John Rackham
Sign in to saveAlso known as Jack Rackham, "Calico Jack" Rackham, Calico Jack
English pirate (1682-1720)
Key facts
- Died
- 18 November 1720 , Port Royal , Colony of Jamaica
- Type
- Pirate
- Years active
- August – October 1720
- Rank
- Captain
- Base of operations
- Caribbean
- Commands
- William (briefly)
- Battles wars
- Capture of John Rackham
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- John
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Kingdom of Great Britain
- Place of birth
- Bristol
- Place of death
- Port Royal
- Occupation
- pirate
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Image
- Rackham, Jack.jpg
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- John Rackham (Calico Jack)
- date of birth
- 1682-12-02
- date of death
- 1720-11-16
- manner of death
- capital punishment
- cause of death
- hanging to death
- present in work
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- unmarried partner
- Anne Bonny
- name
- Calico Jack
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~16 min read
Encyclopedic overview
John Rackham (hanged 18 November 1720) was an English pirate operating in the Bahamas and Jamaica during the early 18th century. Although only referred to as John Rackham in primary sources, he is best known today by the likely fictional nickname Calico Jack. Rackham was active in 1720, towards the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, and is most remembered for having two female pirate crew members: Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
Most of Rackham's life prior to piracy is unknown. The first biography of Rackham comes from Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates. According to Johnson, Rackham was a pirate from England who served under Charles Vane before becoming captain. Though Johnson's version of events has become generally accepted, there is little evidence to support it.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “John Rackham” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.