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.
