Mary Read She accepted the King's pardon c. 1718–1719, then took a commission to privateer, but joined the crew in mutiny. In 1720 she joined pirate John "Calico Jack" Rackham and his companion, Anne Bonny, who both believed her to be a man. On 22 August 1720, the three stole an armed sloop named "William" from port in Nassau. Scholars are uncertain how female pirates like Read and Bonny concealed their sex in a male-dominated environment. Some scholars, however, have theorized that the wearing of breeches by female pirates may have been either a method of hiding their identity or simply as
Anne Bonny temporary stay of execution until they gave birth. Read died in prison, most likely from a fever from childbirth. Anne stayed in prison until she gave birth and was later released. In his "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates", published in 1724, Captain Charles Johnson states: "She was continued in Prison, to the Time of her lying in, and afterwards reprieved from Time to Time; but what is become of her since, we cannot tell; only this we know, that she was not executed." However, there is no historical record of Bonny's release