Often overshadowed by her fellow pirate Ann Bonny, Mary Read is still better-known than many pirates with more successful pirating careers. Read and Bonny stood out because it was unusual at the beginning of the 18th century for a woman to be part of a pirate crew. Pirates, like all seamen, generally frowned upon a woman’s presence aboard a ship. Not so much is really known about Read’s early life, the main source being her trial documents, newspaper articles, and Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Pyrates. According to Johnson, Read’s unnamed mother is said to have been married to a seaman, who went to sea and never returned. Her first child, a son, died, but she then gave birth to Mary out of wedlock. One theory is that Mary’s mother was Ann Cantrell, who is recorded as sending a letter to Adam Baldridge, a smuggler and ex-privateer on Madagascar, laying claim to some money that her husband, a pirate called John Read, who died on Madagascar some time prior to 1698, had entrusted to Baldridge.…
The Code of the Brethren of the Coast
Although there are no surviving Articles of Agreement put together by the buccaneers of the 17th century, although Alexander Exquemelin wrote in his book The Buccaneers of America (1678) something about them. He wrote about them about more in general terms, but they could be construed as a more specific code. Because Exquemelin sailed as Henry Morgan’s physician it is likely that these were very similar to Henry Morgan’s actual articles. Exquemelin explained that the buccaneers chose to: “Agree on certain articles, which are put in writing, by way of bond or obligation, which every one is bound to observe, and all of them, or the chief, set their hands to it.”
The Articles of John Gow
John Gow was a Scottish pirate who was active off the Iberian Peninsula from 1724 to 1725. He was captured in the Orkneys and hanged at Execution Dock on 11th June 1725. His articles were written in his own hand writing and were found aboard his ship, the Revenge, not long after his capture in 1725. Evidence suggests that these articles were written only a few days before he and his crew were captured by the authorities after dangerous currents had pulled the ship onto a reef and forced it aground. Historians believe that the reference in Article IV to no going ashore “till the ship is off the ground” suggests that the ship was already grounded when this code was written.
