Mary Read | |
|---|---|
 Mary Read as depicted in A General History of the Pyrates | |
| Born | |
| Died | April 1721 |
| Resting place | St. Catherine Parish, Jamaica |
| Piratical career | |
| Type | Pirate |
| Allegiance | Calico Jack |
| Base of operations | Caribbean |
Mary Read (died April 1721), was an English pirate. She and Anne Bonny were among the few female pirates during the "Golden Age of Piracy".
Read was likely born in England. General History says she began dressing as a boy at a young age, at first at her mother's urging in order to receive inheritance money and then as a teenager in order to join the British military. She then married and upon her husband's death moved to the West Indies around 1715.
Around August 1720, she joined Jack Rackham's crew, dressing as a man alongside Anne Bonny. Her time as a pirate was short lived, as she, Bonny, and Rackham were arrested in October 1720. Rackham was executed in November, but Read and Bonny both claimed to be pregnant during their trials and received delayed sentences. Read died while imprisoned in April 1721.