How Two Female Pirates Disguised as Men Fell In Love Is a Dramatic Story You Won’t Forget

How Two Female Pirates Disguised as Men Fell In Love Is a Dramatic Story You Won’t Forget

Wyatt Redd - January 1, 2018

How Two Female Pirates Disguised as Men Fell In Love Is a Dramatic Story You Won’t Forget
Mary Read fighting a duel, Wikimedia Commons.

One night in October 1720, Rackham’s crew was gathered off a beach in Jamaica with the crew of another ship. As you might expect of pirates, the entire party was good and drunk within a few hours. But unknown to the pirates, an English Navy vessel was cruising nearby through the dark night. On board was famous pirate hunter Captain Jonathan Barnet. Barnet’s ship snuck up on the pirate ship and fired a volley from its guns, crippling Rackham’s vessel. As Barnet prepared to board the ship, Rackham and his crew fled to the hold, leaving only Bonny, Read, and one other pirate on deck to fight the borders.

Read and Bonny were furious at the men’s lack of courage and shot their way into the hold, killing one of the crew. But either too afraid or too drunk, the pirates refused to help fight off Barnet’s boarding party, and soon they were all captured. Barnet then brought the pirates to an English settlement in Jamaica to stand trial. At the trial, Rackham was found guilty of piracy and sentenced to hang. As Rackham was being led out of the courtroom, Anne Bonney allegedly told him, “Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hanged like a dog.”

Ten days after Rackham’s execution, during their own trials, Bonny and Read announced to the court that they were both pregnant. And since they were with child, they couldn’t be executed. After the clamor in the courtroom died down, the two women were sent to prison on the island until the court could determine if their claims of pregnancy were actually true. Whether or not they were is a question lost to history. Read died in prison within a few weeks from a fever, possibly during childbirth.

But there is no record of Read’s child being buried. So there are a few possibilities to consider. Read may have died before she could give birth. Or she may have died during childbirth along with the child, and the child was buried in an unmarked grave. Or she may have given birth to a healthy child that survived as an orphan and simply disappeared from the historical record. Finally, there’s always the possibility that Read was lying about being pregnant and died before she could be hanged. All we know for sure is that Read died in 1721 in Port Royal. She was likely around 35-36 years old.

How Two Female Pirates Disguised as Men Fell In Love Is a Dramatic Story You Won’t Forget
Anne Bonny firing at the hold, Wikimedia Commons.

Bonny’s case is more interesting, as we actually have no idea what happened to her. There are no official documents that report her being executed or giving birth. It’s possible that she was hanged, or died in prison. Or it could be that she was released from prison. At the time of her trial, Bonny was a mere 18-19 years old. So, if she did manage to escape execution, she may have lived a long life afterward. She may have even returned to piracy under a different name. It would be a fitting story for one of the most famous female pirates in history.

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