During the Golden Age of Pirates, two fierce and ruthless pirates stood apart from the rest, despite their brief careers. The only women in their crew, Anne Bonny and Mary Read were aggressive fighters to the end, refusing to surrender even when their captain called for quarter.  

Joining me to discuss Anne Bonny and Mary Read is pirate expert Dr. Rebecca Simon, author of the new book, Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode audio is “Pirate Song,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry F. Gilbert; and performed by Reinald Werrenrath in July 1925; the audio is in the public domain. The episode image is an illustration of Anne Bonny and Mary Read from the 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates; the image is in the Public Domain and available through the Internet Archive. 

 

Additional Sources:

• “If There’s a Man Among Ye: The Tale of Pirate Queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read,” by Karen Abbott, Smithsonian Magazine, August 9, 2011.
• “How Anne Bonny and Mary Read Changed The Face Of Female Piracy,” by Katie Serena, All That’s Interesting, February 20, 2018; Updated May 24, 2021.
• “How Two 18th-Century Lady Pirates Became BFFs on the High Seas,” by Hadley Meares, Atlas Obscura, September 9, 2015.
• “The Female Pirates, Anne Bonny & Mary Read,” by Rebecca Simon, May 23, 2022.
• “Female pirate lovers whose story was ignored by male historians immortalised with statue,” by Maya Oppenheim, The Independent, November 19, 2020.

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