John "Calico Jack" Rackham (26 December 1682 – 18 November 1720) was an English pirate. Becoming a captain after deposing Charles Vane in July 1718, Rackham was noted for his new design of the Jolly Roger, featuring a skull with two crossed swords in the background. He was also the employer of two female pirates: Mary Read and Anne Bonny. Rackham was captured by the British while drunk in the hold of his ship and was hanged in 1720.
Biography[]
Rackham's flag
Rackham was born in England in 1682, and he moved to the Caribbean in the 1710s. Hanging around the Old Avery tavern in Nassau, he was the Quartermaster for Captain Charles Vane. Rackham was a drunkard, and a ladies' man as well, and in 1717 he fell in love with a waitress at the bar named Anne Bonny, who was only 15.
In July 1718 Rackham led a mutiny against Captain Vane and overthrew him, marooning him on Providence Island and taking over the "Jackdaw", the ship of Captain Edward Kenway. Rackham recruited Bonny as not only a crew member, but also as his lover, and he also recruited "James Kidd", who was really a woman named Mary Read in disguise.
Death[]
Rackham's career lasted only four months, capturing many fishing vessels. But when a British man-of-war arrived to take on Rackham's crew, Rackham and most of the crew (except for Bonny, Read, and Read's husband) were drunk in the hold. The women and the one man fought bravely, but the man was killed, and the rest of the crew were captured. Reade and Bonny were given a temporary stay of execution because they were pregnant, but Rackham was unable to escape. He was sentenced to death by hanging, and his body was hung on rocks off Port Royal, Jamaica, along with two others as a warning to all other Pirates. His skeleton remained on the rope hung outside of Port Royal, and the three gibbets became known as "Rackham's Cay".
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