Like most of her piratical male counterparts little is known of Anne Bonny’s early days. The precise date of her birth is unknown, but as near as can be ascertained, she was born in the county of Cork in Ireland some time between 1697 and 1700.
Anne was the illegitimate daughter of Mary Brennan, a maid, and her married employer, a lawyer, William Cormac. However, when Cormac’s wife realised what had been going on, she broadcast the news to all, and had Mary put in jail for supposedly stealing some spoons. Mary was released from jail when they found that she was pregnant, but when she eventually has the baby, the scandal was so great that Cormac, and Mary with their new baby had no choice but flee Ireland.
Heading for the nearest port they took ship for America and ended up in Charleston, South Carolina, where Cormac set up as a lawyer, but found it more profitable to deal in merchandise. The Business grew and eventually they had accumulated enough money to buy their own plantation and were accepted into the higher echelons of Charleston society.
Unfortunately Anne’s mother died when she was still a teenager and the young girl had no choice but to take over the running of her father’s house. It was a tough job, Anne had to manage the household accounts and control the house slaves, but she was a no nonsense girl and it was a task that she handled well. Charles Johnson, wrote; “It was certain she was so robust, that once, when a young fellow would have lain with her, against her will, she beat him so, that he lay ill of it a considerable time.”
Anne’s father took it for granted that she would continue to look after the house until he found a suitable husband for her. But Anne had other ideas; not for her the life of a plantation owners daughter, nor being married off to a man of her fathers choosing; what she dreamed of was a life of adventure. A dream that was fuelled by the stories of swashbuckling pirates that she heard on visits to the port of Charleston.
At sixteen she met and married Captain James Bonny, who no doubt was aware of who she was and maybe had designs on the family plantation. If that was what he was after, he was sorely disappointed, because Anne’s father, not happy with her choice, disinherited his daughter. Bonny wasn’t the only one who was disappointed, Anne herself was so incensed that she started a fire on her father’s plantation.
Anne and James Bonny left the area after this and went to the pirate haven of New Providence in the Bahamas, where Anne got to know all the local pirates. Unfortunately, Anne’s dream of adventure fell flat and she was left behind, while her husband sailed the seas.
As a result, when Anne met Jack Rackham (Calico Jack) and he promised her all the adventure that she desired, she became his mistress.
When Bonny found out about the affair he dragged his wife before Governor Rogers, where she was found guilty of adultery and ordered to be whipped. Calico Jack offered to buy her in a “divorce by purchase” but Anne refused to be sold like a beast of the field.
Calico Jack had by this time taken the kings pardon and had letters as a privateer, but missing his old life he gathered a crew and with Anne dressed as man the pair went off a pirating.
In the following year they took many vessels and Anne, alongside Calico Jack fought as ferociously as any man in each engagement. But then the inevitable happened, she became pregnant and Calico dropped her off in Cuba to stay with some friends of his until she came to term. Later when Calico went to fetch her, she returned to the ship once again dressed as a man; of the child there was no sign; some say that the baby died during the birth, some that it was born healthy and given to the friends to bring up.
Later when they captured a Dutch Merchantman and took some of the crew, to replace losses, amongst them a man called Mark Read. As it turned out Mark was really Mary, another woman dressed as a man, and she and Anne became the best of friends. At first very few of the crew had any idea of the pairs gender, but eventually word spread and the two women took to wearing dresses when ashore and reverted to their former attire when aboard.
They continued to take more vessels, but eventually 1720 while Calico Jack was hosting a rum party with another English crew, while anchored in Dry Harbour Bay, Jamaica, the pirate hunter Captain Jonathan Barnet came across them.
And fired a broadside. Both crews including Calico Jack were very drunk by now and fled down into the hold, leaving Anne, Mary and one crewman to defend the ship. The women called down to them to come out and fight, Mary even fired into the hold to force them out but it was a waste of time and wasn’t long before the three were overpowered. Calico Jack, requesting pardon, surrendered and they were taken back to Jamaica to stand trial.
Calico Jack and his crew including Anne and Mary were sentenced to hang, but since both women claimed to be pregnant, they were given a stay of execution until it was proved. Mary Read died in the April of 1721 of a fever brought on by childbirth and Anne disappeared from the records. Some said that she had gone back to her husband James Bonny and some that she had gone back to the life of a pirate. But the truth was that her father managed have her released and took her home to South Carolina, where she settled down, had a further eight children, and lived to the grand old age of eight five.
desired, she became his mistress.