History Daily: The Pirate Trial of 1720
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Hello and welcome to the show. As you might have been able to infer from the show's title, this is not a normal episode of Conflicted. Instead, we're going to be listening to an excellent episode of one of the best history podcasts out there right now, History Daily. Now, there is a very good chance that you are already well aware of History Daily, but just in case you're not, it's a podcast that tells stories of what happened on this day in history. New episodes come out every single weekday, and the catalog features a huge mix of interesting topics.

From famous battles to landmarks in fashion,

There's science, technology, religion, politics, sports, everything that made us who we are today. Episodes tend to be very short, usually less than 20 minutes, which makes it great for a quick drive to the grocery store or your morning commute or just to walk around the park. But the episode that we're going to be listening to today is taking us all the way back to the early 18th century, to the golden age of Caribbean piracy. The Pirate Trial of 1720 tells the story of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and John Rackham, a

A.K.A. Calico Jack. On November 16th, 1720, these three notorious pirates were put on trial for their crimes in Spanish town, Jamaica. And I don't want to spoil anything, but the trial definitely has its fair share of twists, turns, and surprises. It's a great story from an era we don't really get to visit very often on this show. So, without further ado, let's kick back and get lost in this special guest episode of History Daily. The Pirate Trial of 1720. Enjoy.

It's November 16th, 1720. Spanish Town, the capital of Jamaica, bakes under the Caribbean sun. The neatly laid out streets of the British colony are quiet. A lone cart trailing dust clatters past the red brick cathedral. In the meager shade of a palm tree, a stray dog dozes. There is only one place in town people want to be today: the courthouse. The public gallery there is packed. The heat is intense.

The room is a slice of England unhappily transplanted to the tropics. The court commissioners, pink-cheeked, steam in their heavy robes. Even the wood paneling seems to sweat. The court crier reads a proclamation. Let them come forth and they shall be heard. Then there's a scrape of a lock in a door. Those on the public benches crane their necks. They hear the prisoners before they see them. The familiar clanking, the despairing shuffle of manacled men.

Nine of them are brought into the courtroom, all members of a notorious gang of pirates who for months have hounded shipping around the island and across the Caribbean. But there is a hum of disappointment at the sight of them. The pirate captain is there, his long hair scraped back from a wind-weathered face. But he is not the person the crowd has come to see. There is something out of the ordinary about this pirate captain's crew.

Among the usual muster of robbers and ruffians, and famed and feared above all the others, are two young women. From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that changed our world. Today is November 16th, the pirate trial of 1720.

It's 1717, three years before the gang of pirates are put to trial. A ship from the Carolinas makes its way toward the island of New Providence. As the boat cuts through the turquoise sea, a teenage girl stands on deck and stares at the harbor ahead. Nassau is thronged with ships, their countless masts swaying in the breeze. To the teenager, it looks like a welcome dance. Anne is an Irish girl, fleeing an unhappy home and looking for adventure.

She's traveling to the Bahamas with an older woman, Mrs. Fulworth. The others on board think she is her mother, but that's just a story the two have concocted. Anne would not have been let on the ship unaccompanied, so she invented a mother to come with her. Anne has no use for rules on this ship or anywhere else. Maybe that's why she wanted to come to New Providence in the first place. Britain may claim the island.

But the ruins of the fort they built by the harbor in Nassau tell a different story. There is no governor here appointed by the king, no laws laid down by some distant parliament. This is the Republic of Pirates. There have been pirates in the Caribbean for hundreds of years. The countless islands and inlets make perfect hideouts for those preying on trade between the old world and the new. It began with Spanish treasure ships laden with gold.

Later, it was tobacco or sugar or even slave ships the pirates seized. The cargo carried away, sold or ransomed. For a long time, it seemed impossible for the European powers to stop it, especially when at times they encouraged it. War makes strange bedfellows. With a piece of paper from the right government, a letter of marque, a buccaneer could become a privateer, a state-sanctioned pirate encouraged to target enemy shipping and take a share of the plunder.

But these letters of marque are only as good as the war lasts. And wars, of course, come to an end. The War of Spanish Succession in the early 18th century drew hundreds of privateers to the Caribbean. And when the war ended in 1714, those men lost their letters of marque. But that did not change their ways. The privateers became pirates. And many of them sailed for Nassau.

When young Annie arrives in the port from the Carolinas in 1717, she throws herself into the pirate life in all its thrilling, rule-breaking excess. Among the thousand buccaneers on the island is a man named James Bonney. Anne is quickly taken with him, and soon the young couple marry. But this golden age of pirates is fading. Nassau is alive with rumors that London has dispatched a fleet to crush the pirates and their republic.

In July 1718, those fears are realized. Late one night, the British fleet arrives offshore. On its flagship is the newly appointed governor of the Bahamas. Woods Rogers promises a king's pardon to every pirate who surrenders to him. To those who do not, he promises death. To Anne Bonny's disgust, her husband James submits. Worse, he turns informer for the new regime, betraying those he once sailed with.

But not every pirate in the Republic gives up the old ways. It's the only life John Rackham knows. Some call him Calico Jack on account of the coarsely woven jackets he wears. But whatever name he goes by, he is a bold and canny pirate. On the night Woods Rogers arrives at Nassau, Calico Jack escapes on the only ship that eludes the new governor's grasp. Then John seizes a boat of his own, only to lose it when he is betrayed to the authorities.

But Rackham escapes again, and by May 1719, he is back at Nassau. He tricks his way into the governor's good graces and hopes to secure a letter of marque for himself. Britain is at war once again with Spain, and pirates are getting to work as privateers for the British and are encouraged to target Spanish ships in the Caribbean. First though, Rackham wants to enjoy himself.

Nassau is not what it once was. Governor Rogers is cracking down on the debauchery that made it famous. But there are still plenty of ways for a man to spend some money. And while Rackham is in port that summer trying to find entertainment, he meets an unhappy young woman named Anne Bonny. The dashing buccaneer is just what Anne is after. And soon the two begin a torrid affair. But then terrible news comes from Europe.

Peace has broken out between Britain and Spain. There will be no letters of marque for pirates in the Caribbean. Rackham's hopes of becoming a privateer vanish. Worse still, Anne's husband learns of her affair. She faces prison and a lash for her infidelity. Rackham cannot bear life ashore, and Anne cannot bear life with her husband. The couple know what they have to do. Together, they will escape Nassau and take to the seas as pirates. All they need first is a ship.

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$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. It's the evening of August 22nd, 1720. John Rackham and Anne Bonny are about to take the first steps on a path that would lead to their trial in Spanish Town in just a few months' time. Rain falls on Nassau Harbor. Just a few drops at first, barely enough to disturb the glass-smooth waters.

But then, with sudden ferocity, the skies open up. It's just what John and Anne need. They rush down to the beach, find an empty rowboat, and shove it out onto the water. There are 13 others with them, kindred spirits who have grown tired of life ashore. They pull on the oars, silent and slow. Offshore, at anchor, is a 40-foot sloop, the William.

Armed with six guns, it's one of the fastest ships in the Caribbean. John, Anne, and their band of followers are planning to steal it. The pirates in their rowboat steal their oars, letting their momentum carry them the last few feet. And in an instant, they are up and over the sloop's side. The deck is slick with rain, but they move quickly now. Anne takes the lead, hurrying towards the cabin at the stern. She wonders if the two men on guard will recognize her.

It had been Anne's job to find out who kept watch over the ship and when. The last time these guards saw her was when she snuck on board the previous night, giggling in her skirts as the men spilled everything she needed to know. Now she wears long trousers and a jacket, her hair bound up in a handkerchief. In one hand she has a pistol and in the other a cutlass. Seeing her, the two stunned guards quickly surrender. John Rackham and the others quickly take over the ship. In moments, they are underway.

As the lights of the port disappear behind them and darkness swallows them up, the pirates raise the sails. At daybreak, the theft of the William is quickly discovered. The furious governor, Woods Rogers, sends out another sloop to chase Rackham and Bonnie down. But the pirates have a head start and the whole Caribbean to hide in.

Word of their daring spreads quickly through the ports and taverns, and nothing fans the rumors and outrage more than the presence on board the stolen ship of not one, but two women. Anne Bonny is not alone among the men on John Rackham's crew. With her is an Englishwoman, Mary Read. She is older than Anne and has lived among pirates for several years.

For years to come, stories will be told of this pair. Some will say they disguised themselves as men, though nobody at the time seemed fooled. Others will claim they fought duels over the pirates they loved, while still others believe the two women became lovers themselves. Truth and myth will mingle until it is almost impossible to tell one from the other. Their crimes, however, are real enough. The crew of the William passed the autumn of 1720 stealing anything and everything in their path.

They rob fishing boats and canoes. They seize the cargo of merchant sloops and schooners. The governors of the Caribbean are furious. A proclamation is published in newspapers from the Bahamas to Boston. John Rackham, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and all the others are pirates and enemies of the crown. It's October 1720, two months after the theft of the William, and Captain Jonathan Barnett sets off on a trading voyage with two ships from Port Royal in Jamaica.

Barnett is an experienced sailor. He has heard all about Calico Jack, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. His ships are well manned and well armed, more than a match he thinks for the William should they meet. Barnett is bound for the south keys of Cuba, but as his ships round the western tip of Jamaica, they spot a sloop anchored offshore. Daylight is fading, still Barnett decides to take a closer look.

Those on board the William have spent the day drinking and do not spot the approaching ships until it is too late. Desperately, Rackham and his drunk crew try to weigh anchor to escape once more into the deepening night. But Captain Barnett closes in fast. He raises the British colors and hailing the William, orders them to surrender. He's met with a volley of insults and a barrage of gunfire.

Barnett responds with a full broadside of his own. It shears through Williams' rigging, and soon the pirate sloop is boxed in. With dozens of guns now trained on them, Calico Jack and his crew have no choice but to surrender. The adventures of the pirates will come to an end at Davis' Cove on the northwest coast of Jamaica. There, they will be turned over to an officer from the militia and escorted to Spanish Town in chains.

It's November 16th, 1720, and the trial of John Rackham and his crew is in full swing. The defendants plead not guilty, but they offer no defense for their actions. And their fate is never really in doubt. It doesn't take long for the judge, the governor of Jamaica, Sir Nicholas Laws, to make his decision. The pirates are sentenced to death.

Two days later, Rackham is hanged at Galla's Point in Port Royal. His body is then taken out to the harbor and strung up for all to see as a warning, a promise, that this is what the British will do to pirates. Most everyone expects Anne Bonny and Mary Read to join Calico Jack, but the two women are tried separately, perhaps on account of their sex. They must wait a little longer for their turn in court. Then finally, on November 28th, they are brought before the judge,

Sure enough, they too are found guilty and sentenced to death. But Anne and Mary will not share the grim fate of their fellow crew. They are saved because both women are pregnant. The law does not punish an unborn child for the sins of the mother. Instead, the two women are sent to jail. There, in April 1721, Mary Read contracts a fever in childbirth and dies.

But the fate of Anne is a mystery. There is no record of her giving birth, no record of an execution, and no record of her release. She simply vanishes from history. In some respects, the trial marks the end of the golden age of piracy. But in others, they are just the beginning of the story.

Three and a half years later, in 1724, a book will be published in London. A general history of pirates will become a bestseller, its blend of fact and fiction making romantic heroes out of violent criminals, an image of pirates that will persist for centuries. And on the book's cover, listed above Blackbeard, Captain Vane, and even Calico Jack himself, will be the two pirates who made history and became legends.

Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

Next on History Daily, November 17th, 1603. The Elizabethan spy and adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh is put on trial for treason. From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily. Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham. Audio editing by Molly Bach. Sound design by Derek Behrens. Music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written and researched by William Simpson. Executive producers are Stephen Walters for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.

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I'm Ken Harbaugh, host of Burn the Boats from Evergreen Podcasts. I interview political leaders and influencers, folks like award-winning journalist Soledad O'Brien and conservative columnist Bill Kristol about the choices they confront when failure is not an option. I won't agree with everyone I talk to, but I respect anyone who believes in something enough to risk everything for it. Because history belongs to those willing to burn the boats. Episodes are out every other week, wherever you get your podcasts.

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