John Rackham

John Rackham, also known as "Calico Jack," was an English pirate who operated in the Caribbean during the early 18th century. He is most famously associated with Anne Bonny, one of the few women to have defied the proscription against female pirates.12

In 1720, Rackham and Bonny stole a ship and began a campaign of piracy, plundering merchant ships and fishing boats in the Caribbean for several months. Their crew also included another female pirate, Mary Read. Rackham's career came to an end in November 1720 when their ship was captured off the coast of Jamaica. While Bonny and Read fought fiercely, the rest of the crew, including Rackham, were too inebriated to resist. Rackham and the male crew members were found guilty and executed.12