THE STORY OF JACK

In the early 1700's one of the most illustrious pirates to scavenge the West Indies was the handsome sailor Jack Rackham.  Though he was a ruthless pirate known for his plundering of rich merchant ships, Jack was also known for his fairness, his love of taverns, and his love of women.  In fact, Captain "Calico Jack," so named for the shirt and breeches of white calico sailcloth that he habitually wore, once captured a ship off the coast of Jamaica.  On board was a tavernkeeper named Hosea Tisdale who Jack knew from his many rambunctious nights in Montego Bay.  Being fond of the old barkeep, Jack set him free and insured his safe passage back to the mainland.

In his home-based region of the Virgin Islands, Jack met one of the few women sailors of that era in a local bar.  Anne Bonny was a beautiful and well-proportioned woman who had been forced into marriage by her wealthy Carolina family with a British hustler named James Bonny.  Jack fell head over heels for Anne and offered to buy her from her husband, who refused his offer.  Bonny then brought charges against his wife for philandering with Jack, to the British Governor, Woodes Rogers.  Rogers sentenced Anne to be flogged and returned to her husband.  On the night of the Governor's ruling, Jack and Anne slipped into the harbor, stole a sloop (they renamed it Revenge), and started a pirate's life together, taking as their ships flag a skull with crossed sabers, not crossbones, to show their willingness to fight.

As they worked their way around the Caribbean, Jack and Anne captured a vessel that had a spunky sailor on board who though dressed as a man, was a woman.  Her name was Mary Read.  She joined Jack and Anne and they became an infamous pirateering threesome known for enjoying life on the high seas.  The good times caught up with the trio off the coast of Negril where a British military sloop captured them one night while Jack and the men were drunk below deck and only the two women were able to fight.  The three were tried and convicted.  Jack was hanged in an inlet now known as Rackham's Cay.  The two women, who were both pregnant, were granted delayed trials.  Mary died of an illness while imprisoned.  It was rumored that Anne was secretly released with a ransom paid by her father, and she returned to Charleston, South Carolina.

The three chose to frolic in the freedom of the islands and it has been said that Jack often called their adventures, "The Only Life That Matters."  So in the spirit of his merry island life we have named our humble place for good food, good times, and good friendship.......