A woman who dressed as a man & became, a sailor, a soldier and a pirate.
Mary Read’s mother married young to a seaman and became pregnant. As happens with seamen, her husband sailed away, never to return, and when a boy was born the seaman’s reasonably well off mother accepted the child as her grandson. Unfortunately the young widow became pregnant again and this time obviously not to her missing husband. So to hide her shame, she explain to the grandmother that she taking the boy and she was going to stay for awhile with some of her friends in the country. There were no friends but she found somewhere to live. Not long after the son who was barely a year took ill and died and shortly afterwards a girl, Mary was born.
Mary and her mother live in the country for three to four year, at the end of which time, with funds almost gone, the mother devised a plan to make some money from the boy’s grandmother. Dressing Mary as a boy she returned to London and presented the boy/girl to the grandmother who wanted to take him in and bring him up herself. But the mother refused saying that it would break her heart to be parted from the boy. So instead the grandmother agreed to pay her a crown a week to bring up the boy and they lived on that income until the old lady died.
By then Mary, now calling herself Mark, was a teenager and still dressed as a boy, she found work as a footboy to a lady. Later when she grew older, she joint the navy and served on a Man-of-War but the strict discipline was harsh and she jumped ship.
Next, making her way to Flanders she joined a regiment of foot, but matter how valiantly she fought there was no prospects of advancement and she transferred to a regiment of horse. Then fate stepped in and she fell in love with her handsome Dutch companion, who still thought her to be a man. But as they say, love will find a way, and she managed, quite by chance, to let him catch a glimpse of her breasts. No doubt her companion thought all his birthdays had come at once, but Mary soon put him in his place and vowed he would get nowhere unless they were married.
The day that they married Mary wore a dress for the first time and their fellows in arms gave them so many presents in money that the happy couple bought a tavern. The name of the tavern was the “Three Horseshoes” and being near to Breda in the Netherlands, it was frequented by many soldiers. The tavern prospered and they enjoyed a good life together. But as they say, all good things come to an end, Mary’s husband died, peace broke out, there were no soldiers to frequent the tavern and Mary had no choice but to move on.
Dressed as a man once more, she joined a border regiment but in the peacetime there was even less opportunity for advancement, so she left and joined as ship heading for the West Indies. Unfortunately the ship was taken by pirates and Mark, the name she had reverted to, was forced to join the pirate crew.In 1718 Mary took the kings pardon, but life ashore was too quiet and she took to the sea again. This time the ship she was on was taken by Calico Jack Rackham and his paramour Anne Bonny and once again she was taken into a pirate crew. On board she and Anne Bonny became best of friends; (after all they had a lot in common.) Later Mary fell for a sea artist, (either a carpenter or Navigator) who was forced, against his will, to become part of the crew and they became lovers.
At one time the sea artist managed to upset one of the pirates and was challenged to a duel. Fearful for her man, Mary challenged the same pirate to a duel at an earlier time and her lover turned up for his duel only to find that his opponent was already dead.
Over the next two years or so they continued to take many ships, but eventually in October 1720 while Calico Jack and his crew were hosting a drinking party for another crew of Englishmen at Dry Harbour Bay, Jamaica, when the pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet took them by surprise. As he drew near Barnet fired on the pirates, Calico Jack and the drunken crewmen fled down into the hold leaving Mary, Anne and one man to try and fight off the pirate hunter’s crew. Mary shouted for them to come up and fight like men and when they refused, she fired into the hold killing one man and wounding some of the others. The three fought well against Barnet’s men but were soon overpowered and Calico Jack immediately surrendered.
They were taken to Spanish Town, Jamaica, where Mary, Anne, Calico Jack and the crewmen were sentenced to be hanged, but both women pleaded that they were pregnant and were given a stay of execution until it was proved. Mary died in April 1721 of a fever brought on by her pregnancy, however, there was no record of a child having died.
was taken by pirates and Mark, the name she had reverted to, was forced to join the pirate crew.In 1718 Mary took the kings pardon, but life ashore was too quiet and she took to the sea again. This time the ship she was on was taken by