In which Jamaican town were Anne Bonny and Mary Read tried for piracy in 1720?

Anne Bonny and Mary Read were tried for piracy in Spanish Town, Jamaica, in 1720.

Bonny and Read served aboard the pirate sloop William, commanded by John “Calico Jack” Rackham. Jamaican authorities captured the group in October 1720 after a privateer attacked while many of the pirates were reportedly intoxicated. The prisoners were then taken to Jamaica for trial.

The proceedings took place in Spanish Town, which was Jamaica’s administrative capital at the time. Both women were convicted of piracy and sentenced to death, but each received a reprieve because she declared that she was pregnant. Their later lives are uncertain, and reliable records do not establish exactly what happened to either woman after the proceedings.

Port Royal is a common mix-up because it was Jamaica’s famous earlier port, but it was not the trial location in this case.