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Anne Bonney
July 1718 to November 1720. English. Ships: William. Bonney is one of the few women pirates in European history. With Mary Reade she was captured in 1720, as John Rackham raided along Jamaica's northern coast. Early in November, a government ship siezed Rackham's sloop which carried the two women and 9 men. Rackham and the other men were hanged. Because everyone knew they were women. Bonney and Read were tried seperately. Their victims testified that they wore female clothing except during battles. Both joined in assaults carrying guns. The witnesses added that "they were both very profligate, cursing and swearing much, and very ready and willing to do anything."
After they were convicted, the judge asked if there was any reason they should not be hanged as sentenced. "My Lord, we Plead our Bellies," Bonney and Read replied - the customary plea of pregnant women. Since hanging would also kill the unborn child (who had committed no crime), women were reprieved until they gave birth. Bonney and Reade were jailed, and nothing is known about their later fate.
The presence of two women on Rackham's sloop was highly unusual. Some articles specifically banned women and young boys, since the men fought to obtain their sexual favours. In this case it seems the pirates tolerated the women because they may have made themselves available to anyone in Rackham's small crew. Daniel Defoe made Bonney famous through a melodramatic story inserted in his General History. According to Defoe, Anne successfully disguised herself as a man while fighting beside her lover, John Rackham. Defoe tells how Anne was born in Ireland, the illegetimate child of a lawyer and his servant. Her father was forced to emigrate to South Carolina, along with Anne and her mother. The only heiress to a large fortune, Anne gave it all up to run away with James Bonney.
The two lovers went to the Bahamas, where Bonney was pardoned by Woodes Rogers in 1718. Anne, who liked both money and men, soon began to sleep around. She eventually met John Rackham, who won her favour by lavishly spending booty. When Governor Rogers threatened to whip Anne and Rackham, they stole a sloop and turned pirate together.
Putting on seaman's clothes, Anne fought beside the other pirates, who were convinced she was a man. She took shore leave in Cuba to have a baby, but rejoined the ship soon after. By this time, Mary Reade, also wearing male attire, had joined the crew. Mary learned Anne's secret when Anne seduced her, thinking her a pretty fellow. When the Jamaicans caught the pirate ship, only the women resisted, and Anne viciously condemned Rackham as a coward. Victims testified that she retained her feminine character, and donned men's clothing only when in action, but otherwise dressed as women.