Born On This Day ~ March 8 ~ Anne Bonny

Born: March 8, 1707 (Kinsaale Republic of Ireland)
Died: April 22, 1782 (Charleston, South Carolina)
*Approximate birth date

Famous For/Known For:
Famous female pirate

A Little About Anne Bonny:
Born to a married man, William Cormac, and his maid, Marry Brennan. When Cormac’s wife made the affair public he left for the United States with Brennan and baby.

When Anne was a teenager her mother died. This left Anne to take care of the household.

At the age of 16 Anne married James Bonny, a pirate who really had his eye on Anne’s estate. Her father was against the marriage and disinherited her.

Anne and her husband went to live in New Providence where James got a job turning in pirates for bounties. Anne lost interest in her husband and after meeting Calico Jack Rackham, an English pirate captain, ran away with him.

When Anne became pregnant Rackham took her to Cuba, where he left her. Months later she returned to Rackham’s ship to continue her pirate career. No one seems to know what happened to the baby.

Upon her return Anne met Mary Read, another female pirate. The two became immediate friends.

By 1720 the Rackham crew were quite infamous and a bounty was put out for them by Governor Woodes Rogers.

When Captain Jonathan Barnett was told of the whereabouts of the Rackham ship he caught up with them. Only Anne and Mary put up a fight as the others had been drinking. Soon the Rackham crew was captured.

Anne and her comrades were all found guilty of piracy and sentenced to death by hanging. Since Anne and Mary were pregnant they were spared death and put in prison.

Mary died a few months later in a Jamaican jail but no one knows exactly what happened to Anne. There are many stories, one being that she went back with her father where she remarried and had a family.

It is speculated that Anne Bonny died at the age of 80.

Books About/Written By Anne Bonny: