A General History of Pyrates

1972

Central G535 DP55

London: J.M. Dent & Sons

Englishwoman, Mary Read (1695-1721) and Irishwoman, Anne Bonny (1698-1782) were both dressed as boys as children. They continued doing so as adults, and not knowing each other, ended up on the same Caribbean pirate ship captained by Calico Jack Rackham. Read and Bonny’s presence as skilled sailors and fierce fighters ‘directly challenged customary maritime practice’. An account of the pair’s exploits appeared in Defoe’s A General History of the Pyrates, published in 1724. The work was republished many times, in many languages, and it proved that women could rebel against, and experience liberty from, societal norms. Read and Bonny were convicted of piracy in 1720, but escaped the hangman’s noose as they were both pregnant.