A very big thank you to my earliest supporters who loved what they read and encouraged me to finish the story and take it through to publication; especially Timmo, Miriama and Lottie. Thank you to my brilliant editors, Carrie O’Grady and Nick Taylor, for their encouragement, sage advice and total enthusiasm for Anne and Mary’s story. Thanks too to my beta and ARC readers for all their feedback and reviews. Especially my Earper gang – I froggin’ love you guys.
To my wonderful children: as I am always saying, never be afraid to be who you are, or to love who you love. Conformity is for wimps. There is only one you for all eternity. Fearlessly be yourself, and you will find your people. This story is a good reminder of that.
Finally, my deepest thanks and devotion goes to Tim for his unwavering support and love. Thank you for understanding and loving all the parts of me. A lesser man would have bailed years ago.
Glossary & Fun Facts
Avast: an exclamation, interjection, or command, meaning to stop or cease.
Barrelman: a sailor stationed in the crow’s nest of a ship.
Cribbage: a popular card game, often played by pirates.
Furlong: an eighth of a mile, approximately 220 yards.
League: approximately 3 miles.
Pettifogger: an inferior legal practitioner, one who used dubious means to get clients.
Pleading the belly: a common law practice whereby a woman received reprieve of a death sentence until after she bore her child.
Roger: slang for the Jolly Roger – a black and white flag, often featuring a skull design, flown from many pirate ships.
Swiving: having sexual intercourse.
Pirates designed their own version of the Jolly Roger as a kind of individual brand. But Jack Rackham is credited as its original creator. The original Jolly Roger flag flown from Jack Rackham’s ship is shown below. The pair of crossed cutlasses was said to represent Anne Bonny and Mary (Mark) Read. The skull represented Calico Jack. Our infamous trio sailed the Caribbean seas together for many months under this flag before their eventual arrest and trial in November 1720.
Pierre, the dressmaker, was a real person and was widely known among pirates as “Pierre the Pansy Pirate”. His real name was Pierre Bouspet. He is reported to have owned a café, a hairdresser’s and a dressmaking business and was a popular figure with pirates throughout the Caribbean.
With no women around, homosexual relationships were thought to be commonplace among pirates at sea. Indeed, matelotage was a kind of pirate gay marriage – a same-sex civil partnership where two men agreed to share their wealth and belongings and, if one should die, the other would benefit by inheriting their partner’s property. The word “mate”, used commonly on board ships, was most likely derived from the French word “matelotage”.
As it turns out, the Golden Age of Piracy was way ahead of its time in more ways than one!
