Anne Bonny & Mary Read

Hand-to-hand and duels: win the fight on the enemy deck.

History in brief

Most of what is told about Anne Bonny and Mary Read comes from the 1724 General History of the Pyrates, and parts of it may be embroidered. It says Bonny was born in Ireland and raised in Carolina before coming to Nassau, and that Read had served as a soldier in Flanders and gone to sea in men’s clothing. What is well documented is their last cruise: in August 1720 they sailed with John Rackham aboard the sloop William, taken from Nassau harbour.

The crew was captured off Negril Point, Jamaica, in late October 1720. At their trial at Spanish Town in November, witnesses said both women wore seamen’s clothes in action and handled weapons as well as any man aboard. Both were sentenced to death, but their executions were stayed because both said they were pregnant. Read died in prison in 1721; what became of Bonny is not known.

Full history: Calico Jack, Anne Bonny & Mary Read.

In the game

• Captain HP: 66
• Crew: 34
• Style: Hand-to-hand and duels
• Passive: Two blades: Captain cards deal +1 damage; +1 energy in duels.
• Captain’s order, Twin Blades: deal 5 twice; gain 4 Block. (every 3 turns)

Starting deck (9 cards)

• 2× Swivel Gun (Gun, 1 energy): Light gun: 3 damage to the hull. No powder.
• 1× Broadside (Gun, 2 energy): Fire the guns: 6 damage to the hull.
• 2× Tack Hard (Sail, 1 energy): Gain 7 Block.
• 1× Cutlasses (Crew, 1 energy): Your boarders kill 6 enemy crew.
• 1× Pistol Volley (Crew, 1 energy): Kill 4 enemy crew. Enemy Weak 1.
• 1× Parry (Captain, 1 energy): Gain 7 Block (any phase).
• 1× Twin Blades (Signature, 1 energy): Bonny & Read: deal 4 twice to the current target.

Card values are the base, unupgraded numbers before ship upgrades and captain bonuses.

Tips

• Look for duels. Two blades gives +1 energy in duels and makes Captain cards hit harder, so captain-against-captain fights are where this pair shine.
• Twin Blades comes round fastest. The order has a 3-turn cooldown, the shortest of any captain: 5 damage twice plus 4 Block.
• Defend at sea, win aboard. With only one Broadside, use Tack Hard and Parry to soak the ship battle, then finish the fight with boarders and blades.

Other captains: Blackbeard · Bellamy · Vane · Rackham. New to the game? See How to Play and the glossary.

More from the wiki

• Characters & Historical Figures – Pirate captains, Crown officials and the people of Nassau’s waterfront.
• Places & Sea Lanes – Nassau and New Providence, the Bahamas, and the wider Caribbean.
• Factions & Politics – The balance of power, Nassau’s pressures, and the history of 1716–18.
• Ships, Stores & Crew – Vessels, cargo, provisions and shipboard roles.
• Nassau City Ledger – Buildings, civic projects, resources and threats.
• World Threads – Historical pressures, expeditions and trade ventures.
• The Windward Passage – A naval briefing on the passage between Cuba and Hispaniola.
• Period Glossary – Over thirty period words for ships, ship work, officers, money, shot and pirate life.
• Charts – The New Providence harbour chart and the Bahamas & Florida Straits chart.
• Benjamin Hornigold – The founding captain of the Nassau pirate haven who became its hunter.
• Edward Teach (Blackbeard) – The most notorious captain of the age, from Hornigold’s sloop to Ocracoke.
• Charles Vane – The hard-liner who refused the pardon and fired his way out of Nassau.
• Calico Jack, Anne Bonny & Mary Read – Rackham’s short command and the two women tried for piracy in Jamaica in 1720.
• Woodes Rogers – Circumnavigator, privateer and the governor sent to end the pirate republic.
• The King’s Pardon of 1717 – The proclamation that split Nassau’s captains between a clean slate and the gallows.
• The 1715 Treasure Fleet – The hurricane that wrecked Spain’s silver fleet and filled Nassau with pirates.
• Ship Types of the Pirate Era – Periaguas, sloops, brigantines, snows and frigates: what pirates sailed and why.
• Pirate Articles & Life at Sea – Elected captains, written articles, shares of plunder and daily life aboard.
• Nassau’s Trade & Economy – How plunder became provisions: fences, smugglers, salt, wrecking and coin.
• Golden Age Timeline – Key dates from 1713 to 1726, from the treasure-fleet wreck to the last great hangings.
• Playing Blackbeard – Terror and boarding: thin the enemy crew, then take the ship.
• Playing Black Sam Bellamy – Crew and plunder: the toughest start and the richest voyages.
• Playing Charles Vane – Aggressive gunnery: the hardest-hitting and most fragile captain.
• Playing Calico Jack Rackham – Speed and evasion: pick your fights and outsail the rest.

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