John Rackham

Another tactic was the sudden ambush.

Calico Jack Rackham would extinguish every light on his ship and sail toward his prey in complete darkness.

Once he was close enough that escape was impossible, the lights would come on and the attack would begin.

By the time the merchant crew realized they were under attack, they were already surrounded.

I mean, I would want to sit and buy Mary Readon and Bonnie a beer and get their tails, but I don't want to meet them in a dark alley.

Well, and Jen, to your point, I remember I was reading about Anne Bonny and Mary Read and like some people were speculating because they served on the same ship with Calico Jack Rackham.

And some people like, well, were Anne and Mary into each other? And like, were they part of a relationship? And one historian was like, well, no, because they were with men and they both got pregnant.

I'm like, oh, sweet summer child, you know? Yeah.

Then we have Nathaniel Knopf.

We have Jack Rackham.

We have William Kidd.

And we have Ned Lowe.

So there you go.

That's enough.

Is it good enough to go through? We will have to see because next up, a much bigger name in piracy, Jack Rackham.

Jack Rackham.

She's in a dark place right now.

And then, out of nowhere, a man named Calico Jack walks onto the island.

Jack is the head bitch in charge of all the pirates, okay? And when he shows up to town, immediately there's, like, a m- a vibe shift.

Unlike her lame husband [laughs], Jack commands respect from everyone he meets, and he even takes Anne's breath away.

Pirates were in the habit of congregating at this place, and Anne was greatly delighted with the company of these daring, dashing sea robbers, of whose exploits she had so often heard.

The more she associated with the pirates, the less she cared for the plain, stupid sailors who were content with the merchant service, and she finally deserted her husband and married a Captain Rackham, one of the most attractive and dashing pirates of the day.

Anne went on board the ship of her pirate husband, and as she was sure his profession would exactly suit her wild and impetuous nature, she determined also to become a pirate.

She put on man's clothes, girded to her side a cutlass, and hung pistols in her belt.

During many voyages, Anne sailed with Captain Rackham, and wherever there was pirate's work to do, she was on deck to do it.

At last the gallant captain came to grief.

He was captured and condemned to death.

Just before his execution, Anne was admitted to see her husband, but instead of offering to do anything that might comfort him or palliate his dreadful misfortune, she simply stood and contemptuously glared at him.

I remember saying, I saw the flaming lips at another, um, live show before it.

I don't think I knew the rapture were opening and I knew it was, I was really into oyster night at Calico Jack's at that time.

And I, I said, which one's better.

And I decided that oyster night at Calico Jack's was a stronger choice.

It's funny.

You

Oh, yeah.

They included Charles Vane, Jack Rackham, and the terrifying legendary Blackbeard, played by the late Ray Stevenson.

So what does this all mean for the legacy of this story?

It means they were attempting something on an unprecedented scale.

Black Flag's gimmick is that these are all famous historical pirates like Blackbeard, Steve Bonnet, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, all of these different characters that are known.

Calico Jack.

And they have database entries that are, as far as I understand, more or less aligned with their history.

But Blackbeard is actually a really prominent ally in this game and a character that you come to love.

Oh, man.

Calico Jack's, CJ's, the oyster bar.

They serve amazing wings and oysters.

Never ate the oysters, but the wings were great.