CALICO JACK

'John Rackham' (died November 17, 1720), also known as 'Calico Jack Rackham' or 'Calico Jack', was an English pirate captain during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the colourful calico clothes he wore. John Rackham is remembered for employing two of the most notorious female pirates of his time – Anne Bonny and Mary Read – in his crew. John Rackham and most of his crew were executed in Jamaica.

Contents

Becoming Captain

Pirate career

Capture and Death

In popular culture

External links

Becoming Captain

In 1718 Rackham was quartermaster on a ship that belonged to Charles Vane. On November 23, the crew encountered a French warship. Vane decided to retreat rather than board the warship. The crew mutinied against him, left him on the shore of an unidentified beach and sailed away in a ship called "The Treasure". They made Rackham their new captain. He later successfully boarded and took over the French vessel.

Pirate career

The very same day he was made captain, he plundered several small vessels, earning him a good reputation with the crew. Once, while drinking in a local tavern, he met a woman named Anne Bonny. He decided to court her, and eventually asked if she would like to come along pirating with them. She agreed and dressed as a man so the crew would take little notice in her.

One day, they raided a small merchant vessel near the West Indies. Most of the crew had been killed and they had one man cornered. They asked if the man would join their crew rather than be run through with a cutlass, an offer to which he agreed. Bonny befriended the young man, and became his constant companion, igniting Rackham's jealousy. He confronted the man, who admitted to being a ''woman'' in disguise. The new sailor was, in fact, Mary Read. Throughout the course of their pirate years, it is rumored that they had a three-way sexual relationship. However, this rumor has never been proven.

Capture and Death

Governor Woodes Rogers had learned Rackham had stolen an anchored ship in Nassau harbor. He sent two large ships with 45 men to find the thief.
In early October near Nigril Bay, Captain Johnathan Barnet caught up with the stolen ship. Rackham immediately set sail trying to escape. When the pursuers caught up with them, most of the pirates took cover below deck but Bonny and Read fought on. It was a hopeless fight and they were captured.
On November 16, Rackham and 11 members of his crew were sentenced to death by hanging in St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica. Bonny and Read were found to be both pregnant and were thus jailed. Rackham was hanged the following day.
Bonny witnessed Rackham's death and had reportedly said "she was sorry to see him there, but if he had fought like a man, he need not have been hanged like a dog". Rackham was hung at Port Royal, His body was then put into a iron cage and hung from a gibbet on Dead man's Cay, a small island within sight of Port Royal which is today call Rackam's Cay.

In popular culture

★ Calico Jack is the title and subject of a song off Running Wild's album ''Port Royal''.

★ Jack Rackham's famous flag of a skull with two crossed swords under it was featured in the movie '' as Hector Barbossa's flag and also in the movie ''Cutthroat Island'' as Morgan Adams' flag. It is also Captain Hook's flag in the 2006 movie Peter Pan.

★ Calico Jack's flag was also one of several taken from real-life accounts and used in ''.

★ Calico Jack is one of the pirates featured in the game ''Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004)''.

★ Calico Jack appears in George MacDonald Fraser's novel The Pyrates.

★ A chain of bar/restaurants are named "Calico Jack's Cantina", after the Pirate.

★ "Calico Jack's Boutique", also named after the Pirate, is a clothing store specializing in alternative fashion in Wellington, New Zealand.

★ A New Hampshire version of a popular rum named after Henry Morgan (Captain Morgan) is called Calico Jack Spiced Rum

External links

★ Calico Jack Rackham - Pirate at BBC.co.uk

★ The Pirate's Life: Dead Men Tell No Tales - Jack Rackham (Calico Jack)

★ Breathern of the Coast - Captain Jack Rackham

★ The Crows Nest - Jack Rackham

★ Pirates of the Grand Turk - Calico Jack, Mary Read and Anne Bonney

★ "Calico Jack" Rackham at The Pirate's Realm