Love Affairs: Jack Rackham & Anne Bonny

By Anna C. Bowling

These real life pirates of the Caribbean shared a love affair that ignited like a flash of gunpowder during the waning days of piracy's golden age. Jack Rackham, dubbed Calico Jack by his peers, due to his brightly colored wardrobe, had already enjoyed a piratical career that included taking over a ship previously captained by James Vane when the pirates found themselves pitted against a warship. Jack's crewmates elected him captain in Vane's stead, and Jack led several successful raids on merchant ships before deciding he wanted something else out of life.

His ship put into New Providence Harbor in the Bahamas, and Jack may well have accepted the open pardon offered by Governor Woodes Rogers for all those who would quit their nefarious ways and live as decent men. It was one far from decent woman, Anne Bonny, a quick-tempered Irishwoman from South Carolina, who turned his head and set his life on a far different course when the pair met at one of the many taverns in the port town.

The attraction between the two was intense and instantaneous, finding themselves matched well in temperament, passion and ambition for adventure. There was only one problem: Anne was already married, and even worse, her husband, James Bonny, was an informant for Governor Rogers. Having his wife carrying on with one of the very pirates he hoped to eliminate did not sit well.

James charged his wife with adultery, and her conviction warranted flogging and a charge to return to James. Jack offered to buy Anne from James in a marriage by purchase, but Anne's pride nipped that in the bud. She refused to be bought and sold like livestock and the pair escaped New Providence to take to the open sea.

Anne learned the art of piracy well under Jack's tutelage, to the extent that most historical mentions of Jack's name are as an associate of Anne's, and that of another piratess in male guise, Mary Read, rather than for his own exploits. Anne and Jack's affair proved fruitful, and they put into port in Cuba for Anne to deliver their first child, whose fate remains unknown.

Jack and Anne resumed their seafaring lifestyle, with pirate hunters hot on their heels. In 1720, Captain Jonathan Barnet captured their ship while the male crewmembers were too inebriated to offer resistance. Only Anne and Mary fought to the end, and the entire crew stood trial in Jamaica, facing a death sentence. Anne, pregnant with her and Jack's second child, plead her belly, and had her execution postponed until she could carry the child to term. (A ruling which proved moot, as Anne escaped well before said time.) Jack, however, had no recourse, and his sentence was passed.

The day of his execution, Jack had but one final wish--to see his beloved Anne one last time. The wish was granted, but historical accounts indicate that Anne turned away from her lover after uttering the fateful words, "If you had fought like a man, you would not be hanged like a dog."

Scandal: Anne Bonny

By Anna C. Bowling

Though Anne Bonny earned herself a spot in the history books as one of the most famed female pirates off all time, she started her life of scandal right out of the gate with her birth in 1700 (or 1702 depending on source). Reputed to be the daughter of Irish attorney William Cormac and one of the family's maidservants, Anne's arrival did not please Mrs. Cormac one bit, though one account has suggested that Mrs. Cormac revealed her knowledge of her husband's affair by waiting in the maidservant's bed for William to come for one of his regular visits. However the family dealt with this new development, William absconded to Charleston, South Carolina, with the maidservant and baby Anne to start life anew.

Colonial life brought prosperity to the Cormac family, and Anne grew up with a degree of privilege, though her fiery nature manifested itself early on. Some accounts claim that Anne stabbed one of her maidservants and at another time set fire to her father's plantation, but there is no conclusive evidence to support or deny either claim. Anne's wild ways led to an impulsive teenage marriage to James Bonny, a sailor with a taste for the high life, who hoped to gain control of Anne's family's fortune. William Cormac would have none of that, or of his daughter and son-in-law, so the newlyweds set sail for New Providence Island in the Bahamas.

Their rocky marriage crashed. James became an informant for Governor Woodes Rogers, while Anne preferred to spend her time in local taverns rather than keeping house. It was there that she met the dashing pirate James could never be. Calico Jack Rackham, so named for his flashy style of dress, matched Anne in spirit and thirst for adventure, and the two soon began an affair. James Bonny brought his wife before Governor Rodgers to have her flogged for the crime of adultery. She was ordered to return to him to live as a proper wife. Such was the law of the land, but as pirates subscribed to a law of their own, Jack Rackham had a counter-offer.

Jack offered to buy Anne from James in a divorce by purchase--not entirely legal, but accepted practice in some circles. Anne refused; she was not property to be bought and sold. Anne's sentence was passed but not carried out (foreshadowing alert), and she and Jack disappeared to embark on their piratical partnership. They would later acquire another companion, the female pirate Mary Read, who had a scandalous background of her own. Mary was raised in male disguise by her widowed mother, as her paternal grandmother would support a grandson but not a granddaughter. The trio wreaked havoc upon the seas, taking many prizes. Some accounts have Anne bearing Jack's child during their two years together, though varying accounts list the child as being stillborn or left to be raised with a family in Cuba.

The pirate's life is said to be a merry but short one, and in 1720, Anne and company found this to be true. Captain Jonathan Barnet, working for the governor of Jamaica, captured the trio's ship. Only Anne and Mary fought to the end, the men reputedly being too drunk to fight. All were brought to trial for piracy, and Anne and Mary both plead their bellies, claiming to be pregnant, which would earn them stays of execution until their children were born. Neither execution ever took place. Mary died of a fever which may or may not have been connected to childbirth. Anne's fate was a mystery for quite some time.

Had she in fact been executed? No documents or contemporary sources existed to that effect. What then? Had she died in prison like Mary? Again, no documentation existed anywhere to indicate that. Had she perhaps escaped and resumed piracy under a new identity? The truth, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, using evidence provided by Anne's descendants, is that William Cormac ransomed his daughter back to South Carolina. There she bore Jack Rackham's posthumous child. She later married James Burleigh, bearing him eight children, and lived a quiet and circumspect life until her death at the age of eighty-two. Perhaps that was her most scandalous feat of all.

Women Pirates of the Caribbean

The other night I had a dream of a female pirate captain leading her band of pirates on a high seas adventure. So guess what, I have a new pirate novel in the plotting stages featuring a female pirate.

In history there were two very famous women pirates: Ann Bonny and Mary Reade. Each served under "Calico" Jack Rackham.

Anne Bonny was a woman of intelligence and beauty. She grew up on her father's plantation in Charleston, and at 16 she met small time pirate and sailor, James Bonny. James married Anne for her father's wealth--primarily his plantation--but instead, Anne's father disowned her. Eventually James took Anne to New Providence (modern Nassau), Bahamas, were he became an informant for the new governor, Woodes Rogers, the man credited for ending the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean. Anne began carousing with the pirates and met "Calico" Jack. They had an affair which led to Jack offering to buy Anne's divorce from James. James refused and reported her to the governor. She was brought before the court naked and was flogged and ordered to return to her husband. She escaped with Jack instead.

Aboard Jack's ship the Revenge, Anne disguised herself as a man. Over time Anne became admired for her courage and skill, fighting at the side of the male pirates to capture many ships and taking abundant treasure.

Even though Anne never actually commanded a ship of her own, she is famous never the less for being a female pirate.

Anne Bonny met Mary Reade aboard the Revenge. Anne discovered Mary's identity as a woman and kept her secret. However, Jack became suspicious and confronted Anne to discover the truth. Eventually Mary's true identity as a female pirate was revealed to the crew, and they accepted her as they had Anne.

In 1720 Jack, Anne and Mary's time as pirates came to an end. They were overtaken by John Barnet, a pirate hunter who worked for the governor of Jamaica. They were captured and put on trial in Port Royal. Jack Rackham was hung with his crew on November 27, 1721. Anne's parting words to Jack were cold and hard: "I'm sorry to see you here, but if you'd have fought like a man you needn't hang like a dog."

As for the female pirates, each had claimed they were pregnant, receiving a temporary stay of execution until the birth of their babies. Mary Reade died in prison, possibly from childbirth or fever. And Anne Bonny, the most famous female pirate of the Caribbean, disappeared. There is no record of her execution or death. It is believed her father paid for her release, but it can not be proven.

What happened to Anne Bonny? Did she return to her husband? Or did she escape and return to the sea under a new identity?

Marianne LaCroix
SEA HAWK'S MISTRESS, Available now from Ellora's Cave
CROSSED SWORDS, Coming soon from Ellora's Cave
http://www.mariannelacroix.com/