Who Was Anne Bonny the Pirate?

Anne Bonny, the Pirate

Anne Bonny's Origin Story

Anne Bonny, like many pirates, had a mysterious and secretive origin story. Historians generally believe that she was born in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland in 1697. Violent and disturbing rumours followed young Anne wherever she went. Whilst living in Charleston, South Carolina in her teens, she supposedly killed a servant girl with a knife and put a young man in hospital after he tried to attack her. Despite her young years something was very clear; you don’t mess with Anne Bonny!

Anne Bonny Goes A'Pirating

After an unsuccessful marriage, Anne ran away with the dashing swashbuckler Calico Jack Rackam – owner of the fabulous pirate ship ‘Revenge’. They did the whole pirating thing (you know, plundering, murdering, and whatnot), until they were joined by another famous female pirate, Mary Read. Mary and Anne became good friends and even better pirates. All was going swimmingly until one fateful night in October, 1720.

One Fateful Night in October, 1720

After having successfully managed to capture a Spanish Commercial vessel, Jack Rackham and the rest of his crew decided to get more than a little tipsy; in fact, they decided to get blind sloshed. It was whilst many of them were preoccupied bringing up the contents of their stomachs that they were sneak-attacked by Captain Barnet and the British Navy.

Anne Bonny having a shoot out on the deck of the Revenge. Image credit: The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick

No Surrender

All the pirates promptly gave in. That is, all of the pirates except Anne and Mary. The pair fought on ferociously until they were eventually overpowered. The crew of the Revenge were taken to the city of Port Royal where they were all quickly found guilty of Pirating. The sentence was death by handing. The event was a hit in all of the newspapers, especially when Mary and Anne revealed they were both pregnant! It was because of this that, at the very last moment, they both managed to avoid the hangman’s noose.

What Happened to Anne Bonny the Pirate?

No-one’s really sure what happened after that, but there’s a compelling theory: Anne’s father was able to pay for his daughter’s freedom from jail. She settled down with a nice fella named Joseph Burleigh and had eight children. If this is true then she’s one of the few pirates who lived to see old age and have a happy ending.