Mary Read

»Mary Read«
Andrea Blumör

Mary Read, 2019, Tempora,oil on canvas, 63 x 41 cm
Mary Read

Born close to London

Mary’s mother was married to a sailor, they had a son together. The son died when he was a small child and the sailor never returned from the sea. She got pregnant again and gave birth to Mary who crew up as a boy to cover the son’s death. Later she became also a sailor and a soldier during war times. Mary fought in infantry and cavalry. After the war she went back to sailing and hired on a ship to the Caribbean.

The ship was attacked by pirates and Mary joined them.

Her lover got in trouble with another man, who asked him to duel. But he was not good with fighting. To solve that situation Mary insulted the man and set up a duel two hours prior to the other one. She killed the man and saved her lovers live.

A little time later she met Anne Bonny and John Rackham, established pirates, she joined them. They created a new crew and stole a ship. As three, they were successful pirates over a number of years. The two women were wearing men’s clothes and were respected by the crews.

In October 1720 the ship of the governor of Jamaica attacked their ship surprisingly. Most men were drunk under deck only a part of the crew, and with them Mary and Anne fought acrimoniously to defend their ship and their lives.

The crew lost and were brought to Jamaica, everybody got hanged for piracy, except Mary and Anne who pretended to be pregnant. Anne left the jail, but Mary died little time later.

Andrea Blumör speaks
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