Pirates and Privateers

Inspiration.

It doesn’t matter whether an author writes fiction or non-fiction. Without some detail that sparks an idea, the writing tends to sit on the page and bore the reader. The author who sits to write A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates in 1724, definitely needs inspiration for one of his stories. He knows the end of the tale; there are enough public documents to inform readers. The beginning is problematic, but omitting this pirate from the book is not an option. Shocking, provocative, and distressing – adjectives certain to lure in the reader and garner sales. So, what to do about the missing piece?

These thoughts must have circulated through Captain Charles Johnson’s mind as he pondered what to write about Mary Read. Clues about her cohort’s origins and past existed, but Mary’s origin story amounted to nearly zip. She was born. She was female. She probably came from the lower class. Not knowing more meant Johnson had to fill in the blanks. He came across a possible solution and began to write.

According to him, this extraordinary woman defied conventions of the day not because that was her initial intent, but because another woman could not afford for her daughter to be a female and survive. Prior to Mary’s birth, her mother married a seaman who later vanished while on a voyage.¹ At the time, Mary’s mother was pregnant but not with Mary. Mrs. Read gave birth to a son, likely named Mark. Within that same year, she “met with an Accident,” Johnson’s way of saying she was expecting another child. (Johnson, 118)

Scandal made tongues wag, and with a husband far from home or deceased, giving birth to another man’s child would bring shame on Mrs. Read and her in-laws. To prevent this and to retain the allowance the Reads provided for her son’s upbringing, she and Mark went far from London to visit with friends who would keep her secret. Although her first-born died soon after, Mrs. Read gave birth to a healthy daughter whom she named “Mary.” The pair lived together for three or four years on money Mrs. Read had saved, but when her funds ran out, she came up with a plan that required Mary to assume her brother’s identity.

On returning to London, Mark was re-introduced to his grandmother, who agreed to give her daughter-in-law a crown (sixty pence) each week for support. That worked out well for both mother and “son” until Grandma died.

At some point, Mary was let in on the secret of her gender, but Mom convinced her that maintaining the ruse was the better way to go. Without the influx of cash from Grandma, thirteen-year-old Mary had to find a job. A French woman hired Mark to be her footboy. The job didn’t last long, mostly because Mark craved adventure, and the two parted ways. Mark also bade his mom farewell and joined the Royal Navy during the Nine Years War (1688-1697).

Sometime later, the navy released Mark – maybe his ship sank or was decommissioned, or maybe he jumped ship, Johnson didn’t say – and since England was fighting in Flanders (Belgium), Mark enlisted in the Royal Army “in a Regiment of Foot, as a Cadet” during the War of the Spanish Succession. (Johnson, 119) Mark proved to be brave and courageous at soldiering, but there was little chance of advancement because he lacked the means to pay for an officer’s commission (a common practice during this time). His only option was to resign and re-enlist in a cavalry regiment.

Mark’s deeds on the field of battle brought high praise from his officers, but he only cared what one fellow thought. The handsome man who shared their tent was from Flanders and Mark fell hard for him. So much so that if he was sent out on patrol, Mark volunteered to go along and put himself in grave danger more than once, just to protect the man. The others in their squad thought Mark a bit mad, but otherwise never questioned why he acted thusly.

Knowing his bunkmate might get the wrong idea and take offense, Mark contrived a plan that permitted him to discover the secret. He was delighted and wanted Mary to become his mistress. Perhaps because of the consequences experienced by her mother, Mary did not believe in sex before marriage. As a result, the man courted her in secret until the campaign they were on ended, and then arrangements were made for a wedding.

The Story of two Troopers marrying each other, made a great Noise, so that several Officers were drawn by Curiosity to assist at the Ceremony, and they agreed among themselves, that every one of them should make a small Present to the Bride, towards House-keeping, in consideration of her having been their fellow Soldier. (Johnson, 120)

Thereafter, Mary and her husband resigned their commissions and began operating an ordinary (tavern) in Breda in the Dutch Republic (Netherlands). The majority of those who came to dine and drink at “the Sign of the Three Horse-Shoes” were fellow soldiers and cavalrymen. (Johnson, 121) Two events eventually brought significant change to Mary’s happy life. First, her beloved husband died. Second, the warring countries signed the Peace of Reswick and the soldiers went home. No longer bringing in sufficient funds to run the ordinary, Mary dressed as a man again and enlisted with the Dutch army. She hoped to advance through the ranks, but that wasn’t likely in times of peace, so she resigned and signed aboard a ship sailing to the West Indies.

That is Johnson’s version of Mary Read’s backstory. He provides no indication as to his sources for all this information. He merely says that some readers “may be tempted to think the whole Story no better than a Novel or Romance”; in truth, this statement only refers to what occurs after Mary becomes a pirate because there are witnesses to those events. (Johnson, 117)

The conundrum Johnson faced was how to make readers believe that a woman could be a pirate – a criminal, who pillaged at sea and wielded a cutlass with the same adeptness as hauling on ropes or doing any of the other tasks necessary to sail a wooden ship. On top of this, readers needed to empathize with her as a person. (Whether heroine or villain, readers must relate to the character or they don’t care what happens to her.)² Aside from coming up with why Mary Read was so adept at being Mark Read, he needed to answer why she continued to do so even after she no longer needed to do so.
 
Occupations open to women were few in the final years of the seventeenth century. Men had rights and could pursue a number of trades to earn a living. Not so women. If she wanted freedom and choice, instead of having to prostitute herself to survive, Mary had to change who she was. Doing so was not as farfetched as one might imagine. Ballads of female warriors had been popular since the Renaissance. They usually involved women who dressed as men and went to war, often preferring not to be parted from their sweethearts. Their popularity increased around 1650, once the printing press brought broadsides and chapbooks to the masses for as little as a halfpenny. Those who could read shared the tales with those who could not, and these people recounted what they heard through word of mouth. Two examples of this street literature that Johnson might have come across were “The Mariners Misfortune” and “The Gallant She-Souldier.”

Dianne Dugaw, who studied these songs, found that the portrayals hit close to the mark when comparing the songs to what lower-class women experienced on a daily basis in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They acquired “physical strength, toughness, independence, fearlessness, and a capability of surviving by one’s wits.” (Rediker, 114) Such women also had to be convincing in this disguise in order to be accepted as fellow male soldiers or seaman. For Mary, this meant she had to curse and swear. She became skilled in the usage of whatever weaponry and instruments were required of the job, and she had to demonstrate courage under fire.

If not the street literature of the day, perhaps the story of Christian Davies inspired Johnson. Although her autobiography wasn’t published until sixteen years after A General History of the Pyrates, this female warrior was known publicly at the time. Kit Cavanaugh was born in 1667 in Ireland. She spent most of her formative years living with her aunt, who ran a Dublin inn. When the aunt died, Kit became the owner and, at some point, fell in love with Richard Welsh, who worked there as a waiter. The pair wed and had three children, but in 1692, Richard went on an errand and never returned. Since he had been carrying a large sum of money, Kit assumed that he had been set upon and his body disposed of. Only later did she learn that he had been pressed into the army. This was intolerable as far as Kit was concerned. He needed to be with her at home, and she saw only one way to accomplish this. “I cut off my Hair, and dressed in a Sute of my Husband’s, having had the Precaution to quilt the Waistcoat, to preserve my Breasts from hurt, which were not large enough to betray my Sex, and putting on the Wig and Hat I had prepared, I went out and bought me a Silver hilted Sword and some Holland Shirts.” (The Life, 20) As Christian Welch, Kit joined the army and fought in Flanders as she searched for Richard. Although slightly wounded and captured by the French at the Battle of Landen in 1693, Christian’s secret remained intact. Once he was exchanged, he returned to his regiment.

William III at the Battle of Landen in 1693 by Ernst Crofts
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

To reinforce his disguise among his fellow company of foot, Christian wooed a burgher’s daughter. This proved such a successful venture that he ended up fighting a duel over the woman. Having wounded the sergeant, Christian was brought up on charges. After the burgher intervened, Christian was exonerated but discharged from the army. The affair caused the burgher to rethink Christian’s suitability as a husband for his daughter.

Kit still hadn’t located her husband. Nor did she want to return home. Therefore, Christian reenlisted, this time with Lord John Hayes’s Regiment of Dragoons.

While in Winter quarters in 1695, “[a] Lady of civil Conversation” took a liking to him, but Christian failed to pay adequate attention to her. Vexed at being repulsed, the lady wanted payback. She swore that Christian was her child’s father. Surprised and angered, Christian initially considered charging her with perjury. Instead, he agreed to pay the woman child support. The babe died a month later, but “left me the Reputation of being a Father,” which merely added to the success of Kit’s disguise. (The Life, 37)

Peace came a short time later, and Kit returned to Dublin. Since her children and mother were doing fine, she opted to remain in disguise because “I was so much altered by my Dress, and the Fatigues I had undergone, that not one of them knew me, which I was not sorry for.” (The Life, 40) In her male persona, Christian found a job, until war broke out anew and he rejoined his dragoon regiment.

Prins Eugens at the battle of Schellenberg in 1704
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Even though he suffered a second wound at the battle of Schellenberg in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession, no one discovered his secret. Later that year, he participated in the battle at Blenheim (Germany). All this time, Kit’s inquiries as to her husband’s whereabouts proved fruitless. It wasn’t until Christian was detached to escort French soldiers to their imprisonment that he happened upon a couple embracing in the street. The man looked familiar, so Christian took a closer look. It was

my perfidious Husband, on whose Account I had experienced so much Fatigue, such Misery, and had so often hazarded my Life. The seeing him caress the Dutch Woman . . . raised in me so  great an Indignation, that I was resolved to banish every tender Thought which might plead in his Favour, and wipe the Idea of him out of my Memory. (The Life, 59)

Second thoughts brought a realization that perhaps they were both at fault. Rather than reveal that she had found her husband, she told concerned comrades that she had finally located her brother after twelve years.

Their reunion was not what Kit dreamed of, and she banished Richard from her bed for his betrayal. When she later found him with the Dutch woman again, Kit “cut her Nose off close to the Face, except a small Part of the Skin, by which it hung.” (The Life, 84) Finally seeing the error of his ways, Richard agreed to continue the ruse that he and Christian were brothers and hoped that one day they would one day live as husband and wife again.

Queen's Regiment of Horse at battle of Ramillies by unknown artist
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

This charade didn’t change until the battle at Ramillies in 1706. Christian suffered a wound to his head, that required him to be

trepaned, and great Care taken of me, but I did not recover in less than Ten Weeks: Though I suffered great Torture by this Wound, yet the Discovery it caused of my Sex, in the fixing of my Dressing, by which the Surgeons saw my Breasts . . . was a greater Grief to me. No sooner had they made this Discovery, but they acquainted Brigadier Preston, that his pretty Dragoon (so I was always called) was, in Fact, a Woman. He was very loath to believe it, and did me the Honour to say, He had always looked upon me as the prettyest Fellow, and the best Man he had. (The Life, 75)

Richard confessed that they were husband and wife, and once Kit recovered, they renewed their marriage vows in the presence of their officers, some of whom gave them pieces of gold as a wedding present. Although she was dismissed from service, she remained with the company first as a regimental cook and then as a sutler. As such, she foraged for food and water, went between lines, and carried messages.

Richard was killed in action three years later, and Kit searched for his body for a day. Although distraught, Kit remained with the army and eventually wed a grenadier named Hugh Jones. He was wounded during a siege in 1710, and died about two months later.

In 1712, Kit decided she had sacrificed enough, retired, and went to England, where she met and petitioned Queen Anne for a pension. The monarch granted Kit one shilling a day for the rest of her life. She returned to Ireland, where she opened an establishment that sold beer and pies. When she passed away at Pensioner’s College in Chelsea (England) in 1739, she was buried with full military honors. Three volleys were fired in salute.


Did you notice similarities between Mary’s backstory and Christian’s tale? For one thing, the two ladies were of a similar age and fought in the Nine Years War.³ For another, they were both skilled in masquerading as men. It wasn’t enough to wear men’s clothing: their actions needed to mirror those of the male persuasion, including fighting, carousing, swearing, and walking. In James L. Nelson’s The Only Life That Mattered, which tells the story of Mary Read and Anne Bonny, he depicted a scene during this war.

She rode through the pre-dawn black, the horse and saddle between her legs as easy a fit as a well-worn hat. The smell of the horses, the cumulative sound of a hundred or more riders moving together, was all so familiar now that they did not intrude at all on her thoughts.

She reached down and adjusted her saber where it was chaffing on her thigh, cleared her throat, and spit on the dirt road below her. (Nelson, 28)

For Christian, “she had lost that Softness which heightens the Beauty of the Fair, and contracted a masculine Air and Behaviour.” (The Life, iii)

Whereas Johnson had to look elsewhere for inspiration on the details of Mary’s life before she became a pirate, historical accounts provided specifics of what became of her after she came to the Caribbean, possibly around 1718 or 1719. At some point in the voyage, pirates captured the merchant ship on which Mark Read crewed. Although never named, these men might have been under the leadership of Charles Vane. This was most likely when Mark first met John Rackham, who was Vane’s quartermaster at the time. Whether Mark became a willing pirate or was forced even Johnson couldn’t say. All he wrote was that Mark was accepted into the company because he spoke English, whereas all his Dutch comrades and their ship were released once the pirates finished their plundering.

Eventually, Read, Rackham, and others decided to take the king’s pardon. What Mary (or Mark) did during this time was unknown and where she did so was not recorded. All Johnson said was that she “liv’d quietly on Shore.” (Johnson, 121)


To be continued . . .



Notes:

1. An interesting side note is that on 25 March 1698, Ann Canterell sent a letter to Adam Baldridge. Once a pirate himself, Baldridge relocated to Madagascar where he built a trading post, a house, storehouse, and log fortress protected by six cannons on St. Mary’s Island. His clientele were pirates who exchanged gold and other booty for the supplies they needed.

Ann wrote to Baldridge to claim her husband’s effects and provided some documentation to prove she was the pirate’s wife. She lived in Bristol with a son and a daughter named Mary, whose christening at a local church showed that Mary was born around the same time as the pirate Mary Read. The earliest details of these Marys’ lives align with what Johnson shared, but whether they are one and the same girls is unlikely to be proven. Both young girls had mothers who married seamen and their fathers died when the girls were young, just as Johnson claimed.

2. For those who would like to understand this more, check out this edition of “The Red Pencil,” a column I wrote for Solander in 2008. I focus on how John Shors created a villainous protagonist in Beside a Burning Sea.

3. Johnson’s timeline for Mary’s life doesn’t work well and neither he nor the trial transcripts provide her age or birth year. The general consensus is that she is in her thirties when she arrives in the West Indies. As Rebecca Simon explains, Mary was probably “only twelve years old at the end of the [Nine Years War],” so it’s “most likely [she] fought in the War of the Spanish Succession, which began in 1703, at the age of eighteen and concluded in 1713 when she was twenty-eight years old.” (Simon, 61) No historical documents list “Mark Read” as having served in the army or cavalry, “but this does not mean that she did not fight under another unknown name. However, since she would be such a skilled and fierce pirate, it is reasonable to believe that she had sufficient military training to be able to hold her own and succeed.” (Simon, 61)

Dr. Simon also mentions that The Evening Post for 20 January 1719, lists names of those who were sentenced to “death at the Old Bailey for various crimes.” (Simon, 61) One of these is Mary Read, who declared that she was pregnant at the time. Instead of being executed, this Mary is transported to the Caribbean to “work in the plantation colonies.” (Simon, 62) If this Mary is the same as the pirate, as an escaped criminal, turning to piracy may have been her only option.

For more information, I suggest the following:

“America and West Indies: November 1720, 1-15,” in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 32, 1720-1721 edited by Cecil Headlam (London 1933), British History Online. (Nov. 13. Jamaica, 288.) Accessed 9 March 2026.
“America and West Indies: June 1721, 1-15,” in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 32, 1720-1721 edited by Cecil Headlam (London 1933), British History Online. (June 12. Jamaica, 523.) Accessed 9 March 2026.
The American Weekly Mercury. 31st January to 7th February 1721. HathiTrust. Accessed 9 March 2026.
Appleby, John C. Women and English Piracy 1540-1720: Partners and Victims of Crime. Boydell, 2013.

Cartwright, Mark. “Mary Read,” World History Encyclopedia. 5 October 2021.
Chevalier, Noel. Charles Johnson’s General History of the Pyrates and Global Commerce. Bucknell University, 2025.
Cordingly, David. Pirate Hunter of the Caribbean: The Adventurous Life of Captain Woodes Rogers. Random House, 2011.
Cordingly, David. Women Sailors & Sailors’ Women: An Untold Maritime History. Random House, 2001.

Dugaw, Dianne M. “Structural Analysis of the Female Warrior Ballads: The Landscape of a World Turned Upside Down,” Journal of Folklore Research. 23 (1), April 1986, 23-42.
Dugaw, Dianne. Warrior Women and Popular Balladry, 1650-1850. University of Chicago, 1989.

Eastman, Tamara J., and Constance Bond. The Pirate Trial of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Fern Canyon, 2000.

Geoghegan, Patrick M. “Davies, Christian (alias ‘Mother’ Ross, Kit ‘Kitty’ Cavenaugh),” Dictionary of Irish Biography (October 2009).
Gibbs, Joseph. “The Brevity and Severity of ‘Golden Age’ Piracy Trials,” International Journal of Maritime History. 31 (4), 2019, 729-786.

Hanna, Mark H. Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture/University of North Carolina, 2015.

Johnson, Charles. A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. Ch. Rivington, 1724.

The Life and Adventures of Mrs. Christian Davies, the British Amazon, Commonly Called Mother Ross. Second edition. R. Montagu, 1741.

Liu, Tzu-Yu. “She-Pirates: Early Eighteenth-Century Fantasy and Reality,” The 18th-Century Common, 11 June 2019.


“Mary Read – The Most Underrated Female Pirate?” Gold and Gunpowder. 10 November 2023.
“The Monstrous Regiment? The Woman Who Fought in the British Army Disguised as a Man,” Portals to the Past. Accessed  9 March 2026.
“Mrs. Christian Davies,” The 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys). Accessed 9 March 2026.

Nelson, James L. The Only Life That Mattered. McBooks, 2004.

O’Driscoll, Sally. “The Pirate’s Breasts: Criminal Women and the Meanings of the Body,” The Eighteenth Century. 53 (3), Fall 2012, 357-379.

Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Beacon, 2004.

Simon, Rebecca Alexandra. Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read. Pen & Sword, 2025.

The Tryals of Captain John Rackham, and Other Pirates. Robert Baldwin, 1721.

Review Copyright ©2026 by Cindy Vallar

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