Calico Jack Rackham

Lore & Background

Rackham first appears in records around August 1720 after stealing merchant John Ham's sloop from Nassau harbor on 22 August. After a short two-month run, Rackham was captured by Jonathan Barnet, a former English privateer, on 22 October 1720. Rackham was put on trial by Sir Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica, and hanged on the 18th of November that year in Port Royal, Jamaica. According to writer James Knight, Rackham was beheaded and his head was gibbeted on a very small cay at the main entrance to Port Royal known as Plumb-Point. By the 1750s, it had become known as Rackham's Cay. Anne Bonny and Mary Read both claimed to be pregnant at their trials, ten days after Rackham's execution, and so were given a temporary stay. Read died in April 1721, cause unknown. There is no historical record of Bonny's release or of her execution, although there does exist a burial record for an Ann Bonny in 1733.

In Their Own Story

On 22 October 1720, Rackham's sloop was laid at anchor and fired a gun which caught the attention of Bonadvis' sloop. Bonadvis reported this to Barnet who sailed to investigate the sloop. At 10 PM Barnet called out to the sloop and inquired who they were. The reply was 'John Rackham from Cuba' and Barnet immediately ordered him to strike his colors. Someone replied, 'We shall strike no strike' and fired a swivel gun at Barnet's sloop, missing. Barnet ordered a broadside which destroyed the boom on Rackham's ship and his crew called for quarter. Barnet had the men put ashore at Davis's Cove near Lucea, Jamaica, where Major Richard James placed them under arrest. Rackham and his crew were brought to Spanish Town, Jamaica, in November 1720, where they were tried and convicted of piracy and sentenced to be hanged.

Reader's Guide

Rackham's career was remarkably short. He first appears in records around August 1720 and was captured by October 1720. Despite claims from *A General History*, John Rackham does not appear in records prior to August 1720. His name was not on Vincent Pearse's list of pirates who surrendered upon promise of a pardon, nor does any newspaper mention him by name. In all likelihood, Rackham was not even a pirate until the year 1720. The flag commonly associated with Rackham depicts a white skull above crossed swords on a black background, but at trial no witness described Rackham ever using such a flag, only noting that his sloop flew 'a white pendant' (pennon). George Fetherston (Master), Richard Corner (Quarter-Master), John Davis, and John Howell were executed along with John Rackham in Port Royal. Patrick Carty, Thomas Earl, James Dobbin and Noah Harwood were executed the next day in Kingston.

Did You Know?

• Rackham was hanged on 18 November 1720 in Port Royal, Jamaica, and his head was gibbeted on a cay that later became known as Rackham's Cay.
• When captured, Rackham identified himself as being 'From Cuba' rather than England.
• No contemporary description of Rackham's clothing, physical appearance, age, or national origin exists from his trial.
• The nickname 'Calico Jack' is likely fictional and not found in primary sources.
• Rackham's entire known pirate career lasted only about two months, from August to October 1720.