Rum, unfortunately, also caused the ruin of many pirate crews. In military and merchant ships the authorities checked (contro = controllavano) the consume of rum; in a pirate ship, the code of discipline was quite weak (frail = debole) and usually did not care about alcohol abuse (= abuso). Stories say that many pirate ships were easily boarded (= abbordate) because the mariners were too drunk to fight. One of the most famous example is the capture of the ship run (= comandata) by the notorious (= famigerati) pirates Anne Bonney, Mary Reed, and Calico Jack Rackham.
Mary Read and Anne Bonny
Nearly all pirates were men – with some notable exceptions. Mary Read and Anne Bonny were two women who disguised themselves ( = si travestirono) as men and became pirates. They were better sailors than most of the men on their ships. Mary was a young Englishwoman who run away to find adventures. Anne went to sea when she fell in love with (to fall in love with: innamorarsi di) the famous pirate Calico Jack Rackham. She soon decided to become a pirate, too. Mary and Anne met when Mary’s ship attacked a merchant ship on which Anne was hiding. Together, the two women terrorized the Caribbean until they were captured near Jamaica in 1720.