Anne Bonney
Shantyman Season 2 Episode 4
Welcome to the second season of my free serial adventure. I’m so excited for this episode! In many ways, the key moment of this episode inspired the entire series. I so hope you enjoy it.
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Oh, they plundered and murdered and raided the sea
With canons roaring, pistols warring
They ravaged galleons mercilessly
Anne, and Mary Read
La Belle Récompense’s head start was only as long as it took for a messenger to signal the nearest ship in the Asian fleet. A Chinese junk gained on them quickly. Her slight, angular form shot through the water with ease.
“Let them come.” Captain Flora Burn seethed. “We’ll rip her to shreds.”
Captain Burn turned to watch her crew. The initial scurrying to get underway and stow her stolen cargo wound down. She evaluated the situation and decided on a posture of cool confidence.
“Roberts!” she called her second over. “Release the extra hands and tell the helmsman to make very subtle evasive maneuvers.”
“Wit dat ship on our tail?”
“The crew’ll be too nervous to sleep. It won’t take long to clear for action if we need them..”
“And in da meantime, you’re not worried about a ting. I see.” Roberts smiled with understanding.
“I don’t keep you for your brains. I keep you for your abilities. Just do it.”
“Yes, Captain,” he replied without the slightest tone of offense. He knew he was valuable to his Captain.
“And Roberts,”
“Aye?”
“Keep an eye on that shantyman. A fortune-teller among the Singaporean’s men sensed his presence and warned me about keeping him aboard. ”
“That why you killed them?” Roberts jerked his head back toward the port town they’d just ravaged.
“I’ve killed men for less.”
They both burst out laughing maniacally and Roberts turned away to dismiss the extra men.
In truth, Flora Burn had gotten all she imagined she could from that particular contact in the East Indies. Rather than pay for her cargo and let him continue doing business, she used the meeting to end his monopoly and increase the dread surrounding her name, not to mention the profit she’d make from “free” goods.
As Jack worked, often with both arms no matter how sore his shoulder might be, he didn’t fail to notice that the same suspicious characters who’d guarded the boats in Singapore hovered over him like a gull near a fishing harbor. Though he didn’t know what he’d done to earn her suspicion, it was clear Captain Burn didn’t trust him. He couldn’t whisper anything, not even an encouragement to young Gruffyd. There certainly wouldn’t be any clandestine meetings with Weaver regarding how they might get home.
Home? How would he get Mac anywhere safe? Jack began to wonder if he should have listened to Weaver. Maybe Toh could have helped. And here he’d convinced Weaver to stick with the Recompense. La Belle Recompense. What a name. Hadn’t he learned anything in the way of wisdom in all his years? Jack mumbled prayers more like curses for Flora Burn to receive her own beautiful retribution, but only after he and his comrades were far, far away.
Only a few hours later, Burns’ henchmen skulked through the decks quietly summoning all hands.
“Clear for action, but do it quietly.” They commanded.
“Shantyman,” Roberts said, standing over Jack as he rolled from his hammock. “Cap’n wants you where she can see you. Go load da nine-pounda on the fo’c’sle wit what’s left a’ ya.”
“Aye. I’ll be up directly.”
By the time Jack joined Tommy Davis and a strange shipmate at the bow, the sleek Chinese ship had sailed alongside them but remained outside of cannon range. The ship was light and fast, but surely under-armed for a battle with Flora’s precious 64-gunner. Tommy Davis quietly but laboriously lowered a bucket containing a few cannonballs next to Jack.
The shantyman gazed over the ship, breathing deeply as he evaluated the situation. He heard the rumble of men below cautiously rolling the big guns out. He didn’t sign up for this–obliterating a crew of men seeking justice for stolen goods. Jack wasn’t afraid to die, but he was uncomfortable with the thought of going out in an act of piracy.
Tommy gazed anxiously at the junk, which still taunted the Recompense from a greater distance than the guns could reach.
Would the boy live through the battle? Jack wondered. The familiarity of Tommy’s profile reminded Jack that he thought he’d made a connection while at Toh’s house.
“Tommy, are you related to the Davis family from Suffolk?”
The boy stiffened but answered with feigned coolness. “I’m sure we’re distantly related. I have kin in that corner of the kingdom.”
“Hmm. I used to know a gal who had your same…I could almost swear you–”
Canonfire interrupted Jack, who was more pondering the likeness aloud than actually conversing with Davis. The junk had drawn closer and fired a warning shot. Unless it came into range, the warning was quite pointless. They could no more injure the Recompense than Captain Burn’s guns could reach them. What were they up to?
Captain Burn ordered fighting sails– all the sails set except the courses—so they had clear visuals in all directions. When Flora could no longer hide her frustration and growing anxiety, she stood on the quarterdeck facing aft. She would not let the men see her frustration. The junk fell behind and then gained along the starboard side, teasing the Recompense from one side, then the other. Flora remained there gazing at it over the stern as if her eyes could light its sails on fire. Whatever they were up to, it infuriated her.
Shots from the smaller ship continued to splash into the brine. Her fin-like sails beckoned like arrows. Flora fought her desire to go after them; she just needed to get out of Southeast Asia with her cargo. What she needed was a distraction–something that would send the message to the crew that they were on their merry way and couldn’t care two figs about the junk broadside to them at an annoying distance.
“Shantyman!” Captain Burn called out over the rush of wind and water.
Though Jack hurried, it took him far longer to traverse the entire length of the ship than Captain Burn’s sour mood allowed.
“How long’s it been?” She pointed to the bullet wound in his shoulder.
“‘Bout a fortnight, Captain.”
“Go get that sad hunk of wood out of your trunk and play me a ballad. A shantyman who can’t play isn’t worth his rations.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Jack hurried below to retrieve his fiddle. His mind spun between how to convince Captain Burn not to toss him overboard and a strange idea beginning to grow regarding Tommy Davis’s true identity. The latter was like a puzzle he’d only begun to piece together. The image began to take shape, but he couldn’t quite make it out.
An idea dawned on Jack Hudson, a risky one. A rush of excitement washed over him, like any gambler at a high-stakes game. He would test Tommy Davis with the ballad recounting the legend Jack suspected he was closely related to. If Captain Burn took offense, she’d shoot him where he stood. Regardless, the song called to him and he couldn’t resist.
Painfully and hastily, Jack tuned as he walked and therefore did a shoddy job of it. But there would be forgiveness amongst canon fire and wind. Jack positioned himself back on the fo’c’sle, with a hope and prayer that the Captain would leave him be so he’d have a good view of Davis. And maybe her difficulty in hearing the lyrics across the ship would save his life.
It took him a few tries to find the right key and play the hardly familiar tune. Every draw of the bow sent pain shooting through his shoulder. Soon enough, the music drew him in and the pain fell into the background. With his eyes set on Davis, who faced away from him, Jack began to sing:
I’ll tell you a tale of the pirate queen,
She who reigned the Caribbean Sea.
Pistols ready and her cutlass keen,
Villainous, infamous Anne Bonney.
At the first line, Davis stiffened and then slowly turned to face Jack. By the end of the last line, Hudson saw Ann Bonney’s steely eyes gazing out from Davis’ young visage. The lanky sailor looked from the shantyman to Captain Burn. Seeing nothing in the Captain’s manner to cause alarm, he turned back around to gaze over the bow, fighting to rein in his anger. Of course, Jack went on, one verse and chorus after another.
On October 1720
Gold they struck, so the boys got drunk
An easy opportunity
For a ship of British marines
Anne and Mary fought alone
With cutlass flying, pistols firing
They fought hard for their ocean throne
But, lost their victory
Davis breathed heavily, whether in anger or fear, Jack couldn’t tell at first. Then, he drew near the song’s end and the boy spun around to face him again.
“You’re going to get us both killed,” the young sailor’s voice high in alarm.
As he played, Jack slowly rotated to glimpse Captain Burn.
Flora paced the quarter-deck, only half listening to his distant ballad. She brooded and muttered. What was this ship playing at, slinging shots into the brine? Captain Burn stopped on the starboard side and stared at the pursuing ship.
So Jack sang on.
And so the crew were captured
Thrown in prison, death by hanging
But, Anne Bonny was pardoned
For her belly held a child…
That child turned once more to face Jack, emotion bringing blood to his cheeks and tears to his eyes. That’s when the shantyman realized he’d only solved half the puzzle. He saw it now, plain as day, and wondered how he hadn’t seen it before.
Tommy Davis was not Anne Bonney’s son, but her daughter. Shock made him forget the words so he played an instrumental refrain before finishing the song.
How had the female child of Anne Bonney found her way onto a pirate ship?
“Sail ho! Sail to Starboard!”
“I know you idjit! They’ve been dancing around us like a–” Captain Burn’s face fell with her last word.
There on the western horizon, like a pack of wolves, crept the entire Dutch East Indian fleet.
This episode is incredible! You've woven so much tension and mystery here—Captain Burn’s simmering anger, Jack’s risky ballad, and the suspense surrounding Tommy’s true identity. That ballad was such a clever, dangerous move by Jack! And the reveal of Anne Bonney’s daughter was both unexpected and brilliant. You captured that coming-of-age “awakening” for both Jack and Tommy in a way that feels like a true pivotal moment, the kind that shapes and haunts a character for the rest of their journey. And then, the appearance of the Dutch fleet on the horizon? Perfect cliffhanger. Can't wait for the next chapter!