STEVENSON'S BLACK DOG WAS MY HERO: WHY MOM SAID I CAN ASPIRE TO BE A PRINCESS AND NOT A PIRATE!

(WOMEN PIRATES ON HIGH SEAS WHO PLEADED THEIR BELLIES)

I would feel a rush of adrenaline every time that one-eyed lame man's picture flashed before me! BLACK DOG! The dreaded pirate of R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island. Instead of dreaming about princes and kings of fairy tales, I forever wished to get married to a pirate on high seas, or a cowboy on the prairies. I even disclosed to my parents my choice, which they stereotyped and said a girl cannot be a pirate. You need aggression, which unfortunately I never displayed. Little did they know I had an inner strength that was far more resilient than any physical one. Well, I did not land up being either a princess or a pirate! But that doesn't deter me from reading about them and still fantasizing. And indeed there were women pirates who were dreaded even by men.

Anne Bonny of the 1700s was one such woman. An Irish by birth, she was often dressed as a boy by her father. who called her "Andy". Anne was good looking with flaming red hair but had a fiery temper too. At 13, she stabbed a servant girl with a table knife. She even set fire to her father's plantation as he disowned her from his property for marrying a poor sailor. Later she moved to New Providence Island, known as a sanctuary for English pirates. While in the Bahamas, Bonny began mingling with pirates in the local taverns. Here he met John "Calico Jack" Rackham, captain of the pirate sloop Revenge and fell in love with him and his profession!

Bonny met her accomplice Mary Read, another woman pirate  who stole the ship William. Their crew spent years in Jamaica and the surrounding area and captured many vessels and an abundance of treasure. Bonny took part in combat alongside the men, and the accounts of her exploits present her as competent, effective in combat, and respected by her shipmates. While, Mary Read was the widow of a sea captain, whose ship was captured by Rackham while she was sailing to West Indies. Read joined Bonny in her exploits or may be she was forced to.

In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a King's ship. Most of Rackham's pirates put up little resistance as many of them were too drunk to fight. However, Read and Bonny fought fiercely and managed to hold off Barnet's troops for a short time. Rackham and his crew were taken to Jamaica, where they were convicted and sentenced to be hanged. Both Read and Bonny were then pregnant and hence they pleaded their bellies as by English law any pregnant woman could not be hanged.