Mary Read (c. 1695 – 1721): Background information when reading Shit Cassandra Saw

Mary Read (c. 1695 – 1721)

This article relates to Shit Cassandra Saw

One of the stories in Gwen E. Kirby's collection Shit Cassandra Saw is written in the voice of Mary Read, also known as Mark Read, an English woman who often lived as a man and sailed the seas as a pirate. Little is known for certain about Read — much of what is said about her is taken from Captain Charles Johnson's book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates (1724), most of which is believed to be apocryphal. According to Johnson, Read's mother was married to a sailor with whom she had a son. Both her husband and her son died, and she dressed Mary, whom she had out of wedlock with another man, as her dead half-brother so she could receive an inheritance from her former mother-in-law.

Around age 13, Mary began working odd jobs on ships, continuing to present herself as male. In the ensuing years, she joined the Army of Flanders (a Spanish army based in the Netherlands), and fell in love with a soldier. She revealed herself to be a woman and the two married, but her husband died a short time later. After his death, Mary began living as a man once more and returned to her life at sea. When a Dutch ship she was working on was captured by English pirates, she decided to join them. The crew was captained by notorious pirate Calico Rackham Jack, and on board was another woman, Anne Bonny. Bonny had previously disguised herself as a man and continued to do so during pirate raids, but the crew knew she was a woman, and she had a romantic relationship with Calico Jack. According to Johnson's book, Anne Bonny and Mary Read became romantically involved as well, and Calico Jack planned to kill his rival for Anne's affections until Read revealed herself to be a woman.

Contemporaneous accounts characterize Read as "very profligate" and "cursing and swearing much." In 1720, Bonny and Read led an attack on a schooner, taking hostages and pilfering the tobacco and pimento the boat was carrying. About a month later, the pirates' ship and crew were designated "Enemies to the Crown of Great Britain" by the governor of the Bahamas. When they were later ambushed by the governor's men, Calico Jack surrendered, but Read and Bonny put up a fight, with historical accounts claiming that Read chastised her fellow pirates: "If there's a man among ye, ye'll come up and fight like the man ye are to be!" When no one responded, she shot and killed a member of her own crew.

Upon being captured, the crew was tried for their crimes and the men, including Calico Jack, were executed. Mary Read and Anne Bonny were also sentenced to execution, but this decision was reversed when it was revealed that both were pregnant. Both gave birth in prison, and Read died there, either in childbirth or as the result of illness. Bonny was later released.

Engraved depiction of Mary Read (c. 1710), unknown artist

Filed under People, Eras & Events

This article relates to Shit Cassandra Saw. It first ran in the March 2, 2022 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.