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LYRICS FOR "A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME"
THE ARTICLES OF PIRACY
ARTICLE ONE
EVERY MAN SHALL OBEY CIVIL COMMAND; THE CAPTAIN SHALL HAVE ONE FULL SHARE AND A HALF IN ALL PRIZES. THE MASTER, CARPENTER, BOATSWAIN, AND GUNNER SHALL HAVE ONE SHARE AND QUARTER.
ARTICLE TWO
IF ANY MAN SHALL OFFER TO RUN AWAY, OR KEEP ANY SECRET FROM THE COMPANY, HE SHALL BE MARROON'D WITH ONE BOTTLE OF POWDER, ONE BOTTLE OF WATER, ONE SMALL ARM, AND SHOT.
ARTICLE THREE
IF ANY MAN SHALL STEAL ANY THING IN THE COMPANY, OR GAME, TO THE VALUE OF A PIECE OF EIGHT, HE SHALL BE MARROON'D OR SHOT.
ARTICLE FOUR
IF AT ANY TIME WE SHOULD MEET AT ANOTHER MARROONER (THAT IS, PYRATE) THAT MAN SHALL SIGN HIS ARTICLES WITHOUT CONSENT OF OUR COMPANY, SHALL SUFFER SUCH PUNISHMENT AS THE CAPTAIN AND COMPANY SHALL THINK FIT.
ARTICLE FIVE
THAT A MAN THAT SHALL STRIKE ANOTHER, WHILST THESE ARTICLES ARE IN FORCE, SHALL RECEIVE MOSES'S LAW (THAT IS 40 STRIPES LACKING ONE) ON THE BARE BACK.
ARTICLE SIX
THAT MAN THAT SHALL SNAP HIS ARMS, OR SMOAK TOBACCO IN THE HOLD, WITHOUT CAP TO HIS PIPE, OR CARRY A CANDLE LIGHTED WITHOUT LANTHORN, SHALL SUFFER THE SAME PUNISHMENT AS IN THE FORMER ARTICLE.
ARTICLE SEVEN
THAT MAN THAT SHALL NOT KEEP HIS ARMS CLEAN, FIT FOR AN ENGAGEMENT, OR NEGLECT HIS BUSINESS, SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM HIS SHARE, AND SUFFER SUCH OTHER PUNISHMENT AS THE CAPTAIN AND COMPANY SHALL THINK FIT.
ARTICLE EIGHT
IF ANY MAN SHALL LOSE A JOINT IN TIME OF ENGAGEMENT, SHALL HAVE 400 PIECES OF EIGHT: IF A LIMB, 800.
ARTICLE NINE
IF AT ANY TIME YOU MEET WITH A PRUDENT WOMAN, THAT MAN THAT OFFERS TO MEDDLE WITH HER, WITHOUT HER CONSENT, SHALL SUFFER DEATH.
"CALICO
JACK"
The "skull and cross bones" and "crossed swords" (Rackam's notable banner) have been used to simplify that it's a "pirate ship" doing the dirty deed and for the most part that is acceptable. And being the die-hard pirate fans that we are we have learned to forgive them over the year. And if most knew much about Calico Jack they would choose another pirate to portray, like Robert Culliford or Bartholomew Sharp. but they didn't have banners that we know of and if they did they just wouldn't be as cool as Rackam's.
John Rackham became better known as "Calico Jack" during a short but very successful career as a Pirate Captain. During barely a four year tumultuous period he and his crew achieved a highly acclaimed fame as ruthless and ferocious Pirates throughout the Caribbean and the West Indies.
The high points of Calico Jack's short but eventful career can be summarized into just a few words, he first achieved prominence when he deposed Charles Vane as Captain of the Pirate ship the Treasure, then in 1717 he smuggled Anne Bonny to sea disguised as a man where the duo were soon joined by a further female Pirate, Mary Read, Calico Jack's Lieutenant who revealed her true identity in response to advances from Anne Bonny. He then successfully led the capture of a large and rich Spanish Man-o-war ship and finally, was captured by the King's ship, "the Barnet", a Pirate hunter. After trial he was hanged in Jamaica in 1720. A very final end to a short but highly flamboyant and ruthless career,
Anne
Bonny
was born Anne Cormac in County Cork, Ireland, the daughter of a servant
woman, Mary Brennan, and her employer, lawyer William Cormac—whose
cunning wife soon discovered the affair. Fleeing the scandal, William
Cormac, Mary Brennan, and young Anne sailed across the Atlantic, to
settle in Charleston, S.C.
Apparently bored with life on her father's plantation, Anne was drawn to
a life of adventure. Pirates frequented Charleston, and before Anne was
out of her teens she had married James Bonny, a renegade seaman and
sometimes pirate. Apparently, James planned to steal William Cormac's
land through the marriage, and Anne's father disowned her. Legend has it
that in retaliation, Anne burned the plantation.
The couple fled to the pirate haven of New Providence, in what is now
Nassau. James proved a coward and a traitor, becoming a paid snitch for
the governor. Anne distanced herself from him, preferring the company of
the island's notorious pirates and the women and gay men who loved them.
She soon became
romantically involved with the dashing pirate "Calico Jack" Rackham
(nicknamed for his loud striped pants), who had just commandeered a ship
full of liquor from his former boss, pirate captain Charles Vane. When
James Bonny objected to the affair, he abducted Anne, brought her naked
before the governor and charged her with the felony of deserting
him—Anne was considered to be stolen property. Calico Jack
suggested instead putting Anne up for sale to the highest bidder, a
'kinder' legal practice for divorce at the time. Despite Jack's rather
less-than-romantic proposal, as well as a court order James got
forbidding Jack and Anne to see each other, Anne ran away with Calico
Jack, joining his ship's crew, apparently disguised as a man.
Anne proved a daring—and deadly—fighter, using a sword and pistols.
There are many tales of her violent temper, beginning with her alleged
stabbing murder of an English serving-maid while Anne was a teen on her
father's plantation (I've read that slavery was not fully
institutionalized at that time, btw). Supposedly, while on shore in New
Providence she became such an expert fencer and troublemaker that she
publicly stripped her fencing instructor with her sword, and that she
severely beat a man with a chair for making a pass at her. While much of
these stories is probably pure b.s., it's no more so than the
exaggerated tales of male pirates and outlaws.
However, it is her exploits at sea that gained Anne the most notoriety.
She not only raided with Calico Jack, but also Jack's lieutenant, with
whom she developed a mutual attraction. 'He' turned out to be none other
than
Mary Read.
The two women revealed their gender to each other, and may have had a
lesbian romance. Eventually, both were known as bloodthirsty, daring
female pirates, swinging their blades and boarding ships, fighting with
even more courage than the men—as they proved in their final battle.
In 1720, a former pirate turned pirate-hunter, Captain Barnet, attacked
Calico Jack's ship. Rackham and almost all the pirates were drunk, and
the cannon fire was so thick the men hid below decks. Anne Bonny and
Mary Read stood their ground, fighting furiously. Outraged by the men's
cowardice, Anne is said to have shouted, "If there's a man among ye,
ye'll come out and fight like the men ye are [thought?] to be."
When this got no response, Anne and Mary shot the male pirates, killing
one and wounding several—including Jack Rackham. But despite Anne and
Mary's ferocity, the pirates were captured.
All were hanged—except for Anne and Mary, who "plead their bellies,"
claiming to be pregnant because while the ever-'chivalrous' laws of the
time gave women no rights whatsoever, it was illegal to execute a
pregnant woman (...so 'pro-life,' isn't it?). After the trial, Anne
Bonny disappears from the historical record; she may have been hanged a
year later, but apparently, she was granted a reprieve. Patriarchal
theories abound: some say she reconciled and returned to her father,
others her husband, and there's even the ridiculous myth that she became
a nun. However, regardless of her fate, I would guess that after such a
life of adventure, she could never stand a traditional woman's
constrained life, or even obey the law.
Mary Read
Mary's
mother, who had a legitimate son, became pregnant after her husband
died. She fled to the country, where the son died, and Mary was born.
When the mother returned, she brought Mary up as the dead son to get
money from her husband's parents.
Still pretending to be male, Mary joined first the navy, then the cavalry. She loved and married a fellow soldier (or sailor) and lived a few years as his wife. When he died, she put on male clothes again and went to the Caribbean. Her ship was captured by pirates in 1717, and she joined them.
Before long, Mary fell in love with a man forced to join the pirates. She let him know her secret "by carelessly shewing her breasts, which were very white." The man "being made of Flesh and Blood," wanted to go further but Mary resisted. Soon after he quarrelled with another pirate and was challenged to a duel. Mary deliberately picked a fight with the same man and ran him through with her cutlass.
Having thus proved her love, Mary and the forced man "plighted their troth to each other, which Mary Read said she look'd upon to be as good as a marriage, in conscience, as if it had been done by a minister in Church."
Through these pirates she met Anne Bonny, Mary learned Anne's secret when Anne seduced her, thinking her a pretty fellow. In any event, the women became friends and she ended up as a pirate with John Rackham and Anne Bonny. It is not clear if her 'husband' had died, or Rackham persuaded her to leave him. Reports then say she became Rackham's lover.
On the north coast of Jamaica, their luck ran out. While at anchor off the western tip of the island, they were surprised by a sloop belonging to the Governor. Most of Rackham's nine male crew were drunk, but according to testimonies the women roused the men into action. The William cut her anchor cable and fled, but was overhauled by the Jamaican sloop during the night. The ships exchanged fire, and then Captain Barnet led a boarding party onto the deck of the pirate vessel. Bonny and Read were the only members of the crew who offered any kind of resistance and Mary and Anne viciously condemned Rackham as a coward. Rackham himself was apparently too drunk to defend himself. The women were overcome, and the pirates were taken to Port Royal to stand trial.
Rackham and the other men were hanged. Because everyone knew they were women Bonny and Read were tried separately. Their victims testified that they wore female clothing except during battles. Both joined in assaults carrying guns. The witnesses added that "they were both very profligate, cursing and swearing much, and very ready and willing to do anything."
After they were convicted, the judge asked if there was any reason they should not be hanged as sentenced. "My Lord, we Plead our Bellies," Bonny and Read replied - the customary plea of pregnant women. Since hanging would also kill the unborn child (who had committed no crime), women were reprieved until they gave birth. Bonny and Read were jailed, and Reade subsequently died in a Jamaican prison in 1721, but Bonny's fate is unknown.
This time, let's try and get it right!!