Hugendubel.info - Die B2B Online-Buchhandlung 

Merkliste
Die Merkliste ist leer.
Bitte warten - die Druckansicht der Seite wird vorbereitet.
Der Druckdialog öffnet sich, sobald die Seite vollständig geladen wurde.
Sollte die Druckvorschau unvollständig sein, bitte schliessen und "Erneut drucken" wählen.

The Lady Pirates

E-BookEPUBePub WasserzeichenE-Book
Englisch
Clink Street Publishingerschienen am12.09.2024
Pirates have existed since men first traded at sea and, in the 18th century, two extraordinary women, MARY READ and ANNE BONNY, chose to reject their humdrum lives to seek daring pirating adventures and acquire wealth beyond their wildest dreams. They first meet on the pirate ship Revenge where a close friendship quickly develops. Both prove to be brave and fearsome fighters, accumulating large quantities of gold, silver and jewels. Eventually captured, tried and convicted for piracy, they are sentenced to life imprisonment. Here they are subjected to terrifying ordeals and appalling cruelty. Escape seems impossible until they spot a chance opportunity. Could this be the moment that leads them to freedom - a return to their swashbuckling careers or a time to change direction and finally realize the value from their hidden treasure?

Robert Cort is the author of the Ian Caxton Thriller series.mehr
Verfügbare Formate
TaschenbuchKartoniert, Paperback
EUR17,50
E-BookEPUBePub WasserzeichenE-Book
EUR4,79

Produkt

KlappentextPirates have existed since men first traded at sea and, in the 18th century, two extraordinary women, MARY READ and ANNE BONNY, chose to reject their humdrum lives to seek daring pirating adventures and acquire wealth beyond their wildest dreams. They first meet on the pirate ship Revenge where a close friendship quickly develops. Both prove to be brave and fearsome fighters, accumulating large quantities of gold, silver and jewels. Eventually captured, tried and convicted for piracy, they are sentenced to life imprisonment. Here they are subjected to terrifying ordeals and appalling cruelty. Escape seems impossible until they spot a chance opportunity. Could this be the moment that leads them to freedom - a return to their swashbuckling careers or a time to change direction and finally realize the value from their hidden treasure?

Robert Cort is the author of the Ian Caxton Thriller series.
Details
Weitere ISBN/GTIN9781915785527
ProduktartE-Book
EinbandartE-Book
FormatEPUB
Format HinweisePub Wasserzeichen
FormatE101
Erscheinungsjahr2024
Erscheinungsdatum12.09.2024
SpracheEnglisch
Dateigrösse1043 Kbytes
Artikel-Nr.17512102
Rubriken
Genre9201

Inhalt/Kritik

Leseprobe



CHAPTER 1


In the 17th and 18th centuries there were many pirates who sailed the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, but two women, Mary Read and Anne Bonny, were said to be more ruthless than most of the male buccaneers at sea. Indeed, they would probably cut the throats of any person who disagreed.

They dressed in men´s clothing and committed unspeakable atrocities, all to demonstrate their power and to obtain large hoards of gold, silver and jewels. Their adventures have been written into history, but their hidden treasure may have never been found.

Eventually captured by the British authorities, Mary and Anne were tried at the court in Spanish Town, Jamaica. There, in front of a packed public gallery, their cases were heard. To be convicted of piracy, the result would always be... the sentence of death!

Hauled from the court, all convicted pirates would be taken back to their cell and await their destiny... the announced date of their public execution! Their futures now certain, their lives would soon end... whilst dancing the hempen jig´.

When Mary and Anne were brought into court, there was a gasp from the crowd in the public gallery. Despite being scruffily dressed, it was obvious to everyone that both were with child´. Chained by their ankles and wrists, Mary, aged 34, and Anne, just 23, were terrified and alone. Both just stared downwards, despairingly, resigned to their ultimate fate.

Their case was heard in the crumbling old wooden court building, which had certainly seen better days. Situated in the heart of old Spanish Town, some said the sultry courtroom smelled of death and decaying bodies, others said it was the gateway to Hell. For both Mary and Anne, it was the end of the road, the end of their plunderings galore.

The prosecution made its presentation, listing the many crimes both women had committed. Both Mary and Anne listened but offered little defence. The court suddenly fell silent and all eyes were fixed on his honour´.

The judge sat aloft, his aged and hollow-cheeked face was wrinkled and grey. His merciless dark brown eyes glared all around the courtroom and then he fixed his stare on the two bedraggled women. He adjusted his long white wig, clasped his wizened hands together and made the following pronouncement:

Ye and both of ye are adjudged and found guilty of piracy. You are sentenced to death. You will be taken back to the place from whence you came. From there you´ll be taken to a place of execution where you´ll be hanged by the neck until all breathing has ceased... or until your neck is irreparably snapped.

This decision immediately brought an outcry from the gallery. No woman in their expectant state should ever be punished by death, the crowd yelled. They stamped their feet and three women waved their fists at the judge.

Mary and Anne stared at each other in total disbelief. Mary immediately pleaded leniency... due to the belly´.

The judge hit his gavel several times to try to recover some semblance of order. Gradually the occupants of the public gallery quietened. The judge reminded everyone that this was a court of law. He stared back towards Anne and Mary for a few seconds and everyone held their breath. He then announced he´d changed his conviction decision. Both punishments were commuted from hanging... to a whole life sentence in the Spanish Town prison!

Prison life in Spanish Town was harsh and often very cruel, and the two women suffered more than most men. Mary Read´s young child died at birth, but there are no consistent records of what became of Mary. One historical report says she died of a fever, another suggested she was eventually hanged!

Of the outcome of Anne Bonny, or indeed her child, again nothing for certain is known. Some reports say she died in prison, not long after her daughter was born. Another says her father purchased her release. The one thing that is absolutely true is that both women´s names subsequently disappeared from all historical records. Nobody knows for certain what really happened to them.


 


That is... until now!


 


The two women´s backgrounds couldn´t have been more different. Anne was born near the town of Cork in Ireland. She was the illegitimate daughter of local lawyer William Cormac and his maid, Mary Brennan. When Anne was born in 1697, Cormac was worried and panicked. He decided to dress Anne as a boy and tried to pass off this boy´ to the Cork community as the son of a relative. Cormac also tried to gain credit when he announced he´d volunteered to raise the boy´ in his legal practice. Unfortunately, his efforts to hide Anne´s true gender, and keep his indiscretion a secret from his wife, suddenly backfired. When young Anne was old enough to speak, she innocently told a visitor she was a girl! Cormac´s reputation and career were both shattered overnight. He could no longer make a living in his town and made the decision to move away, taking with him both Anne and Mary Brennan. He decided to take his new family to the New World and when they arrived in Charles Town, South Carolina, Anne was dressed as their daughter. Anne Cormac grew up as a strong and often outspoken woman. She told Mary Read, later in life, that when she was aged 15, she so violently beat a man who had tried to rape her that she´d almost murdered him!

Anne became very difficult for her father to handle and after she´d married without his consent, she was thrown out of the family´s South Carolina home. At just 16 years of age, she had married James Bonny, a sailor, who was described as lazy, useless and a general good-for-nothing. Anne was not in love with Bonny, she just saw him as her chance to escape from her tyrannical father and his repressive world. Bonny took his new wife to Nassau, on the island of New Providence. Just one of the cluster of islands that make up the Bahamas archipelago. Nassau, had a menacing reputation as a tough human settlement... a haven for marauding pirates! Calico´ Jack Rackham, previously a pirate under Captain Charles Vane on the ship Ranger, had now become the captain of his own pirate ship, Revenge. Rackham got the nickname of Calico Jack because of the multi-coloured clothes he wore. However, following the 1717 Royal Proclamation by King George, which promised an Act of Grace´ for any pirate who volunteered to give up their life of piracy, Jack Rackham, now aged 37, decided to take up the king´s offer. Jack retired´ in Nassau and was living off his ill-gotten gains. Then in 1719, he met Anne. She told him she was desperate to leave her lazy and persistently philandering husband. The local authorities said a divorce would not be allowed and Anne was threatened with prison if she didn´t return to her husband and their family home. She had no intention of suffering either of these fates so she and Rackham returned to his ship, Revenge. Rackham collected together a number of his old crew and they sailed away from Nassau. Captain Calico Jack Rackham was returning to his former life... as a cut-throat pirate.

On board Revenge, Anne initially dressed as a man. Women found aboard a ship were deemed to be bad luck´, so only Jack knew her true sex.

Anne knew that to be accepted as a man by the rest of the crew, she would need to be a pirate as well. This suited her as she wanted a new and exciting life, to seek the same adventures and wealth that Rackham had acquired. He regularly recounted colourful tales and stories about his previous pirate life... and all his exhilarating experiences!


 


Living in England, Mary Read´s mother was previously married to a sailor to whom she had borne a son. However, some months after her husband´s disappearance at sea, she became pregnant again, this time by a man she hardly knew. In order to hide her shame from her in-laws, she and her son moved to the countryside, where she planned to have the illegitimate baby in the home of a friend. However, at about the same time as the birth of baby Mary, her son suddenly died. Mary and her mother continued to live in the countryside alone until they ran out of money. Left penniless and desperate, her mother initially decided to dress Mary in her brother´s clothes in an attempt to convince her mother-in-law that Mary was actually her grandson. She pleaded with her mother-in-law for money to help support her grandchild. The mother-in-law agreed and Mary grew up wearing only boy´s clothes. That arrangement continued until the mother-in-law died. By now Mary had become a teenager and once again the family´s income had dried up. Mary was sent out to work and found employment as a foot-boy for a French woman in a local town. Mary, however, had her own dreams. Dreams of adventures, wealth and a family. So, when Mary outgrew this foot-boy´s position, she joined the army and became a successful soldier. She then joined a cavalry regiment where she fell in love with one of her fellow soldiers, a man named Tommy. While sharing a tent with Tommy, Mary...

mehr