Read in October 1720. All three were sentenced to death, but Bonny and Read had their executions stayed because both of them were pregnant. Read died of a fever in jail in April 1721 (likely due to complications from the pregnancy), but Bonny's fate is unknown.
Bonny's birthdate is unknown.[5] She was said to be born in County Cork, Ireland.[6] She was the daughter of a servant woman, Mary Brennan, and Brennan's employer, the lawyer William Cormac. Cormac's wife had become ill and was moved to her mother-in-law's home a few miles away to be cared for. Whilst Cormac's wife was away, he began an affair with Mary Brennan, who as a consequence gave birth to a daughter, Anne. Although Anne was therefore illegitimate, Cormac presented her as his legitimate daughter.[7] Official records and contemporary letters dealing with her life are scarce, and most modern knowledge stems from Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates (a collection of pirate biographies, the first edition partly accurate, the second much embellished).[8][9][10]
William Cormac first moved to London to get away from his wife's family, and he began dressing Anne as a boy and calling her "Andy". When Cormac's wife discovered William had taken in his illegitimate daughter and was bringing the child up to be a lawyer's clerk and dressing her as a boy, she stopped giving him an allowance.[11] Cormac then moved to the Province of Carolina, taking along Anne and her mother Mary Brennan. At first, the family had a rough start in their new home; Cormac attempted to establish himself as a lawyer in Charles Town but did not do well. However, his knowledge of the law and ability to buy and sell goods soon financed a townhouse and eventually a plantation just outside the town. Bonny's mother died when Anne was young.[12]
It is recorded that Bonny was considered a "good catch" but may have had a fiery temper; she supposedly stabbed a servant girl with a knife.[9] She married a poor sailor and small-time pirate named James Bonny.[13] James hoped to win possession of his father-in-law's estate, but Bonny was disowned by her father. Anne's father did not approve of James Bonny as a husband for his daughter, and he threw Anne out of his house.[14]
There is a story that Bonny set fire to her father's plantation in retaliation, but no evidence exists in support. However, it is known that sometime between 1714 and 1718, she and James Bonny moved to Nassau, on New Providence Island, known as a sanctuary for English pirates called the Republic of Pirates.[15] Many inhabitants received a King's Pardon or otherwise evaded the law. It is also recorded that, after the arrival of Governor Woodes Rogers in the summer of 1718, James Bonny became an informant for the governor.[16] James Bonny would report to Governor Rogers about the pirates in the area, which resulted in a multitude of these pirates being arrested. Anne disliked the work her husband did for Governor Rogers.
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While in the Bahamas, Bonny began mingling with pirates in the taverns. She met John "Calico Jack" Rackham, and he became her lover. Rackham subsequently offered money to her husband James if he would divorce her, but her husband refused and threatened to beat Rackham. She and Rackham escaped the island together, and she became a member of his crew. She disguised herself as a man on the ship, and only Rackham and Mary Read were aware that she was a woman[14] until it became clear that she was pregnant. Rackham then landed her in Cuba where she gave birth to a son.[11] She then rejoined Rackham and continued the pirate life, having divorced her husband and married Rackham while at sea.[citation needed] Bonny, Rackham, and Read stole the ship William, then at anchor in Nassau harbor, and put out to sea.[17] Rackham and the two women recruited a new crew. Their crew spent years in Jamaica and the surrounding area.[18] Bonny took part in combat alongside the men, and Governor Rogers named her in a "Wanted Pirates" circular published in The Boston News-Letter.[16]
When Bonny told Read that she was a woman because she was attracted to her, Read revealed that she too was a woman. To abate the jealousy of Rackham, who suspected romantic involvement between the two, Bonny told him that Read was a woman.[19] Speculation over the relationship between Bonny and Read led to images depicting the two in battle together.[20]
A victim of the pirates, Dorothy Thomas, left a description of Read and Bonny: They "wore men's jackets, and long trousers, and handkerchiefs tied about their heads: and ... each of them had a machete and pistol in their hands and they cursed and swore at the men to murder her [Dorothy Thomas]." Thomas also recorded that she knew that they were women, "from the largeness of their breasts."[21]
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Main article: Capture of John "Calico Jack" Rackham |
In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet under a commission from Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates put up little resistance, as many of them were too drunk to fight. They were taken to Jamaica where they were convicted and sentenced by Governor Lawes to be hanged.[22] When Anne Bonny was being tried in Jamaica, many of the gentlemen planters of Jamaica knew Anne Bonny’s father and had dealt with him before. Therefore, it was assumed that Bonny might receive favour in her trial. However, her action of leaving was a harrowing circumstance against her that was one of the reasons that ultimately led to her imprisonment.[7]
Read and Bonny both "pleaded their bellies", asking for mercy because they were pregnant,[23] and the court granted them a stay of execution until they gave birth. Read died in prison, most likely from a fever from childbirth. A ledger from a church in Jamaica lists her burial on 28 April 1721, "Mary Read, pirate".[24]
There is no record of Bonny's release, and this has fed speculation as to her fate.[25] Claims of Bonny being freed by family intervention and moving to the American colonies, dying around the 1780s, are unlikely and appear to originate from the 1964 romance novel Mistress of the Seas.[26] A Spanish Town burial register lists the burial of an "Ann Bonny" on 29 December 1733. Spanish Town is the same town in Jamaica where Bonny was tried in 1720.[24] Captain Charles Johnson writes in A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, published in 1724: "She was continued in Prison, to the Time of her lying in, and afterward reprieved from Time to Time; but what is become of her since we cannot tell; only this we know, that she was not executed".[27]
In 2020, a statue of Bonny and Read was unveiled at Execution Dock in Wapping, London. It was originally planned for the statues to be permanently placed on Burgh Island in south Devon,[34] but these plans were withdrawn after complaints of glamorizing piracy, and because Bonny and Read have no association with the island.[35] The statues were eventually accepted by Lewes F.C.[36]
