Anne Bonny
c. 1698 - ?
Anne Bonny from a Dutch version of Charles Johnson's book of pirates. The image does not conform to contemporary descriptions and instead plays up the sexual aspects of her story.
Type:	Pirate
Place of birth:	County Cork, Ireland
Years of service:	? - April 25 1720
Base of Operations:	Caribbean
Commands:	None

Anne Bonny (c. Born on 1700-1705 Died? on April 25, 1782(uncertain)) was an Irish pirate who plied her trade in the Caribbean.

Early life

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.

Marriage and later affair with a pirate

The few records of Bonny which exist seem to reflect that she was intelligent, attractive, and quick-tempered. When she was 13, she supposedly stabbed a servant girl in the stomach with a table knife, although it is unclear whether this is fact or purely legend. At 16, she married a sailor and small-time pirate named James Bonny. James Bonny hoped to win possession of his wife's family estate, but she was disowned by her father.

According to legend, Anne Bonny 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 John "Calico Jack" Rackham, with whom she shortly thereafter had an affair. Rackham offered to buy her from her husband in a divorce-by-purchase, but James Bonny refused. He complained to the governor, who brought her before the court, naked, and sentenced her to be flogged and to return to her legal husband. Anne Bonny and Rackham instead eloped.

Life as a pirate

She disguised herself as a man in order to join Rackham's crew aboard the Revenge. (Pirate articles often barred women from the ship.) The couple stole a sloop 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, and the accounts describing her exploits present her as competent, effective in combat, and someone who gained the respect of her fellow pirates.

Over the next several years, she and Rackham saw quite a few successes as pirates, capturing many ships, and bringing in an abundance of treasure. According to legend, she stabbed a fellow pirate through the heart when he discovered her gender.

Although Bonny is one of the best-known pirates in history, she never commanded a ship of her own. Her renown derives from the fact that she was a remarkable rarity: a female pirate.

Meeting Mary Read

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.<ref name = "Ransome" />

However, Read's true identity 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.<ref name = "Ransome" />

Capture and imprisonment

In October 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 here Jack, but if you had fought like a man, you need not be hanged like a dog."

After their arrest and trial, Read and Bonny both pleaded their bellies, announcing during the sentencing phase that they were both pregnant. In accordance with English common law, both women received a temporary stay of execution until they gave birth. Mary Read died in prison most likely from a fever; it has been alleged that she died during childbirth.

Disappearance from the record

There is no historical record of Bonny's release or of her execution. This has fed speculation that her father ransomed her; that she might have returned to her husband, or even that she resumed a life of piracy under a new identity. However, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that "Evidence provided by the descendants of Anne Bonny suggests that her father managed to secure her release from gaol and bring her back to Charles Town, South Carolina, where she gave birth to Rackam's second child. On 21 December 1721 she married a local man, Joseph Burleigh, and they had eight children. She died in South Carolina, a respectable woman, at the age of eighty-four and was buried on 25 April 1782."^[2]

In popular culture

• A film loosely based on Bonny's story, Anne of the Indies was made in 1951 starring Jean Peters in the title role.
• 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.
• In the comic book Witchblade published by Top Cow Productions, Bonny is portrayed as having once wielded the titular weapon. Calico Jack and Mary Read also appear.
• Bonny and Mary Read are featured in the 11th movie of the Detective Conan anime series, , as a crucial plot point.
• Bonny makes an appearance in Erica Jong's novel Fanny, Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones.
• Binnie Barnes plays Bonny in The Spanish Main, a 1945 adventure movie starring Maureen O'Hara and Paul Henreid.
• Bonny and Read are featured on the wall of Disneyland's "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. Patrons are given their clearest view of this when their boat makes one of the last turns right before the parrot, or when they first go inside and look around the corner.
• The 2002 board game Pirate's Cove published by Days of Wonder contains the 6 legendary pirate cards one of which is Anne Bonny & Mary Read.

See also

• Mary Read
• Calico Jack Rackham

References

Sources

David Cordingly, "Bonny, Anne (1698–1782)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 18 Nov 2006

External links

• Anne Bonny at TheWayofthePirates.com
• The Lives of Mary Read and Anne Bonny
• Pirates of the Caribbean - Anne Bonny
• http://www.theateronline.com/playbill.xzc?PK=15405

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