The Pirates Own Book (47 page)

Rackam and his crew had no occasion to be displeased at the exchange, as
it enabled them to continue some time longer in a way of life that
suited their depraved minds. In August 1720, we find him at sea again,
scouring the harbours and inlets of the north and west parts of Jamaica,
where he took several small crafts, which proved no great booty to the
rovers; but they had but few men, and therefore were obliged to run at
low game till they could increase their company and their strength.

In the beginning of September, they took seven or eight fishing boats in
Harbour Island, stole their nets and other tackle, and then went off to
the French part of Hispaniola, where they landed, and took the cattle
away, with two or three Frenchmen whom they found near the water-side,
hunting wild hogs in the evening. The Frenchmen came on board, whether
by consent or compulsion is not certainly known. They afterwards
plundered two sloops, and returned to Jamaica, on the north coast of
which island, near Porto Maria Bay, they took a schooner, Thomas
Spenlow, master, it being then the 19th of October. The next day Rackam
seeing a sloop in Dry Harbour Bay, stood in and fired a gun; the men all
ran ashore, and he took the sloop and lading; but when those ashore
found that they were pirates, they hailed the sloop, and let them know
they were all willing to come on board of them.

Rackam's coasting the island in this manner proved fatal to him; for
intelligence of his expedition came to the governor by a canoe which he
had surprised ashore in Ocho Bay: upon this a sloop was immediately
fitted out, and sent round the island in quest of him, commanded by
Captain Barnet, and manned with a good number of hands. Rackam, rounding
the island, and drawing round the western point, called Point Negril,
saw a small pettiaga, which, at the sight of the sloop, ran ashore and
landed her men, when one of them hailed her. Answer was made that they
were Englishmen, and begged the pettiaga's men to come on board and
drink a bowl of punch, which they prevailed upon them to do.
Accordingly, the company, in an evil hour, came all aboard of the
pirate, consisting of nine persons; they were armed with muskets and
cutlasses, but what was their real design in so doing we will not
pretend to say. They had no sooner laid down their arms and taken up
their pipes, than Barnet's sloop, which was in pursuit of Rackam's, came
in sight.

The pirates, finding she stood directly towards them, feared the event,
and weighed their anchor, which they had but lately let go, and stood
off. Captain Barnet gave them chase, and, having advantage of little
breezes of wind which blew off the land, came up with her, and brought
her into Port Royal, in Jamaica.

About a fortnight after the prisoners were brought ashore, viz. November
16, 1720, Captain Rackam and eight of his men were condemned and
executed. Captain Rackam and two others were hung in chains.

But what was very surprising, was the conviction of the nine men that
came aboard the sloop on the same day she was taken. They were tried at
an adjournment of the court on the 24th of January, the magistracy
waiting all that time, it is supposed, for evidence to prove the
piratical intention of going aboard the said sloop; for it seems there
was no act or piracy committed by them, as appeared by the witnesses
against them, two Frenchmen, taken by Rackam off the island of
Hispaniola, who merely deposed that the prisoners came on board without
any compulsion.

The court considered the prisoners' cases, and the majority of the
commissioners being of opinion that they were all guilty of the piracy
and felony they were charged with, viz. the going over with a piratical
intent to John Rackam, &c. then notorious pirates, and by them known to
be so, they all received sentence of death, and were executed on the
17th of February at Gallows Point at Port Royal.

Nor holy bell, nor pastoral bleat,
In former days within the vale.
Flapped in the bay the pirate's sheet,
Curses were on the gale;
Rich goods lay on the sand, and murdered men,
Pirate and wreckers kept their revels there.

The Buccaneer.

This female pirate was a native of Cork. Her father was an attorney,
and, by his activity in business, rose to considerable respectability in
that place. Anne was the fruit of an unlawful connexion with his own
servant maid, with whom he afterwards eloped to America, leaving his own
affectionate and lawful wife. He settled at Carolina, and for some time
followed his own profession; but soon commenced merchant, and was so
successful as to purchase a considerable plantation. There he lived with
his servant in the character of his wife; but she dying, his daughter
Anne superintended the domestic affairs of her father.

During her residence with her parent she was supposed to have a
considerable fortune, and was accordingly addressed by young men of
respectable situations in life. It happened with Anne, however, as with
many others of her youth and sex, that her feelings, and not her
interest, determined her choice of a husband. She married a young sailor
without a shilling. The avaricious father was so enraged, that, deaf to
the feelings of a parent, he turned his own child out of doors. Upon
this cruel usage, and the disappointment of her fortune, Anne and her
husband sailed for the island of Providence, in the hope of gaining
employment.

Acting a part very different from that of Mary Read, Anne's affections
were soon estranged from her husband by Captain Rackam; and eloping with
him, she went to sea in men's clothes. Proving with child, the captain
put her on shore, and entrusted her to the care of some friends until
her recovery, when she again accompanied him in his expeditions.

Upon the king's proclamation offering a pardon to all pirates, he
surrendered, and went into the privateering business, as we have related
before: he, however, soon embraced an opportunity to return to his
favorite employment. In all his piratical exploits Anne accompanied him;
and, as we have already recorded, displayed such courage and
intrepidity, that she, along with Mary Read and a seaman, were the last
three who remained on board when the vessel was taken.

Anne was known to many of the planters in Jamaica, who remembered to
have seen her in her father's house, and they were disposed to intercede
in her behalf. Her unprincipled conduct, in leaving her own husband and
forming an illicit connexion with Rackam, tended, however, to render her
friends less active. By a special favor, Rackam was permitted to visit
her the day before he was executed; but, instead of condoling with him
on account of his sad fate, she only observed, that she was sorry to see
him there, but if he had fought like a man he needed not have been
hanged like a dog. Being with child, she remained in prison until her
recovery, was reprieved from time to time, and though we cannot
communicate to our readers any particulars of her future life, or the
manner of her death, yet it is certain that she was not executed.

The attention of our readers is now to be directed to the history of two
female pirates,—a history which is chiefly remarkable from the
extraordinary circumstance of the softer sex assuming a character
peculiarly distinguished for every vice that can disgrace humanity, and
at the same time for the exertion of the most daring, though brutal,
courage.

Mary Read was a native of England, but at what place she was born is not
recorded. Her mother married a sailor when she was very young, who, soon
after their marriage, went to sea, and never returned. The fruit of that
marriage was a sprightly boy. The husband not returning, she again found
herself with child, and to cover her shame, took leave of her husband's
relations, and went to live in the country, taking her boy along with
her. Her son in a short time died, and she was relieved from the burden
of his maintenance and education. The mother had not resided long in the
country before Mary Read, the subject of the present narrative, was
born.

After the birth of Mary, her mother resided in the country for three or
four years, until her money was all spent, and her ingenuity was set at
work to contrive how to obtain a supply. She knew that her husband's
mother was in good circumstances, and could easily support her child,
provided she could make her pass for a boy, and her son's child. But it
seemed impossible to impose upon an old experienced mother. She,
however, presented Mary in the character of her grandson. The old woman
proposed to take the boy to live with her, but the mother would not on
any account part with her boy; the grandmother, therefore, allowed a
crown per week for his support.

The ingenuity of the mother being successful, she reared the daughter as
a boy. But as she grew up, she informed her of the secret of her birth,
in order that she might conceal her sex. The grandmother, however,
dying, the support from that quarter failed, and she was obliged to hire
her out as a footboy to a French lady. The strength and manly
disposition of this supposed boy increased with her years, and leaving
that servile employment, she engaged on board a man-of-war.

The volatile disposition of the youth did not permit her to remain long
in this station, and she next went into Flanders, and joined a regiment
of foot as a cadet. Though in every action she conducted herself with
the greatest bravery, yet she could not obtain a commission, as they
were in general bought and sold. She accordingly quitted that service,
and enlisted into a regiment of horse; there she behaved herself so
valiantly, that she gained the esteem of all her officers. It, however,
happened, that her comrade was a handsome young Fleming, and she fell
passionately in love with him. The violence of her feelings rendered her
negligent of her duty, and effected such a change in her behaviour as
attracted the attention of all. Both her comrade and the rest of the
regiment deemed her mad. Love, however, is inventive, and as they slept
in the same tent, she found means to discover her sex without any
seeming design. He was both surprised and pleased, supposing that he
would have a mistress to himself; but he was greatly mistaken, and he
found that it was necessary to court her for his wife. A mutual
attachment took place, and, as soon as convenient, women's clothes were
provided for her, and they were publicly married.

The singularity of two troopers marrying caused a general conversation,
and many of the officers honored the ceremony with their presence, and
resolved to make presents to the bride, to provide her with necessaries.
After marriage they were desirous to quit the service, and their
discharge being easily obtained, they set up an ordinary under the sign
of the "Three Shoes," and soon acquired a considerable run of business.

But Mary Read's felicity was of short duration; the husband died, and
peace being concluded, her business diminished. Under these
circumstances she again resumed her man's dress, and going into Holland,
enlisted into a regiment of foot quartered in one of the frontier towns.
But there being no prospect of preferment in time of peace, she went on
board a vessel bound for the West Indies.

During the voyage, the vessel was captured by English pirates, and as
Mary was the only English person on board, they detained her, and having
plundered the vessel of what they chose, allowed it to depart. Mary
continued in that unlawful commerce for some time, but the royal pardon
being tendered to all those in the West Indies, who should, before a
specified day, surrender, the crew to which she was attached, availed
themselves of this, and lived quietly on shore with the fruits of their
adventures. But from the want of their usual supplies, their money
became exhausted; and being informed that Captain Rogers, in the island
of Providence, was fitting out some vessels for privateering, Mary, with
some others, repaired to that island to serve on board his privateers.
We have already heard, that scarcely had the ships sailed, when some of
their crews mutinied, and ran off with the ships, to pursue their former
mode of life. Among these was Mary Read. She indeed, frequently
declared, that the life of a pirate was what she detested, and that she
was constrained to it both on the former and present occasion. It was,
however, sufficiently ascertained, that both Mary Read and Anne Bonney
were among the bravest and most resolute fighters of the whole crew;
that when the vessel was taken, these two heroines, along with another
of the pirates, were the last three upon deck; and that Mary, having in
vain endeavored to rouse the courage of the crew, who had fled below,
discharged a pistol amongst them, killing one and wounding another.

Nor was Mary less modest than brave; for though she had remained many
years in the character of a sailor, yet no one had discovered her sex,
until she was under the necessity of doing so to Anne Bonney. The reason
of this was, that Anne, supposing her to be a handsome fellow, became
greatly enamored of her, and discovered her sex and wishes to Mary, who
was thus constrained to reveal her secret to Anne. Rackam being the
paramour of Bonney, and observing her partiality towards Mary,
threatened to shoot her lover; so that to prevent any mischief, Anne
also informed the captain of the sex of her companion.

Rackam was enjoined to secrecy, and here he behaved honorably; but love
again assailed the conquered Mary. It was usual with the pirates to
retain all the artists who were captured in the trading-vessels; among
these was a very handsome young man, of engaging manners, who vanquished
the heart of Mary. In a short time her love became so violent, that she
took every opportunity of enjoying his company and conversation; and,
after she had gained his friendship, discovered her sex. Esteem and
friendship were speedily converted into the most ardent affection, and a
mutual flame burned in the hearts of these two lovers. An occurrence
soon happened that put the attachment of Mary to a severe trial. Her
lover having quarrelled with one of the crew, they agreed to fight a
duel on shore. Mary was all anxiety for the fate of her lover, and she
manifested a greater concern for the preservation of his life than that
of her own; but she could not entertain the idea that he could refuse to
fight, and so be esteemed a coward. Accordingly she quarrelled with the
man who challenged her lover, and called him to the field two hours
before his appointment with her lover, engaged him with sword and
pistol, and laid him dead at her feet.