Before he was Calico Jack, John Rackham was a quartermaster. He seized command from Captain Charles Vane in 1718 after Vane retreated from a fight. His career was marked by small-scale raids on Jamaican shipping. After a public affair, he fled Nassau with Anne Bonny, James Bonny’s wife. Mary Read, who had lived disguised as a man for much of her life, joined them. Their end came during a drunken anchor watch off Jamaica. Royal Navy forces captured them with minimal resistance. Pledging pregnancy