The portrayal of Rackham probably has something to do with his more famous pair of companions, Anne Bonney and Mary Read. Any romanticized notions of him and his partners probably start with Charles Johnson's General History of Pyracy (2 volume work, with first edition put through 4 editions that had notable new content/edits made with each edition, from 1724-1728). Writers in the three centuries afterwards, and even historians have fallen victim to maintaining and romanticizing them. The story of two ferocious women disguised as men was too tempting for period "factual fiction" writers. Only recently in scholarly works, such Neil Rennie's Treasure Neverland: Real and Imaginary Pirates are historians put on notice (even historians such as David Cordingly and Marcus Rediker) for perpetuating such romanticism that is unfounded in documents (including the available trial account of the gang). Beyond Johnson's questionable chapter on them, the two women can't be shown to have done more than joined the pirates after becoming pregnant and probably following the father. They are only recorded as dressing as men during combat (easier to operate in during combat) and helping the other pirates with such things as passing powder (and not actually engaging in combat proper - after all, they had unborn children to be concerned about). In addition to the pregnancy issue, Rackham's crew was small and could use all the help they could get, more than likely. In the process of making a great story for the two female pirates, Rackham got wrapped up into it as well. Trying to imagine it from the writer's perspective, how could you not make him a bit more eccentric. Reflecting on his career, besides leading a vote to relieve Charles Vane of his captaincy in his crew (Rackham was the quartermaster at the time), his career appears to be marked with not so notable taking of modest merchant vessels. He never acquired a ship of force or notable crew of any size, just small crews and vessels. He seemed hum drum and maybe not the brightest pirate based on his track record (I remember one occurrence when a ship they just captured was taken back by people hired from Jamaica while Rackham and his gang were on shore - this was before the Bonny-Read relationship). Overall, it would be conjecture at best to say Rackham was eccentric and humorous (since how he attracted the attention of two women might require some of that if the two women weren't just prostitutes he knocked up) and based on his action I wouldn't see he was brighter than your average pirate leader.

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