Anne Bonny’s male crewmates were tried and hanged for piracy within weeks of their capture. Bonny was sentenced to die, but she succeeded in “pleading the belly,” winning a stay of execution because she was pregnant. By some accounts, she was eventually released, returned to Charles Towne, and died some years after her 80th birthday.
How did Anne Bonny die?
What was Anne Bonny’s childhood like?
It is believed that Anne Bonny was born near Cork, Ireland, but this, like most information about her life, is regarded as speculation. She and her parents may have moved to Charles Towne, Carolina, when she was a child, and she may have left home after rejecting her father’s choice of a suitor for her.
