Portal:Piracy/Selected biography/November 2007

Anne Bonny (c. Born on 1700-1705 Died? on April 25, 1720 ?) was an Irish pirate who plied her trade in the Caribbean.

While in the Bahamas, Anne Bonny began mingling with pirates at the local drinking establishments, and met the pirate John "Calico Jack" Rackham, with whom she shortly thereafter had an affair. Rackham offered to buy her from her husband in a divorce-by-purchase, but James Bonny refused. He complained to the governor, who brought her before the court, naked, and sentenced her to be flogged and to return to her legal husband. Anne Bonny and Rackham instead eloped.

She disguised herself as a man in order to join Rackham's crew aboard the Revenge. (Pirate articles often barred women from the ship.) The couple stole a sloop at anchor in the harbor and set off to sea, putting together a crew and taking several prizes. She took part in combat alongside the males, and the accounts describing her exploits present her as competent, effective in combat, and someone who gained the respect of her fellow pirates. (more...)