Anne’s World

Hello. Welcome to Anne’s World. This is my blog about Anne Bonny, pirates, the 18th century, writing, and anything else that wanders by. I will try to write daily.

Today I want to write about the basics — why I decided to write a book about Anne Bonny. I have long loved sailing ships and pirates. My great-great grandfather sailed as a seaman around the Horn from Boston to California in 1849 to join thousands of other men trying to find wealth during the Gold Rush. My family has been there ever since. Perhaps my love of sailing and sailing stories (and shantys) comes from him.

Pirates are a fascinating group. They were violent and hell bent on freedom apart from the laws and restrictions imposed on them by the British. That said, they were also completely egalitarian. They created a society in which all were equal – white men, black, native american, asian, it didn’t matter. Captains were voted into office and could be, and were, tossed out on a regular basis. Booty was distributed equally, although the Captain got a slightly larger share. It didn’t matter whether you were an able bodied seaman or a navigator, your shares were the same.

This is the world Anne Bonny voluntarily entered and thrived in. As one of only two known female Caribbean pirates, she wouldn’t have been welcome on most ships. Women were seen as bad luck. So she dressed as a man, as you can see from the picture on the front page of this site. Mary Read (or Reade), the other woman, also dressed as a man. But when it came to a judgment of hanging, both were able to avoid that fate because they were pregnant.

I wondered, what would happen to Anne, assuming she survived, in the restrictive world of 18th century society? How would she adjust to the lack of freedom, to the slavery, to the hierarchy that the times demanded? And to the restrictions on the things women could do or who they could be?

And that begat: Sailing Against the Tide.