Anne Bonny

Anne Bonny (1697?-1720?) was a female pirate of Irish descent who sailed with Calico Jack Rackham.

Much of what is known about Anne Bonny is based on legends and scarce official records. Various sources, for example, disagree about her supposed birth year - it was probably around 1697-1705.

Bonny was born Anne Cormac in County Cork, Ireland, as an illegitimate daughter of an attorney William Cormac and his maidservant Mary or Peg Brennan. When the affair became public, Cormac left Ireland for Charleston, South Carolina where he created a fortune and bought a large plantation.

At the age of 16, Anne married a shady sailor called James Bonny. James Bonny attempted to gain possession of the plantation but Anne's father disowned her before he could do so. According to legend, Anne started a fire on the plantation in retaliation. James Bonny took her to New Providence (modern-day Nassau), Bahamas, where he began to inform of sailors engaged in supposed piracy to Governor Woodes Rogers. Disgusted, Anne became a mistress of wealthy Chidley Bayard .

Then Anne met flamboyant Calico Jack Rackham, a relatively successful pirate, and they became lovers; she might have become pregnant. Rackham offered to buy Anne from James Bonny, but James told the governor, who sentenced Anne to be flogged and told her to return to her husband. Anne and Rackham proceeded to elope together.

Anne Bonny disguised herself as a man and joined Rackham's pirate crew aboard Revenge. She took part in combat when the pirates boarded vessels. When her sex was discovered she killed the complaining pirate with her knife. During these exploits she met Mary Read, a fellow female pirate, and befriended her.

In October of 1720, troops of the Captain Barnet who was working for the governor of Jamaica, captured Rackham's pirate gang. To Bonny's disgust, the pirates did not put up much resistance - according to one account, many of them were dead drunk. The whole crew was captured, including Mary Read and Anne Bonny.

To avoid hanging, both women revealed they were pregnant and their sentences were delayed until they had given birth. Read died in prison.

After this, Anne Bonny disappeared from official records. Some theorize that her father would have ransomed her and gave her an opportunity to begin anew with a new marriage; she could have died in 1782. Other legends claim she returned to her husband, while yet others claim he was already dead. Other legends presume that she resumed the pirate life with a new identity. For example is it thought possible, that she started a new pirate's life under the name of Bartholomew Roberts.

See also

• Mary Read
• Cross-dresser

External links

• The Lives of Mary Read and Anne Bonny