Research Introduction
For the final essay within this class, I decided that I will be researching the capture of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. More specifically, I will be examining how the rest of their crew's lack of cooperation in fighting against their captors and quickly surrendering that lead to their capture.
Over the course of my research, I found many different things to support this theory, including evidence to support the fact that Calico Jack surrendered after the opposing side fired only one shot. I also many different pieces of evidence to argue that the rest of the crew was drunk the night that Johnathan Barnet captured them.
It's also believed that when during the final fight to avoid their capture Mary Read shot below deck, killing a man and calling out "If there's a man among ye, ye'll come up and fight like the man ye are to be!". However, no one below deck was either sobber enough or willing enough to go against the captain's order to surrender.
While I did not find any information to support that under normal circumstances, the men of the Revenge were unwilling to fight alongside the two women; interestingly, I found quite the opposite. In the weeks leading up to their capture Bonny and Read lead the crew on some highly successful raid on various merchant ships and had just completed an attack that being the reason the crew was intoxicated that night.
An interesting note is many testimonials from witnesses of the attacks described Read and Bonny as more brutal and ruthless than the men that they were serving alongside. There was one woman, Dorthy Tomas, who received threats from Read and Bonny to not testify against them in court. She would indeed still testify despite being threatened with death if she said. Tomas also testified that the only reason that she knew that Read and Bonny were not men was because of the "Largeness of their breasts".
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| A Stamp of the Tryals of Jack Rackam and Crew |
Some other interesting tidbits of information that I found regarding the trail and capture of these two famous pirates include Mary Read's last words to Jack. Those being "If you had fought like a man, you need not be hung like a dog." This quote, I believe, strengthens my argument as Read also thought that the men not fighting alongside them was what ultimately lead to them being put on trial. While neither woman would be hanged for their crimes, both of the "pleading the belly", meaning that they were pregnant. Read would die of fever in prison, and Bonny disappeared before she could be killed.
The topic of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, both their lives before, during, and after piracy, is a topic that I find super exciting, and I can not wait to share my findings with you.
Sources
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkrICxzbvyVr7eC-V1-dtOILyTP7TiThX0-8vBf55M-L8stX08YK8kzS8-uDpJ9DKIvtdl15VGYy5GVSAOeJp1wxR2wWpqNHTn2sSYuN_3lZ8hXhkL-sxkQ_RKCbW63gJLpuQvLjCyGA/s427/female+pirates,+stamp.jpg
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