Anne Bonny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references (ideally, using inline citations). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008) |
| Anne Bonny | |
|---|---|
| March 8, 1700 – April 25, 1782 | |
 Anne Bonny from a Dutch version of Charles Johnson's book of pirates. The image does not conform to contemporary descriptions and instead plays up the sexual aspects of her story. |
|
| Nickname: | Anney |
| Type: | Pirate |
| Place of birth: | County Cork, Ireland |
| Allegiance: | None |
| Years of service: | ? – October 1720 |
| Base of Operations: | Caribbean |
| Commands: | None |
Anne Bonny (March 8, 1700 [1] – possibly April 25, 1782) was an Irish American pirate who plied her trade in the Caribbean.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Much of what is known about Anne Bonny is based on Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates. Official records and contemporary letters dealing with her life are scarce. Most details about her life prior to her arrival in the Bahamas do not appear to be based on any primary source evidence, including the claims that she was born in 1698 in County Cork, Ireland; that she was a daughter of attorney William Cormac and his maidservant; that her mother was named Mary Brennan and her grandmother was named Peg; and that, when the affair became public, Cormac moved to Charleston, South Carolina where he made a fortune and bought a large plantation. Diligent efforts to source all of these claims continue in earnest by pirate historians.
[edit] Marriage and affair with a pirate
The few records of Bonny which exist seem to reflect that she was intelligent, attractive, and quick-tempered. When she was 13, she supposedly stabbed a servant girl in the stomach with a table knife, although it is unclear whether this is fact or purely legend. She married a sailor and small-time pirate named James Bonny. According to legend, James Bonny hoped to win possession of his wife's family estate, but she was disowned by her father.
There is no evidence supporting the story that Anne Bonny started a fire on the plantation in retaliation, but it is known that sometime between 1714 and 1718 she and James Bonny moved to Nassau, on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, which was then a pirate hub and base for many pirate operations. It is also true that after the arrival of Governor Woodes Rogers in the summer of 1718, James Bonny became an informant for the governor.[2]
While in the Bahamas, Anne Bonny began mingling with pirates at the local drinking establishments, and met the pirate John "Calico Jack" Rackham, with whom she had an affair. While Rackham and many other pirates were enjoying the King's pardon in the New Providence, James dragged Anne before Gov. Rogers to demand she be flogged for adultery and returned to him. There was even an offer for Rackham to buy her in a divorce-by-purchase, but Anne refused to be "bought and sold like cattle." She was sentenced to the flogging, but later Anne and Rackham escaped to live together as pirates.
[edit] Life as a pirate
Bonny did not disguise herself as a man in order to join Rackham's crew aboard the Revenge as is often claimed. In fact, she and Mary Read helped Rackham steal the sloop at anchor in Nassau harbour and set off to sea, putting together a crew and taking several prizes. She took part in combat alongside the males, and the accounts describing her exploits present her as competent, effective in combat, and someone who gained the respect of her fellow pirates. She and Mary Read's name and gender were, however, known to all from the start, including Gov. Rogers, who named them in a "pirates wanted" circular published in the continent's only newspaper, the Boston News-Letter..[3]
Over the next several months, she and Rackham saw quite a few successes as pirates, capturing many ships, and bringing in an abundance of treasure.
Although Bonny is one of the best-known pirates in history, she never commanded a ship of her own. Her renown derives from the fact that she was a rarity: a female pirate.
[edit] Capture and imprisonment
In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet, who was working for the governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates did not put up much resistance as many of them were too drunk to fight. However, Read and Bonny, who were sober, fought fiercely and managed to hold off Barnet's troops for a short time. After their capture, Rackham and his crew were sentenced by the Governor of Jamaica to be hanged. Bonny is reported to have chastised the imprisoned Rackham by saying, "I am sorry to see you here Jack, but if you had fought like a man, you need not be hanged like a dog."
After their arrest and trial, Read and Bonny both pleaded their bellies, announcing during the sentencing phase that they were both pregnant. In accordance with English common law, both women received a temporary stay of execution until they gave birth. Read died in prison, most likely from a fever, though it has been alleged that she died during childbirth.[4]
[edit] Disappearance from the record
There is no historical record of Bonny's release or of her execution. This has fed speculation that her father ransomed her; that she might have returned to her husband, or even that she resumed a life of piracy under a new identity. However, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that "Evidence provided by the descendants of Anne Bonny suggests that her father managed to secure her release from gaol and bring her back to Charles Town, South Carolina, where she gave birth to Rackham's second child. On December 21, 1721 she married a local man, Joseph Burleigh, and they had eight children. She died in South Carolina, a respectable woman, at the age of eighty-two and was buried on April 25, 1782. This however is a complete supposition[5]
[edit] In popular culture
- A novel named Pirate Spirit: The Adventures of Anne Bonny by Jeffrey Williams
- Possibly the inspiration for Bonnie Annie of the famed Child's Ballads
- The novel,"Anne Bonny, Tale of a Lady Pirate" by Robert Q. Hoyt attempts to fill in the historical gaps regarding the life of Anne Bonny. This "historical fiction" is based on Caribbean piracy of the early 18th century and documented accounts of the lady pirate.
- An older (and plumper) Anne appears in "Media:The Pyrates" by George MacDonald.
- A film loosely based (originally) on Bonny's story, Anne of the Indies, was made in 1951 starring Jean Peters in the title role, but the final product had no basis in the facts whatsoever.
- Bonny, along with Mary Read, is one of the main characters in the webcomic Sea Monsters by Gwendolyn Meer. The story is a modernized adaptation of their lives.
- In the comic book Witchblade published by Top Cow Productions, Bonny is portrayed as having once wielded the titular weapon. Calico Jack and Mary Read also appear.
- Bonny and Mary Read are featured in the 11th movie of the Detective Conan anime series, Detective Conan: Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure, as a crucial plot point.
- Binnie Barnes plays Bonny in The Spanish Main, a 1945 adventure movie starring Maureen O'Hara and Paul Henreid.
- Bonny and Read are featured on the wall of Disneyland's "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. Patrons are given their clearest view of this when their boat makes one of the last turns right before the parrot, or when they first go inside and look around the corner.
- A highly-fictionalised portrayal of Anne Bonny appears in Pirates of Treasure Island, a direct-to-DVD film by The Asylum, in which she is a pirate serving under Long John Silver. She was portrayed by Rebekah Kochan.
- In the manga/anime series One Piece, the character Jewelry Bonney, a female pirate captain, was partially named after Bonny.
- The 2002 board game Pirate's Cove published by Days of Wonder contains the six legendary pirate cards one of which is Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
- Bonny and Read appeared as characters in Pirates for Sky/Discovery Channel, portrayed by Lorna Bennett and Rachel Ferjani.
- Bonny appears as one of the Set 6 warriors in the card game Anachronism. She is part of the Pirate culture represented in the set, and among her support cards are cards for Calico Jack and 'Pleading the Belly.'
- Bonny and Read are depicted to have left a treasure in an island 300 years ago in the Detective Conan: Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure
- A novel The Only Life That Mattered: The Short and Merry Lives of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Calico Jack Rackham by James L. Nelson
- Anne Bonny is a character in the novel, Fanny: Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones by Erica Jong. ISBN 0393-32435-4
- In the MMORPG Atlantica Online, Bonny is the "Hero" (upgraded) form of the "Sailor" Mercenary.
- In the MMORPG World of Warcraft, Annie Bonn, most likely a reference to Anne Bonny, is a character at Scalawag Point.
- Bonny and Read are featured in the song "The Ballad of Anne Bonny and Mary Read", by Boston band, Bread and Roses
[edit] References
- ^ John Carlova, Mistress of the Seas
- ^ [|Woodard, Colin] (2007). The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, Inc. pp. 139-316-317. ISBN 978-0-15-603462-3. http://www.republicofpirates.net.
- ^ [|Woodard, Colin] (2007). The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, Inc. pp. 317-318. ISBN 978-0-15-603462-3. http://www.republicofpirates.net.
- ^ [|Woodard, Colin] (2007). The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, Inc. pp. 318-320. ISBN 978-0-15-603462-3. http://www.republicofpirates.net.
- ^ David Cordingly, "Bonny, Anne (1698–1782)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 18 Nov 2006
[edit] Sources
- David Cordingly, "Bonny, Anne (1698–1782)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 18 Nov 2006
[edit] External links
- Anne Bonny at TheWayofthePirates.com
- The Lives of Mary Read and Anne Bonny
- Pirates of the Caribbean - Anne Bonny
