September '05 - Anne Bonny

Of course, most of the pirates were men. Especially, most of the *well-known* pirates. There were plenty of reasons for that, such as common beliefs that women are much weaker, that they can't handle too much, that they are just... inferior to men.
Especially in the Medieval times or in the Golden Age of Piracy, women were considered to be a worse race than men. And on sea, where strength both of body and of spirit were needed, women were considered to be most unfit.
Though there were several women who proved to be worth just as much as men, the women who left their names in the history of piracy along with the famous names of the men-pirates. One of them was Anne Bonny, who is now famous for her reckless deeds and for her fierce spirit.

No exact details of her birth can be found, but it is believed that she was born illegitimately in County Cork (Ireland) between 1697 and 1700 to the maid, Mary Brennen, who was in her father's (William Cormac) employ. Her father had a practice in Kinsale, but, of course, he had to give it up when it became clear that his maid was bearing his child. He left Ireland for America (Charleston) because of scandalized society, taking Mary Brennen and the child with him. Later he presented them as his legitimate family. Soon enough he gained a reputation of an upper-class man again and his new family started to prosper.

Anne's mother died when Anne was in her teen years, and it definitely didn't soften Anne's already fiery and courageous nature. There are tales about her cruelty to the maids in her father's household, for already as a child, she was much more independent and fierce than women were supposed to be.

When Anne was sixteen, she fell in love with a sea captain, James Bonny. William Cormac, discovering their romance, was infuriated. He had wished for Anne to become a respectable lady, marry a Charleston man, and take her place in society as a plantation owner's wife. Anne, however, had other ideas for her future. Anne and James Bonny were wed against her father's will, they moved to Nassau, described as "a pirate's paradise" and the descriptions were not far off the mark. But Anne's marriage to James Bonny wasn't at all what she wanted to have. Anne began to cast her eye around for means of escape, and the means presented itself to her in the person of Captain Jack Rackham, also known as Calico Jack. It is said that Jack was flamboyantly handsome, and after he offered Anne a chance to get away from her husband, along with the added benefit of high adventure, it didn't take much more convincing for Anne to consent to run away with him. After disguising herself in men's clothing they snuck aboard his ship and headed to sea.

She was better at fighting than most of the men, and, therefore, no one suspected her of being a woman. Though, when she became pregnant, Jack Rackham sailed her to Cuba and left her there, they both agreeing that a ship was not a place for giving birth to a child. Though the child was born dead and Anne believed it to be a punishment for her pirate life.

From one of her friends she got to know that a murder of the Governor Woodes Rogers was planned. Knowing him from her previous, non-pirate life, she decided to warn him and save his life, maybe having a subconscious intention to make up for all the murders and crimes she had commited. Soon enough Anne and Calico Jack were arrested for piracy, but the Governor, remembering how Anne saved his neck, ordered the guards to set Calico Jack and Anne Bonny free. They sailed away that very night, going back to their life of looting and pillaging.

Mary Read was aboard as well, disguised as a man. Though later there was no necessity in it. The two women (who made friends easily) were respected and even feared by the male-pirates, for their fighting skills were almost perfect, and they never showed any signs of weakness.

However, in October of 1720 their life of piracy and adventure came to an end. Governor Lawes of Jamaica heard of their presence and sent troops to commandeer their ship and bring them to trial. Calico Jack and his crew were unprepared. The troops did not strike until the day after Jack had captured a commercial vessel, and he and all the men aboard ship were drunk and unable to defend themselves, leaving only Anne Bonny and Mary Read to fend off the attackers. The two women became so disgusted with the men for not fighting that they periodically turned their guns on their own crew before they were all captured.

Everyone was condemned. They all had an appointment with the noose, and only the two women had their hanging postponed because they either were really pregnant, or faked it.
All the crew, including Calico Jack Rackham, were hung. Somehow Anne stayed to live, no one knows how and who helped her, but she was never hung. Either her father paid a ransom to get her out of the jail, or she escaped...

Anne Bonny is quite a mysterious character, there is not much evidence or facts about her life, though, it's obvious that she was ahead of her own time. She was a fierce, strong, fiery, independent woman who chose to live her life like she wanted, not like she could have been made do. Choosing freedom over being ordered, choosing flying over being caged, she became one of the most famous woman-pirates...

---Curious tale about Anne Bonny---

She got a permission to see Calico Jack Rackham for the last time, before he had to go to the noose. Her last words to him are believed to be "I'm sorry, Jack, but if you had fought like a man you would not now be about to die like a dog. Do straighten yourself up!"

source picture: keynoter.com