Posted by http://jamaica-guide.info/past.and.present/history/french.spanish/
This was the era of some of the most famous pirates in history, including Blackbeard and Calico Jack. Blackbeard, born Edward Teach, may have been born in Jamaica, but claims to his birth are also made in Bristol, England and in Carolina. Wherever he was born, this feared pirate is said to have led attacks with burning matches woven into his beard.
Captain Charles Vane, another notorious pirate, was captured, brought to Jamaica, and hung at Gallows Point. Jack Rackham, known as "Calico Jack," began his career as a part of Vane's crew and became more famed than Vane.
Calico Jack was also caught off the coast of Jamaica while staying too near the island after attacks on the coast in 1720. His presence near Ocho Rios was announced to the governor, Sir Nicholas Lawes, who sent Captain Barnet to capture Calico Jack.
The pirate had anchored in Negril Bay and was enjoying a rum punch party when Barnet tracked him down. He was quickly captured, and the Court of Vice Admiralty in Spanish Town was home to the trial. The trial revealed that two of Jack's most fearsome crew members were actually women disguised as men.
Both Anne Bonney and Mary Read were condemned to death. Though Bonney seems to have escaped, Read died of fever in prison. Calico Jack was also executed, and his body was displayed in an iron frame as warning to other pirates on a small islet off of Port Royal - one which is known as Rackham's Cay to this day.
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