Scourge of Scoundrels #1: Ching Shih, She Was the World’s Greatest Pirate

What makes a pirate great? A chest full of gold, a fleet of ships, and a brutal and bloodthirsty crew are a good start. The pirate Ching Shih, or the Widow Ching, had more gold, more power, more ships, and tougher crews than any other pirate ever. She was also one of the very few pirates in the history of the world to retire and die of age related complications.

She makes Blackbeard and Captain Kidd look like little boys trying to play pirate.

What She Did: 

The Widow Ching commanded an armada of between 400 and 1200 ships with between 50,000 to 70,000 pirates under her command at any one time.

She was the most powerful naval force in the South China Sea. She defeated the Qing dynasty’s handpicked naval armada, sinking or capturing 63 of their ships, and allowing only enough survivors to ensure word got back to the Emperor about how horrible the battle had been.

Her Red Flag Fleet blockaded the Portuguese city of Macao, and took everything of value out. The Portuguese dispatched a fleet to deal with the pirates. The Portuguese fleet was crushed.

She also soundly defeated a British fleet created for the sole purpose of destroying her.

After their defeats, the British and Portuguese declined to go directly after Widow Ching’s pirate empire.

Her power was so great that some costal towns paid their taxes to her instead of the government.

She did anything she wanted in the South China Sea and its costal towns and villages.

How She Did It:

 

The Widow Ching was ruthless and cunning. She introduced accounting standards into the pirate fleet. Everything was recorded and put into the treasury. Every pirate got their share based upon rank and time of service. Her accounting was clean and transparent.

She also had a strict pirate code for her fleet. If anyone stole from the treasury, or tried to keep some treasure for himself without the proper paperwork, he was beheaded. If a pirate was insubordinate and failed to follow a direct order, he was beheaded. If anyone tried to freelance and issue their own orders he was beheaded.

If a pirate deserted his ship or took any unauthorized leave, he was hunted down and had their ears cut off. Then he was paraded around the ship in front of the crew so everyone could see what a coward he was.

Ching Shih had special rules about captives. Anyone raping a captive would be killed. Beautiful captives could be taken as wives or concubines, but any infidelity was punished by death. If any sexual relations were had while a pirate was on duty, the pirate would be beheaded, and if the relationship were consensual, the women would be chained with cannonballs and tossed into the sea.

Ugly captives were released back to shore.

In battle, male captives could choose to follow the pirate code and join the crew or be killed on the spot.

Back Story: 

Ching Shih first enters the written record in 1801 when the dreaded pirate Ching Yi captured her. He was so smitten by his captured prostitute that he made her his wife. But Ching Shih was not just a pretty face, and was not content with staying indoors all day, awaiting her man. She quickly became a partner in her husband’s piracy. By 1804 her husband’s fleet, known as the Red Flag Fleet, was the most powerful pirate fleet in the area.. The Chings also took rival pirate fleets and formed a confederation, further consolidating their power.

In 1807 Ching Yi had the misfortune to be on the wrong side of a typhoon and was killed in present day Vietnam. The Widow Ching worked quickly to consolidate her power.

She personally contacted the most powerful pirate captains in the confederation and secured their loyalty. She also quickly entered into a romantic relationship with her husband’s former second in command, his adopted son, Chang Pao. The two were fiercely loyal to each other. He helped institute his wife’s code and accounting regulations.

How Did It End:

The Chinese empire couldn’t get anyone to hunt Ching Shih down, and so they offered her, and most of her pirates, amnesty. Ching Shih took the offer, opened up a casino and brothel and lived peacefully until she died at age 69. She even got to keep her spoils.

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Scourge of Scoundrels is a series about the women and men in history who never let a little thing like rules or the law keep them from getting what they wanted.

You can find Scourge of Scoundrels #2: Soapy Smith, The West's Greatest Con Man

You may also like my series Intellectual Ninjas. 

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Jason McBride is the creator of the Intellectual Ninja and the Scourge of Scoundrels series. He is also the author of Watch Out For Sneaker Waves. He is currently hard at work on his first book of fiction, available Spring 2014.

He is the proud father of four amazing children and the happy husband of one wife. He aspires to be an extreme sleeper.