WEBVTT - How Did Anne Bonny, Female Pirate, Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff. Lorn Volga bam Here and Bonnie, Convicted

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<v Speaker 1>of piracies, felonies and robberies on the High Sea in

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<v Speaker 1>the seventeen twenties, was a real life pirate of the Caribbean.

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<v Speaker 1>Like Blackbeard, she took part in the Golden Age of Piracy,

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<v Speaker 1>a time when Europe's colonial powers had to constantly contend

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<v Speaker 1>with pirates, buccaneers and privateers. It lasted from about sixteen

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<v Speaker 1>fifty to seventeen twenty six. Even back then, true crime

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<v Speaker 1>narratives were popular among readers, and the public was hungry

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<v Speaker 1>for stories about the exploits of criminals and plunderers who

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<v Speaker 1>terrorized the sea ways. Some books were written to meet

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<v Speaker 1>this demand, and a great deal of inc was spent

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<v Speaker 1>recounting the lives of and Bonnie and other female pirates

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<v Speaker 1>from the Golden Age. Unfortunately, in Bonnie's case, rumors tend

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<v Speaker 1>to shadow the facts. It doesn't help that the latter

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<v Speaker 1>are somewhat few and far between. Very little information about

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<v Speaker 1>her life was documented firsthand, leaving ample room for speculation.

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<v Speaker 1>A legend has obscured reality. The seventeen book A General

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<v Speaker 1>History of the robberies and murders of the most notorious pirates,

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes just called a general history of the pirates, popularized

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<v Speaker 1>buried treasure, wooden legs, plank walking, and just about every

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<v Speaker 1>other pirate stereotype you can think of, aside from the

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<v Speaker 1>voice that we think of today for pirates, which was

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<v Speaker 1>popularized by English actor Robert Newton. But that's a different

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<v Speaker 1>episode anyway. The authorship of this book is a mystery.

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<v Speaker 1>The listed author is Captain Charles Johnson, which is almost

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<v Speaker 1>certainly a pen name, but historians have never been able

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<v Speaker 1>to pin down the writer's true identity. Whoever he was.

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<v Speaker 1>Our so called captain helped reshape the popular outlook on piracy.

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<v Speaker 1>The creators of works like Peter Pan and Treasure Island

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<v Speaker 1>cited his book as a major influence, but it's not

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<v Speaker 1>a perfect resource. Today's scholarly consensus on the book is

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<v Speaker 1>that it blended verifiable research with hearsay and misinformation. Pirate

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<v Speaker 1>historian David Accordingly wrote in his introduction to a print

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<v Speaker 1>of the classic book, quote, A question mark must hangover

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<v Speaker 1>Johnson's account of the extraordinary early lives of Mary Read

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<v Speaker 1>and a Bonnie until some corroborating evidence is discovered. Johnson

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<v Speaker 1>indeed had a lot to say concerning and Bonnie and

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<v Speaker 1>her shipmate Mary Read, another Golden Age pirate woman. The

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<v Speaker 1>book claims that Bonnie was born near the city of Cork, Ireland,

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<v Speaker 1>and that she had a rough childhood. Said to be

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<v Speaker 1>the illegitimate daughter of a married lawyer and his servant Maide,

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<v Speaker 1>Bonnie was supposedly dressed in boy's clothing. That way her

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<v Speaker 1>father could avoid unwanted gossip by passing the girl off

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<v Speaker 1>as his personal assistant in training. At some point she

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<v Speaker 1>relocated to Carolina, North American territory later split into the

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<v Speaker 1>separate colonies of North and South Carolina, with her father

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<v Speaker 1>and his mistress, or so the story goes. Historians don't

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<v Speaker 1>know what the future outlaws original birth name was seventy.

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<v Speaker 1>Proclamation issued by Woods Rogers, the governor of the Bahamas,

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<v Speaker 1>refers to her as Anne Fulford, alias Bonnie. It's been

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<v Speaker 1>said she was briefly married to a pirate named James Bonnie,

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<v Speaker 1>only to leave him for another pirate, englishman, John Rackham,

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<v Speaker 1>also known as Calico Jack. There's no doubt that Anne

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<v Speaker 1>Bonnie worked for Rackham. Contemporary documents prove it, and she

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't the only female pirate who joined his crew. Like

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<v Speaker 1>Anne Bonnie, Mary Read is an enigmatic figure. If Johnson's

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<v Speaker 1>book is to be believed. She was born in England

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<v Speaker 1>and lost her father, who anished one way or another

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<v Speaker 1>at an early age. The book describes Read's first meeting

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<v Speaker 1>with Bonnie as a comedy of airs. At the time,

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<v Speaker 1>they were both allegedly dressed as men aboard Rackham's ship,

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<v Speaker 1>and none the wiser. Bonnie developed a crush on Read,

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<v Speaker 1>pulled her aside, and then revealed her true gender. In

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<v Speaker 1>Johnson's telling, Mary Read was quote forced to come to

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<v Speaker 1>a right understanding with her, and so, to the great

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<v Speaker 1>disappointment of Anne Bonnie, she let her know she was

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<v Speaker 1>a woman. Also, historians are pretty skeptical about this anecdote,

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<v Speaker 1>and despite insinuations to the contrary, there is no outside

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<v Speaker 1>evidence suggesting Bonnie was ever attracted to or romantically involved

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<v Speaker 1>with Read. But we do have eyewitness accounts confirming that

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<v Speaker 1>they both wore traditionally male garb while at sea. And

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<v Speaker 1>let's not forget Governor Rogers proclamation released on September five,

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<v Speaker 1>seventy This document branded Read, Bonnie, Rackham, and five of

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<v Speaker 1>their crew mats as pirates and enemies to the Crown

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<v Speaker 1>of Great Britain. You see. A few weeks earlier, August two,

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen twenty, the gang had stolen a ship named the

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<v Speaker 1>William and set out on a Caribbean crime spree. Over

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<v Speaker 1>the next few months, Rackham's crew certainly kept busy. The

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<v Speaker 1>pirates seized more vessels, stole from fishermen, and made off

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<v Speaker 1>with valuable cargo. Their reckoning finally arrived on the night

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<v Speaker 1>of October twenty second, seventeen twenty. Off the Jamaican coast,

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<v Speaker 1>Rackham and company found themselves entertaining some Port Royal mariners

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<v Speaker 1>aboard the William. This event soon devolved into a brawl.

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<v Speaker 1>Suddenly their ship was spotted by the pirate hunting captain

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<v Speaker 1>Jonathan Barnett. In short order, Barnet's been crippled William and

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<v Speaker 1>took her crew into custody. Next came a series of

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<v Speaker 1>trials held in what's now Spanish Town, Jamaica. Rackham was

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<v Speaker 1>found guilty of various crimes. Before these, he and the

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<v Speaker 1>majority of his male crewmen were hanged that fall. The

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<v Speaker 1>trial of Anne Bonnie and Mary Reid was set for

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<v Speaker 1>November seventeen twenty, but this one had a twist ending.

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<v Speaker 1>It was established that both women had committed felonies, robberies,

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<v Speaker 1>and of course piracy. A one victim who testified against

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<v Speaker 1>them was one Dorothy Thomas. She said she had been

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<v Speaker 1>in a canoe minding her own business when the pirate

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<v Speaker 1>gang robbed her, and Thomas told the court Bonnie and

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<v Speaker 1>Read were each armed with a machete and a pistol,

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<v Speaker 1>and that they had cursed and swore at the men,

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<v Speaker 1>encouraging their cohorts to murder Thomas on the spot. Things

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<v Speaker 1>didn't look good for Bonnie and Read, but the pair

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<v Speaker 1>dropped a bombshell after their verdict was reached. Without warning,

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<v Speaker 1>Mary Read and a Bonnie both announced they were pregnant.

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<v Speaker 1>An inspection confirmed this. Judging by the timeline of events,

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<v Speaker 1>historians think they'd both entered the second trimesters of their pregnancies,

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<v Speaker 1>known as pleading the belly. This legal tactic saved the

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<v Speaker 1>two pirates from the gal those. A woman by the

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<v Speaker 1>name of Mary Read passed away on April seventy one

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<v Speaker 1>and was buried in Sat. Katharine, Jamaica that same day.

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<v Speaker 1>It's likely this was the very person who had sailed

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<v Speaker 1>and fought with Anne Bonnie. Bonnie's own fate is more ambiguous.

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<v Speaker 1>Nothing concrete is known about what the former pirate did

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<v Speaker 1>with the rest of her life. Captain Johnson wrote, she

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<v Speaker 1>was continued in prison to the time of her lying

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<v Speaker 1>in and afterwards reprieved from time to time. But what

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<v Speaker 1>has become of her since we cannot tell? Only this

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<v Speaker 1>we know that she was not executed. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the article in Bonnie, a Real Female Pirate

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<v Speaker 1>of the Caribbean on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in

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<v Speaker 1>partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Klang and Ramsey Young. Four more podcasts my

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