The Ballade Of Mary Reede   A novel by Norman Schell 2016      Library Of Congress TXu002013620

 In November of 1720, one of the most famous pirate trials of what is called ‘the golden age of piracy’ took place in Santiago de la Vega – also known as Spanish town - Jamaica. Standing at the bar to answer for the crime of high piracy was ‘Captain’ John (Calico Jack) Rackham, along with twenty members of his crew. Two members of this crew, far more than Rackham’s own middling reputation, were to insure that his name, and this trial, would be prominently remembered in the turbulent history of the 18th Century Caribbean pirates. These two pirates were women, Mary Reede and Anne Bonny.

Mary Reede was convicted, along with Anne Bonny, of piracy and sentenced to hang. Her sentence was reprieved, according to the custom of the law, when she was found to be pregnant. She steadfastly refused to name the father of her child. She said only that they were ‘married according to the common law, and customs of the sea’, and that he was ‘as honest and upright a man as ever walked.’ The novel then is based upon the story of Mary Reede, as told to, and recounted in the memoirs of her husband, ‘by common law and custom of the sea’, John Tanner.

The prologue opens in the hills of Vermont. John Tanner is visited by the son of an old shipmate; he is given a chest that contains, among other items, a note signed with the stick drawing of a hanged man, and a Spanish dagger. The note, and his visitor, are both encouragements for Tanner to at last set to paper the story of his adventure, and that of his love for Mary Reede.

In chapter one, Tanner ‘lays the keel’ of the story and tells us of his history, of how he came to be who he is, and where he is. He was a protégé of Captain Charles Johnson –whose famous ‘General History of the Robberies & Murders Of The Most Notorious Pirates’ London 1724 provides the basis for the novel and its characters– He takes us through his life, training and experience to the fateful 22nd of June 1720, when his story truly begins.

In June of 1720, John Tanner is a 25-year-old ships carpenter. His vessel the Rachel is taken by pirates commanded by ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham, and John Tanner, as a ‘sea artist’, is taken by force to the crew of Rackham’s vessel the Kestrel. For the next four months Tanner serves the pirate vessel. He is privy to, and comments upon, the inner workings, the personnel, the articles and organization of the democratic commonwealth that is typical of the pirate crew of that time and place.

He meets an enigmatic pirate named Mark Reede, with whom he forms a bond of friendship that is strangely troubling to him at times. It is also a troubling friendship to Mark (Mary) Reede, for she has fallen in love with the younger man. Tanner has also gained the murderous attention of a pirate named Magoon, due in fact partly to the close relationship that he enjoys with Reede. There is a longstanding animosity between the two pirates that is explored.

During the cruise of the Kestrel around the ‘north sea’, or Caribbean, Tanner comes into contact with a family of smugglers. It is they who purchase and then land the pirate’s stolen goods, and distribute them into the island economy of Jamaica. He also witnesses the pirate’s relationship with the ‘maroons’, the societies of runaway slaves and refugee natives that maintain their isolated independence in the hills of Jamaica under the leadership of the famous ‘Queen Nanny’. Later in the story, on the island of Hispaniola, he meets the last of the true ‘Buccaneers’. All of these various little worlds are observed, described and commented upon by Tanner.

Several vicious one-sided confrontations with Magoon lead inevitably to a final crisis when the Kestrel takes, by storm, a Spanish vessel the Santa Maria Oloroso off of the coast of Columbia. The few survivors of the crew of the Spanish vessel are given quarter and left alive, but are locked below decks on the drifting hulk of the Santa Maria Oloroso.

When the Kestrel is well away, it is discovered that their prey is on fire and that the few men left aboard are thus doomed. Tanner accuses Magoon of willfully setting the murderous fire and is openly attacked on the deck of the Kestrel. In the course of his attack on Tanner however, Magoon has struck Mark Reede as well and drawn blood. This is shown to be a deliberate act, and it brings the long-standing animus between Reede and Magoon to its crisis as well.

By the pirate’s code of law, the now violent disputes between Magoon and Reede, and Magoon and Tanner must be ‘brought to the beach’ and settled with ‘cutlass and ball’. Mark (Mary) Reede knows that her ‘beloved John’ will be no match for Magoon, and presses her case for priority over the matter between Magoon and Tanner. This matter is settled according to the articles under which the commonwealth sails, and Reede and Magoon are brought ashore to settle the matter between them. Reede is victorious in the deadly combat.

Immediately after the brutal flight on the beach the Kestrel is forced into a running fight with two Garda Coastal cutters and a small English man-of-war, the sloop of war Happy. Gunnery from the Kestrel disables the English vessel and the Kestrel readily out sails the two cutters and escapes to the open sea.

These pivotal moments lead Mary Reede to later ‘discover’ herself to John Tanner. With the reason for the strange feelings that had troubled his friendship for Reede now apparent, Tanner returns, with fervor, the love which is offered to him.

Mary tells Tanner the story of her life. Their love, and her true nature, must still be kept secret however, for she is determined to take her share of the voyage and leave the persona of Mark Reede behind forever, and thus to continue the remainder of her life as a financially secure woman. The lovers make plans for a life together as man and wife – a life which Tanner later maintains alone in the New England hills – and they steal such moments of intimacy as they can while the Kestrel prowls the sea.

The pirates return to their ‘business’, and three additional vessels are plundered; it is witnesses from these vessels that testify against the crew at their trial in Santiago de la Vega. After the Kestrel makes contact with the remnants of the Buccaneers in Hispaniola in order to resupply, the pirates then return to Jamaica in order to deliver muskets, pikes and other weaponry taken from the Spanish vessel Santa Maria Oloroso to ‘Queen Nanny’ and the maroons, they are paid in gold taken in bloody, armed raids on the plantation houses.

Tanner and Mary have a week long Idyll in the maroon village of ‘Nanny Town’ and are witness to a large gathering of the maroons, including the famous Captain Cudjoe. Queen Nanny describes her and her people’s descent into slavery, and their subsequent freedom as Maroons’, aided by the ‘Forest spirit’ and the remnants of the indigenous Arawak peoples of the island.

The pirates arrange to meet again at Negril with the smuggler Vazquez to sell the last of their goods. They are in a drunken celebration when the Kestrel is surprised and taken, after a brief fight, by the bounty hunter John Barnett. They are sent in chains to Port Royle, and then on to the ‘Spanish town’ prison for trial. Tanner is acquitted as a forced man, and is released by the Admiralty court to the custody of Captain Johnson. Jack Rackham and the crew are condemned and sentenced to hang, and be gibbeted according to Admiralty Law.

When discovery is made of the true sexes of Mary Reede and Anne Bonny, they are tried, convicted and sentenced to hang separately from the men of the crew. Both women are reprieved due to pregnancy. As Rackham’s lover, Bonny’s child is assumed to be his. The father of Mary’s child is not disclosed, and Tanner must be physically restrained by Captain Johnson and his men from rushing to Mary’s side- in an ill conceived, and potentially fatal, bid to aid and comfort her.

Hopeful to the end for a release of Mary and the child being accomplished either by the influence of his mentor Captain Johnson, or by William Cormac, Anne Bonny’s wealthy and bellicose father, who has vowed that he would see his daughter free, ether by bribe of force of arms. Anne Bonny will not leave her friend Mary behind and so the escape plan includes John’s wife, Mary.

Tanner remains in Jamaica until April of 1721. In that month Anne Bonny is successfully spirited away by her father but Tanner learns that Mary and the child have perished of ‘the fever’ in prison on the very day of the scheduled ‘rescue’.

Tanner is witness to the burial of his wife and child.

Tanner ships out on the next available vessel bound north to the ‘colonies’, and arrives in Boston in July of 1721 to begin that life which is outlined in the prologue and chapter one of the novel.

The Ballade Of Mary Reede by  Norman Schell 2016 Library Of Congress TXu002013620

An Introductory outline of the story and its historical background.

In November of 1720, one of the most famous pirate trials of what is called ‘the golden age of piracy’ took place in Santiago de la Vega – also known as Spanish town - Jamaica. Standing at the bar to answer for the crime of high piracy was ‘Captain’ John (Calico Jack) Rackham, along with twenty members of his crew. Two members of this crew, far more than Rackham’s own middling reputation, were to insure that his name, and this trial, would be prominently remembered in the turbulent history of the 18th Century Caribbean pirates. These two pirates were women, Mary Reede and Anne Bonny.

Mary Reede was convicted, along with Anne Bonny, of piracy and sentenced to hang. Her sentence was reprieved, according to the custom of the law, when she was found to be pregnant. She steadfastly refused to name the father of her child. She said only that they were ‘married according to the common law, and customs of the sea’, and that he was ‘as honest and upright a man as ever walked.’ The novel then is based upon the story of Mary Reede, as told to, and recounted in the memoirs of her husband, ‘by common law and custom of the sea’, John Tanner.

The prologue opens in the hills of Vermont. John Tanner is visited by the son of an old shipmate; he is given a chest that contains, among other items, a note signed with the stick drawing of a hanged man, and a Spanish dagger. The note, and his visitor, are both encouragements for Tanner to at last set to paper the story of his adventure, and that of his love for Mary Reede.

In chapter one, Tanner ‘lays the keel’ of the story and tells us of his history, of how he came to be who he is, and where he is. He was a protégé of Captain Charles Johnson –whose famous ‘General History of the Robberies & Murders Of The Most Notorious Pirates’ London 1724 provides the basis for the novel and its characters– He takes us through his life, training and experience to the fateful 22nd of June 1720, when his story truly begins.

In June of 1720, John Tanner is a 25-year-old ships carpenter. His vessel the Rachel is taken by pirates commanded by ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham, and John Tanner, as a ‘sea artist’, is taken by force to the crew of Rackham’s vessel the Kestrel. For the next four months Tanner serves the pirate vessel. He is privy to, and comments upon, the inner workings, the personnel, the articles and organization of the democratic commonwealth that is typical of the pirate crew of that time and place.

He meets an enigmatic pirate named Mark Reede, with whom he forms a bond of friendship that is strangely troubling to him at times. It is also a troubling friendship to Mark (Mary) Reede, for she has fallen in love with the younger man. Tanner has also gained the murderous attention of a pirate named Magoon, due in fact partly to the close relationship that he enjoys with Reede. There is a longstanding animosity between the two pirates that is explored.

During the cruise of the Kestrel around the ‘north sea’, or Caribbean, Tanner comes into contact with a family of smugglers. It is they who purchase and then land the pirate’s stolen goods, and distribute them into the island economy of Jamaica. He also witnesses the pirate’s relationship with the ‘maroons’, the societies of runaway slaves and refugee natives that maintain their isolated independence in the hills of Jamaica under the leadership of the famous ‘Queen Nanny’. Later in the story, on the island of Hispaniola, he meets the last of the true ‘Buccaneers’. All of these various little worlds are observed, described and commented upon by Tanner.

Several vicious one-sided confrontations with Magoon lead inevitably to a final crisis when the Kestrel takes, by storm, a Spanish vessel the Santa Maria Oloroso off of the coast of Columbia. The few survivors of the crew of the Spanish vessel are given quarter and left alive, but are locked below decks on the drifting hulk of the Santa Maria Oloroso.

When the Kestrel is well away, it is discovered that their prey is on fire and that the few men left aboard are thus doomed. Tanner accuses Magoon of willfully setting the murderous fire and is openly attacked on the deck of the Kestrel. In the course of his attack on Tanner however, Magoon has struck Mark Reede as well and drawn blood. This is shown to be a deliberate act, and it brings the long-standing animus between Reede and Magoon to its crisis as well.

By the pirate’s code of law, the now violent disputes between Magoon and Reede, and Magoon and Tanner must be ‘brought to the beach’ and settled with ‘cutlass and ball’. Mark (Mary) Reede knows that her ‘beloved John’ will be no match for Magoon, and presses her case for priority over the matter between Magoon and Tanner. This matter is settled according to the articles under which the commonwealth sails, and Reede and Magoon are brought ashore to settle the matter between them. Reede is victorious in the deadly combat.

Immediately after th

     The Ballade Of Mary Reede