Jack Rackham

 

Jack Rackham was nicknamed “Calico Jack”, probably because of the calico pattern of his preferred clothing.  Rackham began his pirate career with Charles Vane, a British pirate.  After an argument between Rackham and Vane, Rackham, with the help of Vane’s crew beached Vane and took control of his ship.  As a pirate, Rackham was not a notorious terror of the seas but was made famous because of his association with Anne Bonny and Mary Read who were the most famous female pirates.  In the early 1700’s, it was scandalous for women to behave as pirates.  Women were expected to be respectable and act like ladies.  The threesome would attack small ships around the islands of the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean off the Southern Coast of the United States.  Rackham’s flag is well known even to this day displaying a skull with two crossed swords under the skull. 

When the three were caught and put on trial in 1720.  Jack Rackham and the other male pirates were sent to the gallows in 1721.  Both of the female pirates were also condemned, but when it became apparent that they were both pregnant, they were saved from the gallows.  Mary died in a Jamaican prison and it is not know what happened to Anne.  More detailed information is available from the sources below.

Sources:

www.piratesinfo.com/cpi_captain_john_rackham_jack_530.asp, Copywrite © 1996 -2008, Krzysztof Wilczynski, All rights reserved.

The History of Pirates by Angus Konstam, The Lyons Press 1999, 2002.