#I wouldn’t call A General History of Pyrates Non-fiction though

[transfem-octopus]

These women are actually perfect for Historical Fiction because while we know of then; we know basically nothing about them.

We know Anne Bonny was a member of Rackam’s Crew; she was brutal and foul mouthed; she became pregnant; and sometime after her imprisonment disappeared without a trace.

Anything else is some combination of speculation and fiction.

Same with Mary Reid. She may have been the Daughter of Anne Cantrel and Jim Reed (An associated of the Pirate Adam Baldridge) born and raised in Bristol. But there’s no real way to connect that Mary Reid to the Mary Reid tried for piracy.

We know they dressed in men’s clothing; but it does not appear they did so to conceal their gender identities as Mary Reid and Anne Boney were both known as women when their pirate careers began.

We also know they had large beasts because one of their victims mentioned that’s how she knew they were women in men’s clothes when they attacked her canoe.

It really does make them perfect for Historical fiction; sure we know next to nothing about them but that means you can do pretty much anything with them.

Two notorious cross-dressing women became female pirates: Mary Reid and Anne Bonny, whose story was published as A General History of the Pirates in 1724.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory