Anne Bonny & Mary Reed

P I R A T E T E N A Y A

T H E P I R A T E O F L O V E

Anne Bonny and Mary Reed: Legendary Female Pirates

Hello Landlubbers,
I am writing a 2 act play about Anne Bonny and Mary Read! SUMMARY BELOW!!!

I've been researching for four years and I've started to hone in on a decent time line. Check out the summary below!

The problem with Pirate research is that most of what is recorded as history is legend and exaggerated reputation. So, I've tried my best to make sense of their lives and filter through the information that is out there, most of which skates over details and romanticizes the lives of these two women.

Anne and Mary lived in a very different era from our own. We don't have e-mail or text message records, let alone actual addresses. Pirates don't keep ship logs and what happens at sea, stays at sea! (and then is exaggerated or twisted later)

Thank you and as I make more progress on this project, I'll post some scenes. I may even make it into a musical if I am so inspired. We'll see...

Summary of the story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read

ACT ONE

MARY READ

Plymouth is England’s gateway to the west. Many sailors come and go from this port, some to merchant ships, some to war, some to piracy, and some are never heard from again. Mary Read’s father was a sailor who often went to sea for months. His wife gave birth to a boy, but the baby died. A few years later, she became pregnant again and gave birth to Mary in 1690, but Mary’s father had already left for sea. This caused most residents of Plymouth to call Mary a bastard, especially since her mother’s fidelity also wasn’t believed to be 100% to her husband, him being a sailor and often gone.

Time passed and the sailor never returned, his wife believed he was dead, and she went to collect her share of the inheritance from her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law would give the allowance only if the heir was a male. Mary Reed was dressed in boy’s clothes and was convincing enough so that her mother received the inheritance.

That money lasted only so long, and Mary’s mother continued treating her like a little boy, calling her Mark, just to keep receiving the allowance. Mary embraced her masculinity and her mother made her work as a footman. When the grandmother died and the inheritance was passed to another male heir, Mary decided to join a Man of War ship. This first voyage was a brutal shock to life at sea and Mary wasn’t sure if it was for her.

Next, she joined the Flemish army as an infantryman and also served in the horse regiment. While on her tour of duty, she fell in love with a fellow soldier and revealed herself as a woman to him. When the army was at home in Holland (then Flemish territory), Mary and her soldier were married in a tavern in Utrecht. They decided to settle down and open up the Three Horseshoe Inn near Breda castle for travellers. It was a time of normalcy.

However, within 3 years, her husband had died of illness and their inn was failing because the war was over, the Peace of Ryswick document was signed. No longer were there as many officers passing through who needed an inn. Mary makes a bold decision to go back to the sea, and joins up with a Dutch merchant ship headed for the West Indies.

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ANNE BONNY

Anne was brought into this world because of love…yes, love between her father, William Cormac, and one of the house maids, Mary Brennan. The last thing Mrs. Cormac wanted was for everyone in County Cork Ireland to know about this infidelity, but when Mary became pregnant, there was no hiding their relationship. Anne was born in 1697, and shortly after, William took his new family all the way to Charleston, South Carolina.

The new world offered opportunities for all who seized them! Anne was an active child, an adventuresome tom boy. A riff-raff, red haired, riding and shooting girl, it was hard for William to keep tabs on his daughter. William was a lawyer back in Ireland, and he set up new practice in Charleston, while maintaining a large plantation of land.

Anne is known for having a bad temper, even from an early age. I’m not doubting that she did, and I’m also saying, having a bad temper is a good quality if you’re trying to be a surly pirate, your image has to proceed you. So, one of the stories that could be made up, is that when she was 15, she killed one of the house maids. It could be that the maid called Anne a bastard, knowing about the affair. Or perhaps Anne threatened the maid to not sleep with her father because Anne didn’t want a sister. If it’s true, then we can only speculate her reasons…

Charleston is a port town with sailors coming and going, sending raw materials back to England, receiving products and new citizens all the time. Anne was known for hanging out at the ports, and if men were too aggressive, she would throw a bunch, and one time she hit a man over the head with a chair! She really wanted to make her point!

And then, Anne met a sailor that she actually loved! James Bonny picked her up when she was 16, and he wanted to marry Anne…mostly because he knew her father was rich. William didn’t like James, so much that he told Anne that he would disinherit her if she remained with James. That didn’t go well because Anne, and probably with James’s help, burned the plantation and ran away.

James Bonny brought Anne to New Providence, Bahamas. A thriving port it’s own, and particularly a lay over for pirates and sailors alike. Anne establishes her reputation right away. Apparently, she asked a sailor to move when she was disembarking the boat, and he wouldn’t, or maybe he just didn’t hear her…because she shot off his ear. Again…legend, or truth? In some versions of this story, the sailor was already one eared, so she shot off his other ear! That makes her even more brutal a pirate!

Woodes Rogers was the Governor of the Bahamas in the early 1700s. He hired James to be a snitch and bring some men to trial for being pirates. James just rounded up the sailors he didn’t like and accused them of piracy, and of course, James made a profit per head. Anne finds out about this and ditches him, but they’re still technically married.

Anne may have not wanted James anymore, but she was glad he brought her to the Bahamas, New Providence was her kind of town. She stayed with Captain Jennings and his mistress Meg. She learned how to fence, and there’s a story that says she publicly undressed her fencing instructor by slitting off all his clothes…student besting the teacher, that shows that she is a fast learning master pirate!

Soon Meg suggested that Anne get some male protection…and maybe Meg wanted Captain Jennings all to herself again. So, Anne goes to the top and wants to date the richest man on the island, Chidley Bayard. She has to fight Chidley’s current mistress, Maria. Apparently, it was a battle to the death and Mary won.

Chidley and Anne went to many social events and Anne enjoyed her new lifestyle. One night at a party with Nick Lawes, the governor of Jamaica, Anne got into an altercation with Governor Lawes’s sister in law. Just like most of Anne’s fights, we can imagine that the sister in law insulted Anne in some way, maybe said that she wasn’t good enough to be with Chidley or something, so Anne punched her! At the party! After that, Chidley couldn’t bring Anne with him to parties, so they gradually stopped seeing each other.

Anne became better friends with her gay friend, Pierre. Pierre was a fashion designer and hairdresser. That’s all a girl needs! Anne may have moved in with him by this point if things with Chidley weren’t going so well. Pierre and Anne planned to rob a French silk merchant’s ship, Pierre wants the fabric! They put together this elaborate ghost spectacle and ride up on a smaller boat. The crew is convinced by their production and they hand over the silk without a fight!

Pierre introduces Anne to Jack Rackham, the Captain of the pirate ship, Revenge. Like many pirates, he used New Providence as a base camp to go after merchant ships from many countries. A robber’s life, grifting off the top of what other governments have organized and extracted from the new world.

Jack invites Anne to sail with him on the next round, knowing that it is bad luck to bring a woman aboard a ship, he just had to have her along. She dresses like a man, but probably some crew members knew the truth. Also, she kicks Jack out of the captain’s quarters, because girls need their space, especially when they have to hide their gender.

Soon, Anne couldn’t hide anything because she became pregnant with Jack’s baby. It is unknown what became of her pregnancy. Perhaps Anne went ashore briefly to give birth to the baby and then gave it away? Maybe the baby died at childbirth or she had a miscarriage. What we do know is that Anne returned to the ship without a child.

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Anne Bonny and Mary Read met aboard Jack Rackham’s pirate ship, Revenge, when Jack seized a Dutch merchant ship and decided to keep some of the sailors and offer them positions in the crew. Both Anne and Mary were dressed as men, Mary was thoroughly convincing. Anne gets a crush on “Mark” and the two of them end up making out and Mary reveals herself to be female. Their gender roles were confusing enough because of their environment, apparently they were just attracted to each other.

ACT TWO

1718 Captain Woodes Rogers, still Governor, offers all pirates the King George I’s pardon if they turn themselves in and offer to reform and live and respectable life on land.

That doesn’t stop the pirate ship, Revenge! Pierre and Anne lead another ploy to steal dresses from a ship, so Act Two really opens with a costume party. Pirates run by from just stealing dresses, and all the men rush below decks to put them on. Mary looks a bit uncomfortable in hers, Anne looks too good in hers, by now the men definitely know she’s a woman.

Then, just for a try, Jack, Pierre, Anne, Mary and the other pirates accept the Governor’s and the King’s offer for sanctuary in the Bahamas if they stop their piracy.

Pierre heard rumour that an assassination attempt was in the works to get the Governor Woodes Rogers. Anne decided to do something about it and informed the Governor of the information they had heard. It ended up saving his life as he was able to evade the murderers.

James Bonny, Anne’s forgotten husband, wanted to get even with Anne and Jack for flaunting themselves around town. He had them arrested/kidnapped in the middle of the night and brought them bound and naked to Governor Woodes Rogers. James charges her with felony of deserting her husband. He wants to profit by selling her to Jack. Anne refuses to be auctioned like property. She was so ruthless that no buyers came forward. Jack wanted to pay James if that is what it’s going to take, but Jack is the very person that Anne ran away with, so James wasn’t so keen on that idea. But by this point, James was afraid if Anne was set free, she would kill him. Governor Rogers forgives Anne’s punishment, but first Jack is forced to whip Anne and she is ordered to return to James anyway. Anne’s fate was thrown about like a polo match and this was the result? Brutal!

Fortunately, it wasn’t going to end badly…except for Jack having to whip Anne…that was bad. Anne was hardly thrilled to go back to James, but James didn’t want Anne back. James was just hoping to profit from bounty hunting his former love, but he didn’t get any monetary reward, so he just leaves town. Anne wants to shoot Rogers for making her endure such humiliation and pain, all so James can just leave town anyway. Mary and Anne burn James’s turtle business to the ground.

Anne and Jack are free from the whole trial situation since James is now absent, so they get everybody together and go to sea again! Pirate hunters were all over the Bahamas (James Bonny wasn’t the only bounty hunter) and even with the Governor’s pardon, they already had to endure this pointless trial, so the crew had to leave again. Jack works on obtaining information about promising jobs, shipments to rob…

Once he hears that Jack Rackham is heading out to sea, Governor Woodes Rogers makes a blockade of ships and sailors to prevent their departure. Of course, they’re pirates, so they just break right through the blocking ships (or rush them, so that they move out of the way). Anne rips off her top and reveals her boobs and struts on deck in her tight black velvet pants with silver trim!

Back at sea, the pirate crew is reformed, new booty is on the horizon. Anne and Mary are inseparable, Jack is a little jealous. At this point, he still thinks that Mary is Mark. Jack, in a jealous rage, bursts into Anne’s quarters and sees Mary with her top exposed. This changes everything.

No matter, there is a target to attend to! It’s unclear whether this was a purposeful attack on an individual, or a happy coincidence. The target is Chidley Bayard, Anne’s former sugar daddy. Anne couldn’t cut it in Chidley’s stiff society, so maybe this was payback time… The ship, the Royal Queen, was commanded by Captain Hudson. The plan…went to plan! Anne boarded the ship and seduced Captain Hudson. Anne puts drugs in his wine, so he passes out…she never has to actually go through with her seduction! Then Anne douses the cannon’s firing pins with water. The next day, Jack Rackham’s ship, Revenge, attacks the Royal Queen and they can’t fight back. Anne and Mary are major factors in the victory of this battle, and Mary even kills Captain Hudson herself…perhaps out of jealousy and the unknown actions Anne had to take in order to go through the plan.

Chidley finds out about the Royal Queen raid and tells his brother, Governer Lawes. Gov Lawes and his wife do not like Anne anyway from their one previous meeting, but now it’s personal and her actions have directly harmed them. Based on their last location, Gov Lawes sends Captain John Barnet out! Jamaica and the Bahamas are tired of losing cargos to pirates!!! So, the English navy is connected to Barnet’s mission. Four reasons the capture mission is sent out: 1) Chidley is mad about losing cargo to pirates, especially his former girlfriend turned pirate 2) Gov Lawes and wife don’t like Anne or the pirates either 3) Jamaica and the neighbouring islands are tired of losing stock to pirates 4) Governor Woodes Rogers agrees that they need to be captured.

So, in 1720 the British Navy and other Bahamas officials sponsored the ship Albion to be lead by Captain Jonathan Barnett with the precise intent to capture Jack’s ship, Revenge, and all pirates aboard. There is of course a naval battle once the pirates are found. Mary and Anne fight to the end while drunken and scared pirates cower below deck, too afraid to fight in their would be last glorious battle for freedom.

The initial capture was around Jamaica, and the presentation of the prisoners was in St. Jaga de la Vega, Jamaica. The British Navy then took steps to hold a trial for these pirates on November 16^th, 1720. The pirates were of course all sentenced to hang to their death. Anne suddenly remembers that she is a woman and she can use her femininity! With a quick grab of Mary’s hand, she says, “trust me!” Anne steps forward and reveals that they are women and they are pregnant! People say, “What? Women acting like this? And they’re knocked up sluts and pirates!” The women throw the law in their faces and say that they know that you can’t kill a pregnant woman till she gives birth to the child (which goes to an orphanage and then the woman is hung). Anne and Mary at least want to buy some time!

Before the crew is hung on November 27th, Anne tells Jack, “I am sorry to see you in this predicament, but had you fought like a man you would not now have to die like a dog.” Shortly after on November 28^th, the British Navy holds a trial for the two women. They are fortunately just sentenced to jail until the babies are born.

This wasn’t a good time, nor decent living quarters for two women in winter…whether or not they really were pregnant. Mary dies of a fever in prison, where she probably got the fever. Mary dies in 1721 before the “baby” is born, so it would have to be early in the year (February, the winter) for her to die. One source says she died 5 months later meaning she passed the birth time with no baby.

Anne, is however, untraceable after the jail period. We know Mary died, with or without child, but what of Anne? Here are some ideas: 1) Anne is bailed out of jail by her rich dad who has heard of her imprisonment by this point and has decided to forgive her for burning his plantation and bail her out. 2) Anne breaks out and runs away to America, to see her dad, to start a new life? 3) Anne breaks out and runs away to England, to run a pub, to start a new life? 4) Anne breaks out of jail and goes back to sea in legitimate or other pirating business, finds a new crew? 5) Anne had to break out of jail so that no one would see that she’s not really pregnant. 6) Anne had to flee and break out of jail because she’s afraid they will find out about how she burned her Dad’s plantation down…and she doesn’t know if her dad got out alive or not. OR 7) Anne and Mary escape like Tupac and Biggie, fake their deaths, and go live in Louisiana with their “kids” or just by themselves!

END OF PLAY