Anne Bonny, who sailed in men's clothing at the beginning of the 18th century, is with Mary Read one of the most famous female pirates in history.
Pirates in the Bahamas
Born in Ireland around 1700, Anne Bonny was the illegitimate daughter of procurator William Cormac and his servant Mary. Leaving Ireland with his daughter, William Cormac settled in South Carolina where he bought a plantation. Of his childhood only myths remain; she is said to be intelligent but of difficult character, and it is said that at the age of 13 she stabbed a servant. It is also said that, disinherited by her father, she burned down his plantation.
At 16, Anne marries a pirate, James Bonny, and settles with him in the Bahamas. There, James becomes an informant with the Governor and denounces to him sailors suspected of piracy. Disappointed, Anne leaves her husband to start dating pirates, including Pierre Bousquet with whom she organizes a first pirate expedition against a French merchant ship.
Mary Read and Jack Rackham
The Governor of the Bahamas, seeking to fight against piracy, offers royal pardons to pirates who promise to cease their activity but Anne Bonny refuses; she joins other pirates who refuse to submit, including Jack Rackham who becomes her lover. From that moment, dressed as a man and concealing her gender, she calls herself Adam Bonny. Then begins a period of piracy, during which Anne meets Mary Read, another female pirate who pretends to be a man and calls Willy Read. The two women are credited with an affair that would have caused tension with Jack Rackham.
In the fall of 1720, the Governor of the Bahamas sent British warships after Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. The pirates fight relentlessly against the ships that stalk them. During the encounter with one of these ships, commanded by a former lover of Anne, the pirate manages to board by using seduction and, after having drugged the captain, to wet the wicks of the cannons before joining his own. The fight will only kill one person:the captain of the ship, killed by Mary, perhaps out of jealousy.
The capture
On October 21, 1721, Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Jack Rackham were finally captured. The pirates, drunk according to some accounts, put up little resistance. Disgusted by their attitude, Anne and Mary fight to the end, killing two pirates and injuring several. After an hour of fighting, alone against their enemies, the two women end up laying down their arms.
Brought back to the Bahamas, the crew of Jack Rackham is tried and hanged; Anne and Mary manage to escape the hanging by pretending they are pregnant. During Jack Rackham's captivity, Anne reportedly visited him and said "If you had fought like a man, you wouldn't have to die like a dog. »
Mary Read dies in prison. Pardoned on Christmas Eve, Anne Bonny disappears from official documents. Hypotheses say her father paid her ransom, she remarried, reunited with her husband, or returned to piracy under another name, but no one knows for sure what she is. become.