Anne Bonny, sometimes Anne Bonney, was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of the few female pirates in recorded history.
19 Facts About Anne Bonny
2.
Around 1718 she married sailor James Anne Bonny, assumed his last name, and moved with him to Nassau in the Bahamas, a sanctuary for pirates.
3.
All three were sentenced to death, but Anne Bonny and Read had their executions stayed because both of them were pregnant.
4.
Anne Bonny was said to be born in Old Head of Kinsale, in County Cork, Ireland.
5.
Anne Bonny was the daughter of servant woman Mary Brennan and Brennan's employer, lawyer William Cormac.
6.
Anne Bonny was born to Mary Brennan because following the illness of Cormac's wife she was moved down to her mother-in-law's home which was a few miles down the road.
7.
Anne Bonny was seen as one of the legitimate issues from William Cormac.
8.
Anne Bonny's father abandoned the original "Mc" prefix of their family name to blend more easily into the Charles Town citizenry.
9.
Anne Bonny's father attempted to establish himself as an attorney but did not do well.
10.
Anne Bonny married a poor sailor and small-time pirate named James Bonny.
11.
James hoped to win possession of his father-in-law's estate, but Anne Bonny was disowned by her father.
12.
However, it is known that sometime between 1714 and 1718, she and James Anne Bonny moved to Nassau, on New Providence Island, known as a sanctuary for English pirates called the Republic of Pirates.
13.
Anne Bonny disliked the work her husband did for Governor Rogers.
14.
Anne Bonny met John "Calico Jack" Rackham, and he became her lover.
15.
Anne Bonny disguised herself as a man on the ship, and only Rackham and Mary Read were aware that she was a woman until it became clear that she was pregnant.
16.
Anne Bonny then rejoined Rackham and continued the pirate life, having divorced her husband and married Rackham while at sea.
17.
Anne Bonny took part in combat alongside the men, and Governor Rogers named her in a "Wanted Pirates" circular published in The Boston News-Letter.
18.
Speculation over the relationship between Anne Bonny and Read led to images depicting the two in battle together.
19.
In 2020, a statue of Anne Bonny and Read was unveiled at Execution Dock in Wapping, London.