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JAMES L.
NELSON
Based on the true story of
two women fated to become
pirates and the man who
accepted them as equals.
Praise for James L. Nelson ED UP WITH AN OUTLAW EXISTENCE,
FCalico Jack Rackam swears off the pirate
“Nelson’s portrayal of the pirate
life, but he hasn’t reckoned with Anne Bonny,
menace and its unique seagoing
society is thorough, accurate, a woman who would as soon stab a man as give
colorful, and utterly convincing, him a good tumble—that is, unless he’s a
providing a full broadside of pirate. Soon Jack finds himself out on the
reading entertainment.” high seas again, with Anne by his side and his
—Publishers Weekly
men spoiling for action. And when they cap-
“A master storyteller.” —Sailing ture a Dutch merchant ship, they pick up an
unlikely crewmate as well, an expert sword
“James L. Nelson knows pirates.
fighter and topmast seaman who has a secret:
He understands pirate society and
the pirate mind and he brings that he just happens to be a woman named Mary.
understanding to his work.” Together, Jack, Anne, and Mary cut a bold
—Barry Clifford, swath through the West Indies, stealing naval
Leader of the pirate ship Whydah sloops, plundering rich merchant ships, and
discovery and excavation
choosing to live a life of freedom—the only life
“[Nelson’s] descriptions have the that mattered.
ring of truth and are conveyed with
a sharpness and clarity that even James L. Nelson is a former professional
the landbound can appreciate.”
square-rig sailor who has served as a seaman,
—Chicago Tribune
rigger, boatswain, and officer on various
sailing ships. He is the author of the five-book
MCBOOKS PRESS Revolution at Sea Saga, The Brethren of the
www.mcbooks.com Coast Trilogy, and the Confederate Navy novel
Glory in the Name, winner of the William Boyd
Award for Excellence in Military Fiction. He
ISBN: 978-1-59013-060-5
51695 lives in Harpswell, Maine.
MCBOOKS
9 781590 130605 PRESS
The Short and Merry
Lives of Anne Bonny,
Mary Read, and
Calico Jack Rackam
the
only life
that
mattered
Selected Historical Fiction Published by McBooks Press
BY ALEXANDER KENT BY DEWEY LAMBDIN BY JULIAN STOCKWIN
The Complete The French Admiral Mutiny
Midshipman Bolitho The Gun Ketch Quarterdeck
Stand Into Danger Jester’s Fortune Tenacious
In Gallant Company Command
What Lies Buried
Sloop of War
BY JOHN BIGGINS
BY BROOS CAMPBELL
To Glory We Steer
A Sailor of Austria
No Quarter
Command a King’s Ship
The Emperor’s
The War of Knives
Passage to Mutiny
Coloured Coat
With All Despatch BY DUDLEY POPE
The Two-Headed Eagle
Form Line of Battle! Ramage
Tomorrow the World
Enemy in Sight! Ramage & The Drumbeat
The Flag Captain Ramage & The Freebooters BY ALEXANDER FULLERTON
Signal–Close Action! Governor Ramage R.N. Storm Force to Narvik
The Inshore Squadron Ramage’s Prize Last Lift from Crete
A Tradition of Victory Ramage & The Guillotine All the Drowning Seas
Success to the Brave Ramage’s Diamond A Share of Honour
Colours Aloft! Ramage’s Mutiny The Torch Bearers
Honour This Day Ramage & The Rebels The Gatecrashers
The Only Victor The Ramage Touch BY C.N. PARKINSON
Beyond the Reef Ramage’s Signal The Guernseyman
The Darkening Sea Ramage & The Renegades Devil to Pay
For My Country’s Freedom Ramage’s Devil The Fireship
Cross of St George Ramage’s Trial Touch and Go
Sword of Honour Ramage’s Challenge So Near So Far
Second to None Ramage at Trafalgar Dead Reckoning
Relentless Pursuit Ramage & The Saracens
The Life and Times of
Man of War Ramage & The Dido
Horatio Hornblower
Heart of Oak
BY FREDERICK MARRYAT
BY DOUGLAS REEMAN
BY PHILIP MCCUTCHAN Frank Mildmay or
Badge of Glory
Halfhyde at the Bight The Naval Officer
First to Land
of Benin Mr Midshipman Easy
The Horizon
Halfhyde’s Island Newton Forster or
Dust on the Sea
Halfhyde and the The Merchant Service
Knife Edge
Guns of Arrest Snarleyyow or
Halfhyde to the Narrows The Dog Fiend Twelve Seconds to Live
Halfhyde for the Queen Battlecruiser
BY V.A. STUART
Halfhyde Ordered South The White Guns
Victors and Lords
Halfhyde on Zanatu A Prayer for the Ship
The Sepoy Mutiny
For Valour
BY JAN NEEDLE Massacre at Cawnpore
A Fine Boy for Killing The Cannons of Lucknow BY DAVID DONACHIE
The Wicked Trade The Heroic Garrison The Devil’s Own Luck
The Spithead Nymph The Dying Trade
The Valiant Sailors
A Hanging Matter
BY JAMES L. NELSON The Brave Captains
An Element of Chance
The Only Life That Mattered Hazard’s Command
The Scent of Betrayal
Hazard of Huntress
BY JAMES DUFFY A Game of Bones
Hazard in Circassia
Sand of the Arena
On a Making Tide
Victory at Sebastopol
The Fight for Rome
Tested by Fate
Guns to the Far East
Breaking the Line
Escape from Hell
THE
ONLY LIFE
THAT
MATTERED
The Short and Merry Lives of
Anne Bonny, Mary Read,
and Calico Jack Rackam
JAMES L. NELSON
MCBOOKS PRESS, INC.
ITHACA, NEW YORK
Published by McBooks Press 2004
Copyright © 2004 by James L. Nelson
This book was previously published in a significantly different form by
Tor Books in 2001 as The Sweet Trade by Elizabeth Garrett.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book
or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.
Requests for such permissions should be addressed to
McBooks Press, Inc., ID Booth Building,
520 North Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850.
Cover illustration by William M. Benson
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nelson, James L.
The only life that mattered : the short and merry lives of Anne Bonny,
Mary Read, and Calico Jack Rackham / by James L. Nelson.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59013-060-X (trade pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Bonny, Anne, b. 1700—Fiction. 2. Read, Mary, d. 1720?—Fiction. 3.
Rackham, John, d. 1720—Fiction. 4. Caribbean Area—Fiction. 5. Women
pirates—Fiction. 6. Pirates—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3564.E4646O55 2004
813’.54—dc22
2004004758
All McBooks Press publications can be ordered by calling toll-free
1-888-BOOKS11 (1-888-266-5711).
Please call to request a free catalog.
Visit the McBooks Press website at www.mcbooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3
To Lisa Marie Nelson
The pirate who first told me about Anne and Mary
And then plundered my heart
author’s note
I AM VERY MUCH INDEBTED to the people who helped with the writ-
ing of this book. Thanks to Dirk Bes for the Dutch and Veronica Hanna
for the Spanish. Any linguistic mistakes are entirely my own. Dolores
Carbonneau gave invaluable assistance with birthing, both real and
fictional. Thanks to Ken Kinkor, pirate scholar, for answering my ques-
tions and to my early readers, Lola Furber, Melissa Sparks, and
Elizabeth Page. Thanks to Stephanie Lane for believing in this book
in the first instant.
The story of Calico Jack, Anne, and Mary is an incredible one, and
it holds a special place in my heart. The reality of pirate life was not
romantic, and neither is the story of these three people. It is a gritty,
often ugly story and a part of the real history of piracy in the Caribbean.
The people at McBooks Press, with their history of producing some
of the best maritime fiction currently being published, have under-
stood better than any other publisher could where this book fits. I am
very grateful to Alex Skutt, Jackie Swift, Judy Dietz, Chris Carey and
all of the people at McBooks for giving this book life. And thanks as
well for all they have done for me and for the advancement of mar-
itime fiction in this country.
My deepest appreciation goes out to Nat Sobel for his efforts on
behalf of this book.
A short life but a merry one!
—J.L.N.
prologue
THE BELLS RANG out from the whitewashed towers of St Jago de la
Vega on Jamaica’s north shore. Their deep bass tone filled the narrow
cobbled streets, the cool stucco homes, glanced off the red-tiled roofs
of the government buildings, so like those of Old Spain on which they
were modeled. Pealing, pealing . . . Today the court sits in session. Today
is a trial of pirates. Today will be tales of the sweet trade, of murders and
crimes most notorious, villainy on the high seas.
The ringing found its way into Mary Read’s cell, where she sat on
the stone bench—an outcropping of the cell wall, really—and traced
with her eyes the lines of dark mold that snaked along the mortared
crevices between whitewashed bricks.
A pretty sound, she thought. She had been hearing the bells for five
minutes, but she was just now listening. Pretty, for a death knell.
A shaft of morning light came in through the single window,
divided into five equal parts by the iron bars. The light looked like a
solid thing as it passed through the ubiquitous dust, as if Mary could
reach out and break off a piece and hold it in her hands.
At least it is warm, she thought, warm and dry. There were times
enough in her life when she would have gladly traded freedom for a
prison cell, if it meant being warm and dry. In fact, she mused, that
was just what she had done, and she still reckoned she had ended up
with the best of the bargain.
She shifted uncomfortably, looked up at the arched ceiling. It was
stone, whitewashed like the rest of the cell, like all the buildings of
those Spanish colonial towns. Now that the British were the masters of
Jamaica, it was a wonder to Mary that they did not paint everything
brown, or some such dreary tone, as the British were wont to do.
