Anne Bonny: A Pirate of The Caribbean

The years 1640 to 1720 were the Golden Age of Piracy. Many of those names that have since gone down in history such as Edward Teach (Blackbeard) Henry Morgan, and William Kidd were active during this period, and any ship laden with cargo leaving the shores of North and South America ran a high risk of never making it past the Caribbean.

Many pirates operated out of the Island of Tortuga just of the coast of Haiti. It was a predictably unruly place populated by cutthroats and thieves where deals were done, people double-crossed, and death was commonplace. Indeed, so unruly was it that the French Governor of the Island imported 1,650 prostitutes from Europe in the hope that the ready availability of sex would in some way temper the pirates proclivity for violence. It didn’t. The opportunity for plunder on the lucrative trans-Atlantic trade routes was just too great to be distracted by the lures of the flesh. After all, some of those ships sailing from South American ports and headed for Spain would be carrying gold bullion. Rich pickings indeed.

Some pirates made their fortunes and invested their money, building plantations and turning to more respectable trades. Others returned to Europe their pockets laden with jewels, but many more ended up swinging from the end of gibbets. It was a brutal, ruthless, and barbaric business. And it was a man’s world. But one woman at least prospered, Anne Bonny.  

Anne Bonny (nee Cormac) was born in Kinsale, Ireland, on 8 March, 1702. She was by no means the scion of an impoverished family. Her father, William Cormac, was a successful attorney, though as it would transpire his wealth was perilously not his own. Anne, however, was the result of an affair her father had with his maid, Mary. William’s wife, also Mary, and also having an affair, once she’d had her suspicions confirmed, contrived to have the maid arrested and imprisoned on a charge on stealing some spoons. It did little to end the affair, and not long after Anne was born.

As the proprietor of a successful law firm it was important for William to maintain a respectable image. Anne’s birth was kept a secret from his wife and she was raised initially by strangers paid for before being transferred to the household disguised as a servant boy. William was desperate to ensure that his wife remained ignorant of his illegitimate daughter, if only  because his successful career was based firmly on the small fortune his wife had inherited from her parents. When she learned of Anne’s existence she immediately cut William off from the money. A furious William reacted by deciding to go public about the affair. He left his wife and moved in with Mary, taking Anne with him. The scandal that resulted destroyed his law firm and unable to restore his reputation at home, William decided to emigrate to America.