ANNE BONNY - DISAPPEARING PIRATE QUEEN

Irish Anne Bonny became famed across the Caribbean for her exploits, but what became of her?

When Anne McCormac was born in Cork, Ireland in 1689, her life was one of adventure from the start. Anne was born to a respectable married lawyer named William McCormac and his maid, so when news of the pregnancy broke, McCormac's orderly world was plunged into scandal.

Separated from his wife and facing public ruin - not to mention the fury of his spouse's family - McCormac and his lover decided to elope. They set their sights on Charles Town, South Carolina, where they were sure that they could make a new start. In fact, Anne's mother died in Charles Town when her daughter was just 13 years old, leaving her entirely in the care of her father. By this time, McCormac - now known as Cormac - had enjoyed enormous success in the new world and he was determined to ensure that his daughter married well. He arranged a marriage to a respectable, wealthy acquaintance, but the girl had absolutely no intention of submitting to her father's wishes.

For all his careful planning, William Cormac had reckoned without Anne's lust for adventure and while he made his fortune as a plantation owner in this respectable new world, Anne had longed to escape it. She turned her back on the suitors her father selected and chose instead James Bonny, a dissolute soldier and would-be pirate. Furious at her disobedience, Cormac disowned Anne and turned her out of his house, swearing that she would not get a penny from him.

With James scheming to get his hands on his new wife's money frustrated, the couple left Charles Town and headed off in search of adventure. Seeking a fortune of their own, they soon arrived in the Bahamas, where Anne threw herself headlong into the wildest parties she could find. She soon discovered that there was more to life than James Bonny and became a regular fixture in pirate drinking dens. Surrounded by tales of adventure and fortune, Anne Bonny set her sights on a far higher prize than any her husband could offer.

With James busy acting as an informant for Governor Woodes Rogers, Anne instead fell head over heels for the infamous pirate, Calico Jack Rackham. Threatened with public flogging for her dalliance with Jack, Anne stole away with her lover and took to the waves. Once again disguised as a
man, Anne proved herself to be one of the most fearless and fierce members of Rackham's crew. She loved the thrill of a fight and never shied away from combat, standing firm beside her mates.

Rackham and Anne were separated briefly when she fell pregnant. Believing that a pirate ship was no place for a pregnant woman, Calico Jack left her in Cuba, promising to return once she had given birth. He kept his promise, but history does't record what became of the child she had been carrying when she left the ship.

Anne wasn't the only woman sailing with Calico Jack Rackham, and she was joined on board his ship, Revenge, by Mary Read. Read was easily her equal in terms of temperament, courage and ambition, and soon the crew of Rackham's Revenge became moderately successful in the West Indies. Rather than pursue huge and well-defended bounties, they focused on smaller raids and soon the ship's hold contained a respectable amount of treasure.

The career of Read, Bonny and Rackham came to an abrupt end in October 1720 when the Revenge lay at anchor. A ship captained by the British Navy's famed pirate hunter, Jonathan Barnet, sighted the vessel and stole upon it by night. In fact, the vast majority of the crew was passed out drunk after celebrating a successful attack on a Spanish ship that had netted a small fortune in treasure. Only Mary and Anne were still sober and though they fought valiantly, they were easily overpowered by the larger and, crucially, more sober crew of the British ship.

The captured crew was taken to Spanish Town to face trial, where the revelation that the captured pirates of the Revenge included two women caused a sensation. This was utterly unheard of, and people watched the proceedings with interest, wondering what would become of these most unusual ladies.

The trial was short and the entire crew were sentenced to hang, Mary and Anne included. In one last desperate attempt to save their lives, the two ladies both pled their bellies, meaning that they claimed to be pregnant. No pregnant woman would be hanged and the execution of both was postponed until they had given birth.

Stricken with fever while in prison, Mary died before her baby was born, but Anne's story takes a strange twist. The infamous Anne Bonny disappeared from the historical record immediately following her appearance in court and the decision to commute her death sentence, yet rumours of her fate abounded. The most likely explanation for her sudden disappearance is that Anne's wealthy father took pity on his daughter in her time of most need.

Unwilling to see his child go to her death or see her child born in the festering confines of a Port Royal prison some claim that he pulled some strings among his rich and powerful friends, essentially buying her freedom. Released from jail, Anne returned to America and the shelter of her father's planation. Here, she took a new name and began a new life as a respectable wife and mother, far from the pirate ship where she had once known such peril and adventure.

In "All About History - Book of Pirates", UK. 2019. Excerpts pp. 122-123.Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.