This article was published in the September 7, 1907 issue of the Victoria Daily Times. It says Mary Read lived in France when she married her soldier husband, who dies a few years later, and Anne Bonney dresses as a man to elope with her husband. They are arrested and tried as men, and it's… Continue reading Masqueraded As Men: Women, Who Sailed on Pirate Ships, Once Sentenced to Death
Category: 1900s
Wolves of the Sea: Two Women Pirates by MV Campbell
This article was published in the June 1909 issue of Uncle Sam's Magazine. When Mary Read joins a privateer crew that turns pirate, Jack Rackam and Ann Bonny are a married couple and both on the crew. Ann's family disowned her when she married him. Mary's new lover is a painter whom Jack recruits to… Continue reading Wolves of the Sea: Two Women Pirates by MV Campbell
America, Picturesque and Descriptive by Joel Cook
This book was published in 1900. Cook says that Anne Bonney described herself as "one of the last men left upon the deck." He uses quotation marks to attribute these words to her.
Women Pirates of the West Indies. by Richard Spillane
This article appeared in Louisville's Courier-Journal on November 14, 1909. Spillane writes that Mary Reed "was the greatest woman pirate the world ever has known", and compares her to Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, and Elizabeth I. In this story Mary's not-grandmother tries to adopt her more than once, and each time the mother manages to… Continue reading Women Pirates of the West Indies. by Richard Spillane
Women Who Have Been Seafarers
This article appeared in the Victoria Daily Colonist on December 1, 1908, although it is credited to the Syren & Shipping Illustrated (which issue I haven't been able to find). Anne Bonney and Mary Read are given a few sentences. Anne marries John Rackham instead of James, who is not mentioned, and she goes with… Continue reading Women Who Have Been Seafarers
The Women Pirates of Rackham Cay. by William Thorp
This article appeared in the Los Angeles Saturday Post on March 14, 1903. Thorp describes John Rackham (whom he also calls Rackman) as "a bold, bad man", lol. Thorp writes narrative-ish-ly about the court proceedings. He says that Anne and Mary were taken still in disguise and remained in disguise until, on trial with the… Continue reading The Women Pirates of Rackham Cay. by William Thorp
Mysteries of Sex: Women who posed as men and men who impersonated women by CJS Thompson
Thompson mostly summarizes Charles Johnson but makes some original additions. Of note is that Thompson names Anne's mother as Caroline, while at the same time glossing over the story without suggesting that she IS Anne's mother--instead he writes that Anne's father brought "his child Anne and Caroline, a maid" with him to America. After Anne… Continue reading Mysteries of Sex: Women who posed as men and men who impersonated women by CJS Thompson
Blackbeard or the Pirate of the Isles: A Romance of the Bahamas by Henry Christopher Christie
This is a narrative poem whose publication date no one seems to know. I am going to put it at 1909 because I found a copyright for one of its poems in October 1909. The copy I own is not a first edition but it has no date printed in it anyway. The story follows… Continue reading Blackbeard or the Pirate of the Isles: A Romance of the Bahamas by Henry Christopher Christie
A King in Khaki by Henry Kitchell Webster
This book was published in 1909. It has a contemporary setting and the story is literally about land titles and stocks and shares and the other incredibly boring concerns of "men who live among and govern an inferior race" HOLY SHIT ok I'm wide awake The story is set on a plantation on a small… Continue reading A King in Khaki by Henry Kitchell Webster
Deux femmes pirates: Marie Read et Anne Bonny by Maxime Formont
This story appeared in volume 72 of Le magasin pittoresque in 1904. As usual, it's basically a summary of Charles Johnson, frequently quoting him at length. But it is noteworthy for stating that Marie was born in 1680, and for spelling Jack's name "Racham".
Depictions of John Rackam, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read 