MARY READ

Mary Read was a pirate with Ann Bonny. She was a tomboy, and

acted like a man and wore men's clothes. Little is known about
her parents, except that she was raised as a boy by her mother
who was a widow. She was born in London and worked as a
footboy to rich women, but she ran away to join a man-of-war
ship. She jumped ship and joined a foot regiment, that means a
land army. She was very brave and fought in Flanders. Later
she joined a horse regiment. When she fell in love with a
soldier, she confessed that she was a woman. She and the
soldier got married and opened an Inn called "Three
Horseshoes" near Castle Breda. Her husband died, so she
rejoined the army. She was shipped to the West Indies, but
the ship was defeated by Captain Calico Jack Rackham. It was
on Calico's ship that she met Ann Bonny and told her that she
was also a woman. Mary decided to join Ann and Jack as a
pirate, rather than go back to living like a woman. The pirates
were very successful. Mary fell in love with a sailor who had
joined the pirates, and they got married. Their life together
was short, because they were soon captured and taken prisoner.
They all went to trial and were sentenced to hang. Mary was
proud to be a pirate and was not afraid to die. She was very
brave. She did die before they could hang her, however,
because she got sick and died of fever.

Topic page

Home