English pirate. She was born illegitimately sometime in the 1680s. Her mother was raising a baby boy whose mother had died, and when the baby boy also perished, Mary's mother disguised her daughter as the boy.

Mary fought in Flanders disguised as a man, then drifted to the Caribbean when the War of Spanish Succession was over. She joined a pirate crew and revealed her sex to a man she had fallen in love with. They lived faithfully in a common law marriage.

They shipped with a pirate captain called Calico Jack Rackham, whose lover, Anne Bonney, was also aboard the ship disguised as a man. Mary and Anne became good friends and were the only two crew members who refused to surrender when their ship was captured by pirate hunter Woodes Rogers in 1720. They were knocked unconscious and taken to trial, where it was revealed that they were both women and both pregnant. Since English law stated that a pregnant woman could not be hanged, they were both sentenced to long prison terms. Mary died in childbirth in 1721, but Anne survived and was ransomed by her father.

Research: GURPS Swashbucklers, Third Edition, by Steffan O'Sullivan, (C) 1999 by Steve Jackson Games, pp. 72-73.

Mary Read was one hard woman.

She fought with pirates.

She killed a man with her breast.

Mary Read has recently won acclaim in the GLBT community as one of history's most remarkable examples of transvestism. From childhood she dressed and lived as a male, and grew to a species tougher than most any human being of either gender — a pirate.

All history endorses that Mary Read lived as a man, starting with a childhood, when her mother dressed her in male clothing and brought her up according to traditionally male standards. She was conceived illegitimately while her father was at sea and came to replace a male child who had been claimed by sickness. Like Weekend at Bernie's, only a bit more dubious. At the time inheritance in England could be bequeathed only to male heirs.

Mary's un-father died at sea, leaving his 'son' a comfortable nest egg.

The money supported the family until Mary's early teens. When things became difficult, she found employment as a footboy for a wealthy French woman living in London — still disguised as a male. Soon she became bored with the job and took to the sea for the first time on a Man 'o War. This first taste of life on the water was an unsavory one, so after a few years she jumped ship and joined the British military.

As a footsoldier at the Battle of Flanders she displayed remarkable bravery, earning a promotion to the Horse Regiment where she met her first husband.

Husband?

Husband.

Mary Read's first husband was a fellow soldier in the Horse Regiment. She confessed her gender to him and they were married promptly. Shortly thereafter they took their commission from the military and opened an inn named The Three Horseshoes.

For the first time Mary lived as a woman. Her marriage was a happy one.

When her husband died she resumed life as a man and rejoined the military. Finding that the soldier's life reminded her of her dead spouse, she left again and slipped on a ship bound for the West Indies.

The ship was attacked by Captain Calico Jack Rackham and mistress Anne Bonny. Being a sanguine lass, Bonny took Read as a sexual conquest. In due course things revealed themselves, and the two women became fierce friends. Eventually Calico became suspicious and confronted Read with a cutlass. Read spilled the beans.

Calico didn't mind having another woman aboard. Read kept the disguise.

Sometime after that, Read fell in love for the second time. This crush was a captive from another tradebound ship. Again she quietly revealed her gender and began a love affair. Soon thereafter, Mary's beau offended a respected and vicious pirate and found himself scheduled to duel on the shore.

Mary knew her love was a dead man. So she challenged the pirate herself.

The two of them rowed to earth, each armed with a cutlass and a pistol loaded with a single shot. When they made landfall each fired in the air and drew blades. Mary was smaller, faster, and much more cunning than her adversary. She dodged every blow, waiting for a mistake to open an opportunity for killing.

The pirate stumbled, and Mary ripped open her shirt. The pirate stared.

Mary's swing nearly decapitated him.

Mary's beau was a brave man. He made landfall at the appointed hour, ready to die. But finding that he had only a corpse to battle, he proposed to Mary instead.

This love was short-lived too.

Calico's ship was soon captured, and all its crew was sentenced to hang. For the last time, Mary Read lived as a woman.

She was pregnant. Pregnant women did not hang. She earned a stay on her execution.

The pregnancy did her no good, though. Fever killed her in prison along with her unborn.

Research reveals only one memorable quote from Mary Read — ironically, regarding her thoughts on being hanged.

As to hanging, it is no great hardship. For were it not for that, every cowardly fellow would turn pirate and so unfit the sea, that men of courage must starve.¹

Mary Read was one hard woman.

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Sources

Pirates! Fact & Legend
http://www.piratesinfo.com/biography/biography.php?artcle_id=27

A Pirate's Who's Who
http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/pirates/whosmary.html

Fortunecity
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/lennon/897/read.htm

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Read

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¹ Quote from Pirates! Fact & Legend, first source.