Anne Bonny

Anne Bonny
Anne Bonny from a Dutch version of Charles Johnson's book of pirates.
Born	Unknown, c. 1700 Kinsale, Ireland
Disappeared	Port Royal, Jamaica
Died	Unknown (possibly 22 April 1782) Charleston, South Carolina
Piratical career
Nickname	Anney
Type	Pirate
Allegiance	None
Years active	1718–October 1720
Base of operations	Caribbean

Anne Bonny (c. 1700 – c. 1782) was an Irish woman who became a famous pirate, operating in the Caribbean. What little is known of her life comes largely from Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates.

Early life

Anne Bonny was born around the year 1700. Her birth name was Anne McCormac, and her birthplace was Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. She was the daughter of servant woman Mary Brennan and Brennan's employer, lawyer William McCormac. Official records and contemporary letters dealing with her life are scarce and most modern knowledge stems from Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates (a collection of pirate biographies, the first edition accurate, the second much embellished).

Anne's father William McCormac first moved to London to get away from his wife's family, and he began dressing his daughter as a boy and calling her "Andy". When discovered, McCormac moved to the Carolinas, taking along his former serving girl, the mother of Anne. Anne's father dropped the "Mc" from their Irish name to more easily blend into the Charles Town citizenry. At first the family had a rough start in their new home, but Cormac's knowledge of law and ability to buy and sell goods soon financed a townhouse and eventually a plantation just out of town. Anne's mother died when Anne was 12. Her father attempted to establish himself as an attorney, but did not do well. Eventually, he joined the more profitable merchant business and accumulated a substantial fortune. It is recorded that she had red hair and was considered a "good catch", but may have had a fiery temper; at age 13, she supposedly stabbed a servant girl with a table knife. She married a poor sailor and small-time pirate named James Bonny. James hoped to win possession of his father-in-law's estate, but Anne was disowned by her father.

There is a story that Bonny set fire to her father's plantation in retaliation; but no evidence exists in support. However, it is known that, some time between 1714 and 1718, she and James Bonny moved to Nassau, on New Providence Island, known as a sanctuary for English pirates called the Republic of Pirates. Many inhabitants received a King's Pardon or otherwise evaded the law. It is also recorded that, after the arrival of Governor Woodes Rogers in the summer of 1718, James Bonny became an informant for the governor.

Rackham's partner

While in the Bahamas, Bonny began mingling with pirates in the local taverns. She met John "Calico Jack" Rackham, captain of the pirate sloop Revenge, and Rackham became her lover. They had a son in Cuba. Many different theories state that he was left with his family or simply abandoned. Bonny rejoined Rackham and continued the pirate life, having divorced her husband and marrying Rackham while at sea. Bonny and Rackham escaped to live together as pirates. Bonny, Rackham, and Mary Read stole the ship Revenge, then at anchor in Nassau harbour, and put out to sea. Rackham and the two women recruited a new crew. Their crew spent years in Jamaica and the surrounding area. Over the next several months, they enjoyed success, capturing many, albeit smaller, vessels and bringing in abundant treasure.

Bonny took part in combat alongside the men, and the accounts of her exploits present her as competent, effective in combat, and respected by her shipmates. Governor Rogers had named her in a "Wanted Pirates" circular published in the continent's only newspaper, The Boston News-Letter. Although Bonny was historically renowned as a female Caribbean pirate, she never commanded a ship of her own.

Capture and imprisonment

In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a "King's ship", a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet under a commission from Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates put up little resistance as many of them were too drunk to fight. However, Read and Bonny fought fiercely and managed to hold off Barnet's troops for a short time. Rackham and his crew were taken to Jamaica, where they were convicted and sentenced by Governor Lawes to be hanged. According to Johnson, Bonny's last words to the imprisoned Rackham were: "Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hang'd like a dog."

After being sentenced, Read and Bonny both "pleaded their bellies": asking for mercy because they were pregnant. In accordance with English common law, both women received a temporary stay of execution until they gave birth. Read died in prison, most likely from a fever from childbirth.

Disappearance

There is no historical record of Bonny's release or of her execution. This has fed speculation that her father ransomed her, that she might have returned to her husband, or even that she resumed a life of piracy under a new identity. More likely, Anne's father bought her freedom from Jamaican Governor Lawes and married her off to a Virginian, Joseph Buerliegh (different spellings) and she had eight children and lived into her 80's. There are some records that seem to tie this all together, but nothing is conclusive.

In popular culture

• Anne Bonny is played by Binnie Barnes in The Spanish Main (1945).
• Anne Bonny played by Sonia Sorel is a minor character in Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl (1954).
• Anne Bonny is played by Clara Paget in the pirate-themed TV series Black Sails.
• Anne Bonny is a non playable character in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and is voiced by Sarah Greene.
• Anne Bonny is the name of one song on industrial hip-hop band Death Grips's album Government Plates.

References

Websites

• "Anne Bonny", Encyclopædia Britannica Online
• www.annebonnythelastpirate.com

Books

• Cordingly, David. "Bonny, Anne (1698–1782)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 18 Nov 2006.
• Johnson, Captain Charles, ed. Hayward Arthur L., A history of the robberies and murders of the most notorious pirates from their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence to the present year, London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. First published in 1724, with the second edition published 1728, both versions attributed to Daniel Defoe. The two editions are very different, with the second edition much less accurate than the first when compared to court records. In the second edition however, no such accuracy is even attempted. In particular,the lurid details of the capture of the merchant ship the Neptune by Charles Vane in September 1718, conflicts entirely with the court records of both Charles Vane and Robert Deal, his quartermaster.
• 'The Tryals of Captain John Rackam and Other Pirates', 1721, by Robert Baldwin, in The Colonial Office Records in The Public Records Office at Kew, (ref: CO 137/14f.9). This details the trials of JackRackam, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and Charles Vane.
• "Anne Bonny The Last Pirate" by LuAnn Zettle 2015 ISBN 978-0-9826048-6-1
• "The Pirate Who's Who (Extended Edition)" by Philip Gosse and Guy Anthony De Marco 2015 ISBN 978-1-62225-650-1