Anne Bonny and Mary Read are captured

Anne Bonny and Mary Read sailed on the crew of Calico Jack Rackham and were captured off Jamaica. Both were tried, and both were said to be pregnant, which delayed any sentence.

Context

Bonny and Read joined the crew of John 'Calico Jack' Rackham, who with them had taken a sloop from Nassau harbour in August 1720. Sources agree that both women dressed and fought as men on board, which made them the best-known women of the era's pirate crews.

Rackham's sloop was caught by a privateer commissioned by Jamaica's governor, commanded by Jonathan Barnet. Rackham and most of the crew hid below, and accounts say Bonny, Read and one other man fought back. The prisoners were taken to Spanish Town for trial.

The men were tried and hanged in November 1720. The two women were tried on 28 November, convicted and sentenced to hang, but both said they were pregnant, which under colonial law delayed execution. Surviving records record examinations to check the claims.

Read died in prison, reportedly of fever, in April 1721, and her burial is recorded in a Jamaican parish register. What happened to Bonny is unknown: she may have been freed or ransomed, but later accounts are legend and cannot be confirmed.

The case is often cited in discussions of how few women are documented as pirates, since only a handful have credible records.