Anne Bonny
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Note: Much of this text is the same as that of Mary Read's biograhy.

Anne Bonny is remembered today as one of the two most well-known women pirates active during the pirates' heyday during the early 18th century. As far as pirates go, she was not that important in plundering and she was not a captain of a vessel like nearly all of the remembered pirates today. She was however, able to hide her true identity by disguising herself as a man since the clothes of the day was often loose and baggy. She also was a good fighter and carried her own weight in sailing and in combat just as well as any of the male crewmen, and in some cases, much better!

Anne Bonny was born near Cork, Ireland to a well respected lawyer but her mother was the family house maid. The lawyer's wife found out of his affair with the maid and in the scandal that followed he lost his law practice. He packed up his belongings and took his new lover and their daughter to start a new life in Carolina where she would now be his true wife.

During this time Anne fell in love with a pennilessAnne Bonny (Click for full image) seaman named James Bonny. She knew her father would not agree to their marriage so they secretly wed hoping her father would have to accept it once it was done. But instead, he was outraged and kicked her out from the household and the newlyweds soon seperated. While at a tavern in the Bahamas in May 1719, she met the pirate Calico Jack and the two soon fell in love. She became pregnant and Calico Jack took her to be cared for by some of his friends in Cuba and after this he convinced her to join his pirate crew disguised as man.

While pirating with her new lover, Bonny became attracted to a new crewman that came aboard from a plundered vessel. Bonny decided to tell the crewman of her true identity and much to her suprise the other crewman revealed she was also a woman, named Mary Read. They decided to tell Calico Jack about Read's secret and apparently he did not mind the second woman crewman. Both Bonny and Read became good friends and when Calico Jack's pirate ship was boarded in October 1720, only the two women tried to fight off the invaders and rally their fellow pirates, but the male crewmen easily surrendered. Their fight was in vain as they were too far outnumbered and were taken prisoner.

The two women had a seperate trial from the men twelve days later on November 28. The men's trial ended with a convition and sentence of death to 12 men including Calico Jack. He was able to see her one Anne Bonny and Mary Read (Click for full image)last before his execution and she stated to him "that she was sorry to see him there, but if he had fought like a man, he need not have been hanged like a dog." The men were hung the two following days, and soon after the two women would begin their trial. The verdict was the same for them - they would be hanged until dead. The two women then revealed that they were both pregnant and a following examination proved they were so they were both were spared the hangman's noose. What happened to Anne Bonny and her child is not known.

Along with Mary Read, Anne Bonny is one of the rare instances in history where a woman's pirate's life is known. The fact that they both were able to hide their sexuality to the crew is amazing; and in the end, the women's brave battle against the boarders while the rest of the crew cowered deserves respect in itself.

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