Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. When we
Speaker 1: think of pirates in American history, there's perhaps one who
Speaker 1: stands out, black Beard. In the eight hundred sailors whispered
Speaker 1: his name and fear the sight of any pirate ship,
Speaker 1: much less the Queen Anne's revenge filled sea merchants with terror.
Speaker 1: Even three hundred years after his death, we can't talk
Speaker 1: about pirates without mentioning black Beard. A lot comes to
Speaker 1: mind when we think of the fierce rogues of the sea,
Speaker 1: plundering merchant ships, cannon fire, sword fighting, and tossing sailors
Speaker 1: from targeted ships overboard. And then there's the brogues and
Speaker 1: vernacular helped along by iconic performances by film actor Robert Newton,
Speaker 1: who himself portrayed Blackbeard, that inspired talk like a pirate day,
Speaker 1: And yet for all we know about pirates were still learning.
Speaker 1: Blackbeard's origins are a mystery, though most historians agree he
Speaker 1: was born Edward Teach in Bristol, England, somewhere around Little
Speaker 1: is known about his youth, but by the time he
Speaker 1: was a young adult, international trade had grown into a
Speaker 1: highly profitable business, and with all that trade came plenty
Speaker 1: of opportunity for wealth. Unfortunately, wealth didn't trickle down to
Speaker 1: sailors and other ship hands. In fact, the paying conditions
Speaker 1: were downright deplorable. For most. Working on ships was dangerous
Speaker 1: business even without the threat of piracy. There were storms,
Speaker 1: of course, and illnesses either from rats and fleas, spoiled food, dysentery,
Speaker 1: or any number of contagious diseases. Bloating merchandise and caring
Speaker 1: for the ships were labor intensive for many. An injury
Speaker 1: or about of sickness meant unemployment. Those who joined the
Speaker 1: British Army didn't fare much better. Meager pay, little chance
Speaker 1: of advancement, and poor work and living conditions drove some
Speaker 1: to look for a better way of life at sea,
Speaker 1: namely on pirate ships. Those captains knew that a fair
Speaker 1: wage kept crew members loyal and hard working. Tired of
Speaker 1: trying to make a good living honestly, teach looked to piracy.
Speaker 1: There were no shortages of opportunity there, with increased trade
Speaker 1: to the American colonies and ships laden with valuable goods,
Speaker 1: Pirates quickly set up base camps along merchant roots. The
Speaker 1: teach found a job as a crewmate with Captain Benjamin
Speaker 1: Hornigold out of the Caribbean in seventeen sixteen. After working
Speaker 1: his way up to quartermaster, he soon became captain of
Speaker 1: his own ship, a six gun sloop. In seventeen seventeen,
Speaker 1: he had two ships and over seventy crew members. British
Speaker 1: and French vessels made up most of the cruised targets.
Speaker 1: Blackbeard took their cargo and often released prisoners aboard slaver's
Speaker 1: ships or took them on his crew. In November of
Speaker 1: seventeen seventeen, he took on two ships off the coast
Speaker 1: of St. Vincent and upgraded his sloop to a forty
Speaker 1: gun ship. He named the Queen Anne's Revenge and added
Speaker 1: another two and thirty men to his crew. Teach was
Speaker 1: not only good at pirrat ng, but he also excelled
Speaker 1: at marketing. You see, the more fierce and ruthless he
Speaker 1: appeared to be, the less his crew had to actually fight.
Speaker 1: To help establish his reputation, he kidnapped and tortured Captain
Speaker 1: Henry bow Stock for a night after raiding his ship.
Speaker 1: Of course, the terrified hostage reported the ordeal to the
Speaker 1: Governor of what was then St. Christopher Island, a place
Speaker 1: now known simply as Saint KITT's. The report described to
Speaker 1: Teach as a tall and slender man with a long,
Speaker 1: dark black beard, which spurred the nickname Blackbeard. Sometimes he
Speaker 1: braided his beard complete with blood red ribbons. He wore
Speaker 1: boots and long duster length coats, a large hat, and
Speaker 1: pistols on each hip. Sometimes he hung slow light matches
Speaker 1: from his tricorn or his beard, letting the sparks and
Speaker 1: smoke give him an even more menacing appearance. Perception was everything,
Speaker 1: and in the thick of battle, such an appearance made
Speaker 1: others claim he was the devil incarnate. Before long, word
Speaker 1: about Blackbeard's ferocity traveled all along the coast and American seaboard,
Speaker 1: since most of the ships he preyed on delivered goods
Speaker 1: to the colonies, Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North
Speaker 1: Carolina provided the perfect hideaway. It was here that the
Speaker 1: HMS Pearl tracked down the Queen Anne's Revenge. After a
Speaker 1: brief battle that saw the demise of twenty one crewmen
Speaker 1: aboard the Pearl, Blackbeard boarded the British ship, believing he
Speaker 1: had won the battle, he had walked into an ambush.
Speaker 1: The crew of both ships erupted into hand to hand combat.
Speaker 1: Blackbeard was killed, though it took five gunshots and sword injuries.
Speaker 1: The Pearls captain had the pirate's head severed and strung
Speaker 1: up on the bowsprint of the elongated spar on the
Speaker 1: bow of the ship. Recently, historians and archivists uncovered new
Speaker 1: information on Blackbeard. Sure he had been a cunning strategist,
Speaker 1: a respected leader, and one of the most profitable and
Speaker 1: prolific pirates in his day, but he never personally killed
Speaker 1: anyone outside of battle. It seems his reputation for murder
Speaker 1: was undeserved. It should have gone to another group of pirates. Women.
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. Women were bad
Speaker 1: luck to have on board that east. That's what most pirates,
Speaker 1: including Blackbeard, believed, and Bonnie thought otherwise. Perhaps obviously, though,
Speaker 1: if she was the woman doing the rating, then for
Speaker 1: members of the targeted ship the superstition became fact. Her
Speaker 1: beginnings were as scandalous as her time at sea. She
Speaker 1: was born an Cormick near Cork, Ireland. Sometime around her father, William,
Speaker 1: was a lawyer who had married into a great deal
Speaker 1: of wealth. Any future children between the couple would want
Speaker 1: for nothing. It seemed. The same couldn't be said of
Speaker 1: her father, though he wanted the housemaid Mary Brennan, and
Speaker 1: so began their affair. Not long afterward, Mrs Cormick discovered
Speaker 1: the betrayal, mostly because the housemaid was pregnant, and there
Speaker 1: were two choices in society. Then give the child to
Speaker 1: a foundling home and keep the maid, or keep the
Speaker 1: child and dismiss the maid. Her father chose neither. Instead,
Speaker 1: he chose the young maid over his wife. As you
Speaker 1: might imagine, his wife divorced him for infidelity. William responded
Speaker 1: by suing his wealthy wife for an allowance to keep
Speaker 1: him and his pregnant mistress in a certain lifestyle, and
Speaker 1: his lack of decency didn't fare well with his clients, however,
Speaker 1: and he lost both his wealth and his business. He
Speaker 1: moved his new family to London, where he tried to
Speaker 1: start a new law practice. He often brought his daughter
Speaker 1: to work with him, and in an attempt to keep
Speaker 1: his disgraced past from following him, he dressed her as
Speaker 1: a boy and told clients she belonged to a relative.
Speaker 1: When Anne's true parentage and story came to light, William's
Speaker 1: business failed once more. Now flat broke, the family decided
Speaker 1: to make a fresh start in the colonies. They settled
Speaker 1: in Charlestown later renamed Charleston in what's now South Carolina.
Speaker 1: As part of their new start, William gave up law
Speaker 1: for the trading business. The career change paid off, and
Speaker 1: soon he earned his own wealth. The money allowed him
Speaker 1: to give his daughter the best education and to ensure
Speaker 1: she very well. He insisted she learned to sing, dance,
Speaker 1: and sew Anne didn't enjoy having to be very ladylike,
Speaker 1: much to her father's dismay, and said her temper matched
Speaker 1: her fiery red hair. When Anne turned thirteen, her mother
Speaker 1: died from typhoid. The rift between father and daughter grew
Speaker 1: increasingly wide. Over the next few years. There were rumors
Speaker 1: that Anne took a knife to a servant girl during
Speaker 1: a disagreement. Other stories say that at sixteen, she beat
Speaker 1: an attempted rapist badly enough that he needed medical attention,
Speaker 1: and became even more rebellious. In her later teen years.
Speaker 1: She frequented taverns and didn't abide by society's double standards
Speaker 1: when it came to relationships, her reputation took a toll
Speaker 1: on William's business. In an attempt to save his and
Speaker 1: his daughter's reputations both, he betrothed her to a local
Speaker 1: high society man who found her beauty and fiery attitude
Speaker 1: captivating and didn't like the arrangement much. It's not clear
Speaker 1: if she tried to set her father's plantation on fire
Speaker 1: before the betrothment or afterward, or even whether that particular
Speaker 1: story is true. In any case, Needless to say, the
Speaker 1: engagement was off in an act of defiance. When she
Speaker 1: turned twenty and married James Bonnie. He was not only poor,
Speaker 1: but held a profession in conflict with her father's trading business.
Speaker 1: You see, James was a pirate. William disowned his daughter.
Speaker 1: After that, The newly Wets moved to Nasa on New
Speaker 1: Province Island in seventeen eighteen. The Bahamas was sanctuary for buccaneers.
Speaker 1: The English even called it the Republic of Pirates. Ann
Speaker 1: and James were happy with their marauding lifestyle right up
Speaker 1: until a new governor arrived later that year. What's Rogers
Speaker 1: made it his mission to rid the Bahamas of its
Speaker 1: seedy reputation. He convinced James to become an informant. His
Speaker 1: information led to the capture and hanging of several pirate crews,
Speaker 1: and Bonnie had lived by the pirate code that pirates
Speaker 1: stuck together. Unable to see passed her husband's disloyalty, she
Speaker 1: lost all respect for him, while James spent time with
Speaker 1: the Governor and spent time in the local taverns. There,
Speaker 1: she met Captain John Rackham, known as Calico Jack for
Speaker 1: the clothes he wore. He sailed on the sloop named
Speaker 1: the Ranger, targeting ships between Jamaica and Cuba. He and
Speaker 1: his men had once abandoned their ship after stealing a
Speaker 1: Spanish warship. English troops fired their cannons at the Ranger,
Speaker 1: believing the pirates were still aboard. Meanwhile, Captain Jack and
Speaker 1: his men casually sailed past them on the Spanish vessel.
Speaker 1: But like her husband, Calico Jack had since given up
Speaker 1: piracy and had received a party. Unlike her husband, he
Speaker 1: still held to the code. He didn't work as an
Speaker 1: informant or turn in his fellow pirates. He was instantly
Speaker 1: taken by Anne's beauty and disposition He was equally impressed
Speaker 1: with the name she had made for herself as a
Speaker 1: capable pirate in her own right. A fierce fighter, she
Speaker 1: proved as good as any man with a pistol or sword.
Speaker 1: Chemistry and a similar style in past drew the two together,
Speaker 1: and before long they became an item. It didn't take
Speaker 1: long for James to find out about the affair. Furious,
Speaker 1: he brought her before the governor, who ordered her wit
Speaker 1: for adultery. Calico Jack offered James money if he had
Speaker 1: divorced Anne and free her to marry him instead. That
Speaker 1: didn't go over well, and James threatened to beat the
Speaker 1: life out of Jack if he set foot near his
Speaker 1: wife again, but to do that he would have to
Speaker 1: catch them first. Since James wouldn't grant Anna divorce, Calico
Speaker 1: Jack had a solution. Returned to a life of piracy
Speaker 1: and take Anne with him, and in August of they
Speaker 1: hired a crew of their own and stole a sloop
Speaker 1: with four cannons and two swivel guns. It's not clear
Speaker 1: if the two renamed the ship or if it was
Speaker 1: a coincidence, but the sloop bore her father's name, the William,
Speaker 1: and just like that, Calico Jack and Anne Bonnie slipped
Speaker 1: out of port and set sail for Jamaica. Yes, it
Speaker 1: was breaking the rules, but Calico Jack didn't care. While
Speaker 1: most pirates agreed that no women were to be allowed aboard,
Speaker 1: he was more than happy to have Anne Bonnie at
Speaker 1: his side. She fought as well as any of his men,
Speaker 1: and beyond that, he loved her deeply. Only one crew
Speaker 1: member voiced his opinion about having a woman on board.
Speaker 1: Anne ran a blade through his heart. No one else objected.
Speaker 1: From then on, the superstition was prominent in England and elsewhere,
Speaker 1: but as Anne pointed out, Viking women had often served
Speaker 1: alongside the men as raiders. Of course, when caught, they
Speaker 1: also received the same punishment. Just like their Viking counterparts,
Speaker 1: the same fate awaited women pirates. While the threat of
Speaker 1: death and ruling work might have scared most women away
Speaker 1: and thrived on the adventure, word of her courage and
Speaker 1: ferocity spread, making her one of the most feared on
Speaker 1: the seas. She never withheld, but she was a woman,
Speaker 1: not to the crew, not to the men on the
Speaker 1: ships they plundered. In battle, Anne kept a sword on
Speaker 1: one hip, a pistol on the other. She wore a
Speaker 1: cap to keep her long hair from her eyes, and
Speaker 1: boots pants, and a loose tunic that didn't hide her chest.
Speaker 1: She also delighted in letting any man who challenged her
Speaker 1: in a duel know that they were about to be
Speaker 1: bested by a woman. Some stories claimed she showed them
Speaker 1: her breast before running them through. Others say there's a
Speaker 1: proof of that. She was more than just a superior fighter, though,
Speaker 1: and taking a page from Blackbeard's methods of intimidation and
Speaker 1: came up with an idea to scare targets into instant submission.
Speaker 1: She took a dressmaker's mannequin and strategically applied fake blood.
Speaker 1: As the William approached their targeted ship, Anne would hold
Speaker 1: an axe above the fake corpse. If the men aboard
Speaker 1: the other ship thought women were kind and nurturing, the
Speaker 1: act terrified them into surrendering their cargo without a fight.
Speaker 1: Such was the case when the crew came across a
Speaker 1: Dutch merchant ship near the Caribbean. They raided the ship
Speaker 1: and along with the cargo, they took a prisoner, an
Speaker 1: Englishman named Mark Read. Anne took a liking to the
Speaker 1: young prisoner and convinced him to join them as part
Speaker 1: of the crew. The friendship quickly grew between the two
Speaker 1: and one night and attempted to seduce him. That's when
Speaker 1: Mark announced and proved that he was a she. Her
Speaker 1: real name, aime was Mary Read, and she had been
Speaker 1: dressing as a man most all her life. She told
Speaker 1: Anne how that came to be, and as it turned out,
Speaker 1: the women shared a similar past. Mary's mother had had
Speaker 1: an affair and become pregnant with her while her husband
Speaker 1: was at sea. He died soon after and never learned
Speaker 1: his wife had a daughter with another man. He also
Speaker 1: didn't know that his own young infant son had also died.
Speaker 1: Desperate for money, Mary's mother passed her off as her
Speaker 1: deceased half brother to keep money coming in from the
Speaker 1: husband's mother's family. It didn't take long before the truth
Speaker 1: was discovered, leaving Mary and her mother on their own.
Speaker 1: When she was young, her mother continued to dress her
Speaker 1: as a boy, often renting her out as a child's
Speaker 1: servant for extra money. At thirteen, her mother died, leaving
Speaker 1: her an orphan. Suitable work for women that also paid
Speaker 1: a living wage was unheard of, and there was nothing
Speaker 1: for young girls, so she dressed as a an and
Speaker 1: applied for work at the docks. Her act successfully fooled
Speaker 1: the crew of a British Man of war, and she
Speaker 1: began work manning the ship's artillery guns. From there, she
Speaker 1: joined the military and served in both the infantry and cavalry.
Speaker 1: Not long after, she fell in love with her bunk mate.
Speaker 1: They left the military and the two wet, choosing to
Speaker 1: open an inn near Breda, a small town in the
Speaker 1: southwestern Netherlands. Unfortunately, he died and Mary had little choice
Speaker 1: but to find work elsewhere. Disguised as a man again,
Speaker 1: she found work on a Dutch merchant ship, as it
Speaker 1: turned out, the very ship Calico Jack had captured. Anne
Speaker 1: kept Mary's secret in battle, she was equally as ruthless.
Speaker 1: The close relationship between the two sparked jealousy with Calico Jack,
Speaker 1: and one night he confronted Anne and the young sailor.
Speaker 1: After threatening to cut her new lover's throat, the women
Speaker 1: told him the truth. Seeing Mary's worth as a pirate,
Speaker 1: he agreed to keep her on the crew. Throughout the
Speaker 1: summer of seventeen twenty, the pirates continued their raids. They
Speaker 1: plundered seven fishing boats and two sloops. The women were
Speaker 1: treated as equals, and Anne led arraid against a schooner.
Speaker 1: She and Mary fired at the other crew as they boarded,
Speaker 1: cursing and swearing as they rummaged through the ship. By now,
Speaker 1: the women had become more famous than their captain. The
Speaker 1: Boston Globe even ran an article detailing their exploits, and
Speaker 1: they were merciless and cunning, able to best most men
Speaker 1: in battle. Instead of feeling threatened, though, Halcojack embraced their fame.
Speaker 1: Yet A flag created and hung on the William in
Speaker 1: honor of the two, a skull over two crossed swords.
Speaker 1: The swords represented Anne and Mary. Over two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty years later, that same flag flew on another pirate ship,
Speaker 1: the Black Pearl, in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.
Speaker 1: Throughout the summer of seventeen any life was good aboard
Speaker 1: the William. Anne couldn't have been happier. She had a
Speaker 1: man she loved, pirrat ng and a friend or perhaps more,
Speaker 1: depending on the source who mirrored her precociousness. Mary also
Speaker 1: found love with a carpenter aboard the ship. A while
Speaker 1: in port, a pirate challenged him to a duel and Mary,
Speaker 1: ever ready for battle, stepped in and ran the challenger through.
Speaker 1: In September, Woods Rogers declared the crew aboard the William
Speaker 1: enemies to the Crown of Great Britain, and while he
Speaker 1: usually named male pirates, the Nassau Governor specifically called out Anne,
Speaker 1: Bonnie and Mary read. The crew now had a bounty
Speaker 1: on their heads and it wouldn't be long before privateers
Speaker 1: and warships tried to collect the reward. But for Anne,
Speaker 1: Mary and the rest of the crew, things were about
Speaker 1: to go south. They partied all night. On October twenty second,
Speaker 1: the crew spent most of the evenings celebrating near a
Speaker 1: sand swept beach in Jamaica. Earlier in the day, they
Speaker 1: had come across a smaller ship with nine other pirates aboard.
Speaker 1: The members of both crews drank rum in earnest ironically
Speaker 1: in dry harbor. After having their fill, the other pirates
Speaker 1: moved on Calico. Jack and his crew had had a
Speaker 1: successful run, and though they had a target on their
Speaker 1: heads and felt invincible, despite the Nassau Governor's determination to
Speaker 1: rid the Caribbean of pirates, the process had been slow.
Speaker 1: There were somewhere between five hundred to a thousand still
Speaker 1: in the area Anne. Aside from Anne's husband, few had
Speaker 1: tarned informed. Now, with midnight drawing near, Anne and Mary
Speaker 1: sat alone on the deck. The men were sleeping off
Speaker 1: their over indulgence in the hammocks and beds below. The
Speaker 1: women didn't think the entire crew getting drun had been
Speaker 1: the best of ideas. With everyone inebriated, they were vulnerable
Speaker 1: to attack. Their worst fears were realized when they caught
Speaker 1: a glimpse of a large sloop approaching in the darkness.
Speaker 1: They called out for the men, but none replied. Within minutes,
Speaker 1: Anne and Mary realized the other ship wasn't another pirates
Speaker 1: or merchant's vessel. The sloop belonged to the Jamaican Governor's fleet.
Speaker 1: The women concluded that an informant must have seen them
Speaker 1: drop Anchor earlier and gone straight to the authorities. Pirates
Speaker 1: weren't the only ones who knew that ambushing ships at
Speaker 1: night had a strong advantage. The women shouted down to
Speaker 1: the men again. This time a few responded, including Calico Jack.
Speaker 1: By the time they staggered to the deck, the other
Speaker 1: sloop had pulled alongside them. The captain, Jonathan Barnett hailed them,
Speaker 1: asking for the name of their leader. Calico Jack told
Speaker 1: the truth Captain Rackham from Cuba. Barnett shouted back, ordering
Speaker 1: the pirates to surrender. There the other sloop was bigger,
Speaker 1: but in his drunken stupor, Calico Jack might have thought
Speaker 1: that just made it a larger target. Without a word,
Speaker 1: he answered Barnett's request by firing a swivel gun at them.
Speaker 1: Not drunk and with more cannons, Barnett returned fire, taking
Speaker 1: out the Williams boom. Feeling out gunned, out numbered, and
Speaker 1: probably still too drunk to fight, Calico Jack signaled his
Speaker 1: surrender and called to quarter. Without any resistance. His equally
Speaker 1: intoxicated men followed orders. There was a problem, though, Anne
Speaker 1: and Mary refused to go down without a fight. They
Speaker 1: could die standing as pirates, or die hanging. The women
Speaker 1: chose to keep on their feet. With the william disabled,
Speaker 1: Barnett's men boarded. Anne and Mary, drew their swords and
Speaker 1: stood back to back covering each other. They fought off
Speaker 1: all attempts to subdue them. The few crewmates on deck,
Speaker 1: too drunk to do much, were instantly overtaken. Disgusted with
Speaker 1: the men's lack of assistance, Mary shouted down into the
Speaker 1: hold for the rest of the crew, saying that if
Speaker 1: there was any men among them that had come up
Speaker 1: and fight like men. When one finally managed to clamber
Speaker 1: up the stairs to see why there was so much yelling,
Speaker 1: Mary shot and killed him. Barnett's men overwhelmed the women
Speaker 1: and arrested them with the rest of the crew. Before daybreak.
Speaker 1: The pirates found themselves behind bars at Spanish Town, Jamaica,
Speaker 1: awaiting trial. The nine other men who had been drinking
Speaker 1: with the crew of the William had also been caught
Speaker 1: and were tried. Six were executed. The fate of the
Speaker 1: remaining three is unknown as for the rest of Anne
Speaker 1: and Mary's crew. They pled guilty to piracy and were
Speaker 1: sentenced to hang. The women, however, pleaded not guilty to
Speaker 1: the charge of piracy. They claimed that although they had
Speaker 1: accompanied the crew, they weren't pirates, and by law there
Speaker 1: plea earned them a trial. British Knight and Jamaican governor
Speaker 1: Nicholas Laws, who Captain Barnett worked for, would preside as
Speaker 1: one of the judges. The trial began with testimony from
Speaker 1: a schooner captain who had had the misfortune of meeting
Speaker 1: the crew of the William. According to him, the women
Speaker 1: were not only on board, they had led the men
Speaker 1: in raiding his ship. Two frenchmen testified next they had
Speaker 1: been hunting bore off Hispaniola Island when the pirates kidnapped them.
Speaker 1: Both identified Anne and Mary as part of that crew.
Speaker 1: The women weren't passively traveling with the pirates, they said.
Speaker 1: During their captivity, they had witnessed both women supplied the
Speaker 1: men with gunpowder and joined them on raids. They told
Speaker 1: the judges the women weren't forced or detained, and kept
Speaker 1: the company with the pirates of their own free will.
Speaker 1: A third witness said he and his crew were attacked
Speaker 1: and brought aboard the William. He noted that Anne wore
Speaker 1: a pistol. Both women, he said, swore as much as
Speaker 1: any of the crew and appeared willing to do anything
Speaker 1: asked of them. After robbing them of their personal effects,
Speaker 1: the pirates had put them back on shore and stolen
Speaker 1: his ship. Finally, a woman took the stand. She had
Speaker 1: been in a canoe filled with provisions calico. Jackana's men
Speaker 1: had stolen everything she owned. She too, identified Anne and
Speaker 1: Mary as being part of that crew. The women had
Speaker 1: worn trousers and bandanas around their heads and carried machetes.
Speaker 1: She told the court. After the crew had robbed her,
Speaker 1: the women had sworn at the men, encouraging them to
Speaker 1: kill her so that she couldn't testify against them. Later,
Speaker 1: the judges asked Anne and Mary if they had any witnesses. No,
Speaker 1: they responded. Judge Laws asked if they had anything to
Speaker 1: say that the court might use to spare their lives. Again,
Speaker 1: they answered that they did not. Laws called the trial
Speaker 1: to a close, announcing that Anne and Mary would be
Speaker 1: hung by the neck until dead. The women were tossed
Speaker 1: back into jail to await the gallows, but soon enough
Speaker 1: the women discovered there was something that might spare them.
Speaker 1: They were both pregnant. Before his execution, Calico Jack asked
Speaker 1: for one last thing, to see Anne a final time.
Speaker 1: The court obliged, and guards led her to his cell.
Speaker 1: She stood calmly, telling him she was truly sorry that
Speaker 1: he was there. She was sorry they were all there, really,
Speaker 1: and it was his fault. The story goes that she
Speaker 1: told him, if you'd fought like a man, you wouldn't
Speaker 1: hang like a doll, before walking off On November eighth,
Speaker 1: seventeen twenty, Calko Jack hung for his crimes of piracy
Speaker 1: in Port Royal. After the hanging, his body was enclosed
Speaker 1: in a cage and placed in public view, called gibbeting.
Speaker 1: The practice was meant to discourage others from piracy. Today,
Speaker 1: the location of his execution is named after him, Rackham's
Speaker 1: k Within days, the rest of the men of the
Speaker 1: crew met the same fate. Anne and Mary's announcement that
Speaker 1: they were quick with child caused a delay in determining
Speaker 1: the date of their executions. After an examination, the pregnancies
Speaker 1: were confirmed, the court agreed to delay their executions until
Speaker 1: they gave birth. The women couldn't leave the jail, though
Speaker 1: in conditions for childbirth were less than sterile. Mary Read
Speaker 1: became ill and died from complications during childbirth on April seventeen,
Speaker 1: twenty one. Some historians believe that she and her child
Speaker 1: are buried somewhere in Jamaica, though no official records exist.
Speaker 1: There's also no record of Anne Bonnie's execution. No records
Speaker 1: exist of her release either. While it's a mystery what
Speaker 1: really happened, there are theories. Some believe she died of
Speaker 1: disease on December twenty nine, thirty three, while still waiting
Speaker 1: for her execution. But there's another theory. The merchant ships
Speaker 1: in Jamaica traveled extensively to South Carolina. A word of
Speaker 1: her capture and pending execution may have reached her wealthy father,
Speaker 1: who had plenty of influence in the trade business, or
Speaker 1: he might have paid to have her smuggled out of
Speaker 1: prison and brought back to the colonies. From there, Anne
Speaker 1: Bonnie may have moved to Virginia and married, and some
Speaker 1: tales say she had six children and lived a long life,
Speaker 1: never again returning to the sea and eventually dying an
Speaker 1: old woman with plenty of tales to tell. There's an
Speaker 1: old saying that goes something like this, you are in
Speaker 1: death as you are in life, and for Anne Bonnie,
Speaker 1: it couldn't have been more true, because she was a
Speaker 1: legend in both. There's more to this story. Stick around
Speaker 1: after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.
Speaker 1: In seventeen sixty, Rachel Schmidt was born in Pennsylvania to
Speaker 1: devout Presbyterians. Her parents were farmers, and like most others
Speaker 1: in the trade, they barely made enough money to make ends. Meet.
Speaker 1: Open fields, crops and livestock didn't interest Rachel, though, according
Speaker 1: to her journal, she left home at sixteen in search
Speaker 1: of a more exciting life. Rachel soon fell in love
Speaker 1: with the water and spent much of her time around
Speaker 1: Lake Erie Harbor. But a group of local girls didn't
Speaker 1: like the farm girl newcomer and attacked her. A young
Speaker 1: man named George Wall saw the assault and rescued her,
Speaker 1: and so began their romance. Ray Chill became smitten with
Speaker 1: the young fisherman, and despite her family's concerns, the two
Speaker 1: soon married. They left Pennsylvania and traveled to New York
Speaker 1: for a while before settling down in Boston. There, George
Speaker 1: took a job on a fishing schooner. While he was
Speaker 1: out at sea, Rachel earned money working as a mate
Speaker 1: on Beacon Hill. Her husband became friends with his crewmates,
Speaker 1: and she became friends with their wives. Though she missed
Speaker 1: him during his fishing trips, she wrote in her journal
Speaker 1: that she lived a contented life. After one of his trips,
Speaker 1: George convinced her to leave her job and come with
Speaker 1: him and five other sailors. He could make more money
Speaker 1: raiding ships than working on them. He explained. She agreed,
Speaker 1: and the group stole a ship named the Essex. In
Speaker 1: such a small ship and crew would hardly intimidate anyone,
Speaker 1: so they needed a different plan. What they came up
Speaker 1: with was simple, yet brilliant. The crew sailed around the
Speaker 1: shoals just after bad weather. There they would disguise the
Speaker 1: Essex to appear as though it had been damaged in
Speaker 1: the store. Rachel would stand on the deck all alone
Speaker 1: and call to passing ships for help. Seeing a young
Speaker 1: pretty damsel in distress worked flawlessly, sailors were more than
Speaker 1: happy to come to a rescue. Once the other ship
Speaker 1: would dock to the Essex, the men would rush up
Speaker 1: from below deck and subdue the would be rescuers. The
Speaker 1: ploy was so successful that the small band of pirates
Speaker 1: brobbed twelve ships and netted over six thousand dollars worth
Speaker 1: of merchandise. That's about a hundred and fifteen thousand today.
Speaker 1: And if you're wondering how only five men could overpower
Speaker 1: a larger ship's crew, they didn't. After taking the men
Speaker 1: by surprise, they killed them. If the ship appeared to
Speaker 1: have too many men aboard, the pirates pretended to be
Speaker 1: passengers on the ill fated Essex and waited until night
Speaker 1: to raid the ship and dispatch the crew members. During
Speaker 1: a storm in seventeen eighty two, George made a poor
Speaker 1: navigation error and the Essex capsized. Only a couple of
Speaker 1: the crew survived, Rachel being one of them. George wasn't
Speaker 1: so lucky, He drowned without a ship or captain. The
Speaker 1: survivors went back to Boston. Rachel returned to work as
Speaker 1: a maid. She struggled to earn enough to live on
Speaker 1: and so returned to a life of crime. She stole
Speaker 1: from doctor ships in the harbor and their sailors. She
Speaker 1: was arrested several times for petty theft, once after stealing
Speaker 1: from Perez Morton, a revolutionary patriot and good friend of
Speaker 1: John Adams. She wrote that during the spring she snuff
Speaker 1: on board a ship at Long Wharf. While the captain
Speaker 1: and mate slept, she hunted for items of value. She
Speaker 1: found a black silk handkerchief under the captain's head, plus
Speaker 1: several crowns and other coins, as well as gold. Her
Speaker 1: reputation for theft at the docks grew, making it harder
Speaker 1: to get away undetected. One incident turned deadly, and Rachel
Speaker 1: decided to steer clear of the harbor for a while.
Speaker 1: On March eighteenth of seventy nine, she was arrested for
Speaker 1: a crime she claimed to have never committed, the stealing
Speaker 1: from a seventeen year old woman during a highway robbery. Margaret.
Speaker 1: The young victim, claimed that Rachel stole her bonnet, shoes,
Speaker 1: and buckles before beating her and trying to rip out
Speaker 1: her tongue. She pleaded innocent to that crime, but finally
Speaker 1: admitted to her acts of piracy, though she insisted she
Speaker 1: had never killed anyone. It's unclear how the court tied
Speaker 1: her to piracy unless they read her journal, of course.
Speaker 1: She was found guilty of her crimes and sentenced to
Speaker 1: death by hanging. On Thursday, October eight seventy nine. Rachel
Speaker 1: stood at the gallows on Boston Common before a crowd
Speaker 1: of thousands who had come to watch a female pirate hang.
Speaker 1: She issued a word of warning, don't follow in my footsteps,
Speaker 1: she said. In her final words, Rachel committed her soul
Speaker 1: to God and asked for his mercy. As the executioner
Speaker 1: placed the noose over her head, she told the crowd
Speaker 1: she would die an unworthy member of the Presbyterian Church.
Speaker 1: Aside from being one of the few American women to
Speaker 1: become a pirate, Rachel Ward was also the last woman
Speaker 1: to be hanged in Massachusetts. American Shadows as hosted by
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched
Speaker 1: by Ali Steed, and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young,
Speaker 1: with executive producers Aaron Mackey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
Speaker 1: To learn more about the show, visit Grim and Mild
Speaker 1: dot com. From more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. H