From the collections of the Royal Museums Greenwich
This is a print of a wood engraving from 1725. It shows Anne Bonny who was born in Ireland in 1698 and raised in America.
Anne went to the Bahamas and joined the real-life ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, led by pirate John ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham. Since the 1500s groups of men had sailed around the Caribbean raiding and robbing trade ships and taking part in other violent, dangerous and illegal criminal activities.
Pirate ships of the eighteenth century pirates were exclusively male. We are told that Anne dressed in men’s clothing to ‘disguise’ herself as a man on board the ship.
Anne was not the only person assigned female at birth who dressed as a man on board the pirate ship. Mary Read also joined as a pirate.
Some versions of the story say Anne and Mary dressed as male pirates all the time on board, until they were ‘found out’. Others say they only dressed as men when taking part in raids of other ships, partly because the clothes were more practical.
There is a story that Anne was…
- This is a print of a wood engraving from 1725. It shows Anne Bonny who was born in Ireland in 1698 and raised in America.
- Anne went to the Bahamas and joined the real-life ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, led by pirate John ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham. Since the 1500s groups of men had sailed around the Caribbean raiding and robbing trade ships and taking part in other violent, dangerous and illegal criminal activities.
- Pirate ships of the eighteenth century pirates were exclusively male. We are told that Anne dressed in men’s clothing to ‘disguise’ herself as a man on board the ship.
- Anne was not the only person assigned female at birth who dressed as a man on board the pirate ship. Mary Read also joined as a pirate.
- Some versions of the story say Anne and Mary dressed as male pirates all the time on board, until they were ‘found out’. Others say they only dressed as men when taking part in raids of other ships, partly because the clothes were more practical.
- There is a story that Anne was attracted to Mary while she was dressed as a man, thinking that Mary was a ‘handsome fellow’. However, Mary Reed and ‘Calico Jack’ became lovers.
- According to witnesses at their subsequent trial, Anne and Mary were the bravest and fiercest members of the crew, fighting with pistols and blades. One witness described how: ‘they were both very profligate, cursing and swearing much and ready and willing to do anything on board’. We are told in another story how they continued to fight a fellow crew of pirates while their male pirate colleagues hid below decks.
- One account of Mary Read describes ‘the extraordinary circumstance of the softer sex assuming a character peculiarly distinguished for every vice that can disgrace humanity, and at the same time for the exertion of the most daring, though brutal, courage.’
- In the 18th century men and women were thought to be fundamentally different physically and in their characteristics. Men, as the ‘stronger sex’, were thought to be intelligent, courageous, and aggressive. Women, described as the ‘softer sex’, were expected to be more passive and to be modest and chaste.
- When their ship was captured off Jamaica in 1720 Anne and Mary escaped being sentenced to death by claiming they were pregnant. Mary died in gaol the next year, 1721. It is not known what happened to Anne.
| Credit | Images reproduced by permission of Royal Museums Greenwich |
|---|---|
| Identifier | PAI9316 |
| Source | Entry in the Royal Museums Greenwich Catalogue |
| Type | Print of a wood engraving |
| Date | 1725 |
| Culture/Period | UK |