Mary Read would partner up with another female pirate Annie Bonny, earning a reputation for being ruthless and “very profligate, cursing and swearing much, and very ready and willing to do anything on board.” The women and their crewmates commandeered a 12-ton sloop, causing the governor of the Bahamas to declare the hijackers “enemies to the crown of Great Britain,” with Read and Bonny specifically named.
Both women were eventually captured, tried, and convicted. Since they were both pregnant at the time, their executions were postponed. Read died in prison on April 1721 after reportedly developing a fever.