Mary Read was a pirate who served under Calico Jack Rackham. Along with Anne Bonny, she has become one of the most recognized pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy.
Background information
Anne Bonny was mentioned throughout Disney media, including the souvenir book Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, originally published as The Story of a Robust New Adventure in New Orleans Square and later published as The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, which featured one of the concept art by Marc Davis of Anne Bonny and Mary Read dividing the stolen treasure. Further details were provided by the "Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates" bonus feature for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook.
The souvenir book Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, originally published as The Story of a Robust New Adventure in New Orleans Square and later published as The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World:
- Anne Bonney and Mary Read were as bloodthirsty and ruthless as the worst pirates who ever sailed the Caribbean. They experienced everything from military service to piracy. Both girls were raised to act as boys so they could earn more money. Mary, disguised as a young lad, served in the army in Europe, and Anne, donning the pirate garb, fought like a true corsair. As chance would have, the two women, both masquerading as men, met aboard Calico Jack Rackham's ship. Anne, who was married to Calico Jack, fell in love with Mary but found out she also was a woman. Mary, in the meantime, took a fancy to a frail sea-artist who was the object of much abuse on board. When he was challenged to a duel, Mary immediately came to the rescue by picking a fight with the same bully. She was victorious and married her man. When Calico Jack was captured, his entire crew was tried for piracy. Mary and Anne were both sentenced to death by hanging. But Mary died in prison, and Anne, who was in a delicate condition, was released and disappeared from the pages of pirate lore and history.
In the "Below Deck" bonus feature, as hosted by maritime historian David Cordingly:
- Mary Read was brought up as a boy, joined the army as a cadet, went out to Flanders, married a soldier, soldier died, and then joined a merchant ship. Went out to the West Indies, and the merchant ship was captured by Calico Jack, a pirate, who already had on that ship Anne Bonny as his lover.
Anne Bonney got her start as the kept woman of Calico Jack Rackham, but she wasn't a woman anyone could keep for long. After disguising herself as a man to join Rackham's crew, the incendiary Bonny became attracted to a fellow crewmember — only to find that her new "fellow" was Mary Read, another woman wearing breeches and passing herself off as a male pirate. A devoted friendship bloomed between the two women, who eventually achieved notoriety in a daring, two-woman, pistol-and-cutlass defense of the ship against English privateers.
So there was Calico Jack with the two women onboard who were by far the fiercest members of his crew. Calico Jack is sailing off the coast of Jamaica. He's intercepted by somebody called Captain Barnet who'd been sent out to capture pirates. They're all captured, sent to the capital of Jamaica. A trial takes place. All the men are hanged, but the women get off because they both manage to get pregnant, and you couldn't hang a woman with an unborn child because the child was innocent.
Disney Parks
Pirates of the Caribbean
A mural depicting Mary and Anne arm-in-arm decorates the interior queue of Pirates of the Caribbean, next to a mural depicting Captain Barbossa. The artwork used is based on concept art of Anne and Mary created by Marc Davis from when more historic figures were to appear in the attraction.
Other appearances
Printed materials
The Buccaneer's Heart!
In this non-canonical comic-book, Mary's ghost is summoned by a medallion called the Buccaneer's Heart. Mary is materialized alongside the ghosts of Blackbeard, Sir Henry Morgan and Bartholomew Roberts by William Turner. After they assist William, Will sets their spirits free and the four recognize Turner as a pirate captain destined for greatness.
Trivia
- Marc Davis' concept art of Anne Bonny and Mary Read was included in Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean souvenir book, Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean, Disneyland Paris, From Sketch to Reality, and Disney Pirates: The Definitive Collector's Anthology.
- Read's friend Anne Bonny appeared in deleted scripts for the original Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, the Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. She did go on to inspire the character of Redd in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, however.
- Since 2006, Anne Bonny and Mary Read arm-in-arm in the queue for Pirates of the Caribbean.
- It has since been speculated that, due to the claim that Anne Bonny and Mary Read were lesbian lovers, this might make them the first two explicitly LGBTQ+ characters featured in a Disney Parks property. Ultimately, it is impossible to determine if they were lovers. Neither woman left any primary sources behind, and sources such as the trial transcript make no mention of their personal lives.
Gallery
