Mary Read

I lived in a world where men ruled supreme and women sat on the sidelines waiting on their ‘oh so mighty’ men. I lived in a world where men did the work and women sat at home hoping nothing happened to them for if it did they had no way to make money, buy food, and ultimately survive. My world was that where men went off to war and their women stayed home praying that their husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers came home safely for they depended upon them whether they wanted to or not. I was born into a world I didn’t belong, but I found a way to belong and I found my place even if it was a bit of an abnormal place for a woman…

I was born in 1689 London, England and that is where I lived out my childhood. My mother was the widow of a sea captain, note I do not say my father was a sea captain for I really do not know for sure. I do know my mother was not always faithful, but for all she knew I had sailing in my blood. Although, when I add up the dates it seems the Captain was gone at anytime I could have been conceived. I had one older brother; he was known for being legitimate, just as I was known for not. When the Captain died, my brother came soon after. My brother was the key to my mother’s and my survival. If we did not have him, the heir to the Captain’s fortune, and the only reason my “grandmother,” the Captain’s mother, would give us money to support ourselves. When he died, my mother dressed me up as a boy, and not just any boy, I was to be my brother. My new name became Mark Read. Yes, I know. How could we do such a thing? Well, there really is a simple answer to that, there was no other way. If we were to survive at all without that money, my mother would have had to do some horrible things and as she was a lady, her reputation would be rued as would it ruin any chance of her smiling again. I lived out the childhood portion of my life as a boy, seeing as my “grandmother” believed me to be Mark, and that was how we lived into my teen years.

I lived on her estates and was treated as any rich boy would be. I was trained in the art of war, better than most real boys I was. But I had to work twice as hard seeing as I wasn’t born a real boy with natural muscle, or at least the ability to build it much faster. I learned of money and such. Stocks, all those things an heir is expected to know. This lasted until I was about twelve years.

That’s when we began to have trouble. “Grandmother” could no longer support us, being as she died. And the self-righteous witch left me nothing! I was the perfect gentleman, well as far as I thought. Whatever her reasons, I was left with nothing, and neither was my mother.

So, I sought work as a footboy, a servant. I served a French Lady living in London and was able to keep money coming. But as the best people do, I got bored. Bored of waiting hand and foot on a rich spoiled lady who thought she deserved the best. I supposed she might have, but I was a restless “boy” and I needed adventure. I presume this was the turning point in my life and “Grandmother” did help me in that respect. If it wasn’t for her, you would have never heard of me. And, although I though her crazy when she started the charade, I guess mother was also a great help, considering she was the one who started the whole Mark pretense.

With my boredom, I ran away; I decided to find work in the Navy. Soon after this decision I was taken aboard a Man-O-War as young man Mark Read. I was a powder monkey, harder work than I had thought it would be. My vision of life aboard a Navy Ship being one of bravery, honor, and respect soon disappeared. Life was tough; survival even harder. And this wasn’t even while in battle. I learned more ways in battle, how to fire a pistol properly, and the right way to shoot a cannon. But my days aboard the ship were filled with grueling work and awful abuse. After a few years, I was able to jump ship and that was, I thought, the end of my sea fairing carrier. How wrong I would turn out to be.

After my less than favorable experience with the sea, I joined the British Military once again using my alias of Mark Read. Military life was hard, but I favored it to my naval experience. I trained as hard as I possibly could and never did anyone suspect my female nature. I started off a common foot soldier, but I showed equal, if not more, bravery at the battle of Flanders than the men, which soon got me promoted to Horse Regiment. I loved it! There was adventure, action, and I was not treated with womanly disrespect. Not only that, but I was not abused by those who thought themselves important.

Once I came into the Horse Regiment, as ridiculous as this may sound, I met a man. He was like no man I had met before, I know I sound girly and that is completely against my nature, but I know he was my soul mate. I was in love, and I soon began to advance on him. Of course this made him dreadfully uncomfortable because, well, I was a man to him. My stupid heart got the better of me and I revealed my true gender to him. He soon found he was in love; I could charm even the grizzliest bear. He convinced me to tell our fellow soldiers my secret gender and they threw us a lavish wedding. And to top that off, they helped us get the money to open a tavern we later called The Three Horseshoes in Breda, Netherlands. For the first time in my life, I lived as women. We were happy, I was happy. But, sadly, once again, my happiness would not last. My husband, my brave soldier, died. But thinking back, I suppose if my happiness had lasted, I would have not had my adventures nor have my mark on history.

Once again I joined the military. But to me it had lost its spark. Military life was no longer as exciting in my opinion, but I believe, now, that it was also the lost of my own dear soldier that turned me off. I suppose, if I must, I could be a bit mushy at times, sentiment and all that. In any case, I left the army once more and I came aboard a ship bound for the West Indies, once more dressed as Mark Read. The voyage seemed well enough, that was until we were attacked by pirates, and not just any pirates. We were attacked by the notorious “Calico” Jack Rackham, his pirate mistress, Anne Bonny, and his loyal band of scallywags. We were all offered a choice, be killed or join them in their quest to become rich while enjoying rum and women, with the chance of being hanged by any judge they happened to meet along the way. Guess what I chose.

Life aboard a pirate ship was defiantly an adventure filled one. We robbed and killed, we fought and drunk. What more could you ask for. But as all stories must have a secret revealed, mine did as well. Anne Bonny, the women pirate aboard, had her eyes on Mark. I avoided her as much as was possible in such close quarters. As her advances continued, I became wary. On one particular occasion, she approached me and she learned my secret. We became quick friends and she promised my secret would not escape her lips. We spent as much time together as if we were bound together. Unfortunately, Calico Jack noticed this.

As I was still disguised as a man, he could only come to one conclusion. Anne and Jack were not bound by a legal marriage, but they were married in every other respect and he thought of her as his. I was, in his opinion, stealing her from him. He brought both of us into his cabin and, with sword drawn, told us to confess we were together. You could see the anger flash to hurt and back again when he saw us together. Unless I wanted to loose my life, I had to confess my female nature. I thought he would be mad, I mean it was against the law of pirates to have a woman aboard, though I suppose I should have known he would ignore that rule considering he had Anne there with him. In any case, he accepted me and you could tell he rather enjoyed the idea of having two female pirates aboard his pirate vessel. My gender was then revealed to the crew and I was accepted with them as well. And thus my pirate carrier began.

Soon after, I found myself falling once more for a man. Although this man, being a pirate, was obviously less honorable than my husband had been, but I found myself in love none the less. There is a tale that later came to be that my lover had trouble with a bigger, burlier pirate and this man challenged my lover to a duel. In this tale, I, fearing for my lover’s life, took matters into my own hands, challenging the burly man to a duel against me. As pirate law is very clear, you cannot refuse a duel, so he accepted, probably expecting to win. We rowed to shore and battled. I revealed my breasts to him, making him stare, then, while he was in his daze, I nearly decapitated him. That killed him instantly and my beau and I were married soon after. I will not tell you whether or not this tale is true, but I will warn you that pirate and sailor lore is known all over the world to be quite exaggerated and this tale, although daring and terribly exciting, is just that, pirate lore. Anyhow, we were married and our crew prospered.

For about three months everything went well. That was before the October of 1720. On one fateful October day, Captain Barnet, a pirate hunter, took us by surprise. We could have gotten away!! If only the crew wasn’t so drunk and lazy, every last one of them had a hangover except Anne and me. Even Jack, he was supposed to be captain! They all gave up, save Anne and I. We fought until we were done for. We gave every last ounce of energy to protect our ship and our lives while the others just complained we were hurting their pore, hung-over heads with all our racket. If they had helped we could have escaped, if they helped they wouldn’t be dead. Hung by their necks to die like the dogs they were.

We had as fair a trial as a pirate could get, which if I might point it out, is not fair at all. The judge had already made up his mind about us all. The hanging dates were set, even before the trail began. They didn’t realize they would have to postpone two of those hangings. Anne and I pled our bellies; we said we were pregnant. For it was against the law to hang a pregnant woman, we were put in cells until which time our children were born and we could be killed for our treason. But for me it mattered not if we died, for I had had the adventure of a lifetime and made the greatest of friends one could ask for.

Mary Read died in her cell in the year of 1720 by fever or in child birth. Before her death she was heard proclaiming, “As to hanging, it is no great hardship. For were it not for that, every cowardly fellow would turn pirate and so unfit the sea, that men of courage must starve.” For Mary, having always been a woman in a man’s world, it all came down to courage, something she had more of than most men. Mary Read, although a pirate and therefore dishonest, is but one example of great women throughout history. Even though she was not always honest, she proved to those who chose to listen that women are just as strong as men and just as determined. She proved that women have a right to be heard, for their ideas are great, and that they can be just as, if not more so, powerful. Mary Read, although known for her unlawful acts, is also known for her willpower and strong spirit. She is an inspiration for woman to do what they want no matter how hard or how people discourage them.

Mary Read made her mark on history for being a woman pirate, but I believe that if she had chosen to do something else with her life she would be just as well known, for she had the willpower and the strength to fight for what she believed.