The most fearsome pirate who terrorized the China Seas between the 18th and 19th centuries was not a man, but a female pirate. If you’re thinking Anne Bonny, think again. Ching Shih, also known as Madame Ching, was by far the most prolific pirate of the era. At the peak of her power she commanded over 1500 sailing ships and anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 pirates at one given time. She waged conflicts with the largest empires of the time, including the British Empire, the Portuguese Empire, and the Qing Dynasty. She has now been immortalized in books, novels, games, and movies as one of the most successful pirates to have ever threatened the seas.
From Humble Beginnings to a Pirate Marriage
The most powerful female pirate in the world started off as a simple prostitute who was employed on a floating brothel in Canton. During her time at the brothel, she caught the eye of the commander of the “Red Flag Fleet,” a well-known pirate at the time, named Cheng I. Though the accounts vary on the specifics of the proposal, they came to an agreement of marriage as well as an agreement to run the “Red Flag Fleet” together.
Cheng I had descended from a long line of pirates, and once married to Ching Shih the two systematically united small gangs of pirates into a federation through the use of Cheng’s reputation along with military assertion. By the early 1800s, the force consisted of more than 70,000 men and 400 ships, making it one of the most powerful pirate fleets in all of China at the time.
Ching Shih Takes Command
At the age of 39, Cheng I died, and it was time for Ching Shih to seize her moment. She moved quickly to obtain the leadership position, and within less than two years of his death she commanded his fleet, which at the time consisted of 1800 ships and over 70,000 men and women. The fleet quickly gained control of the South China seas, and she gained the trust of the crew directly under her by sharing her power among them.
She continued to cultivate relationships that would solidify her position by drawing on her husband’s family members and the coalition for support against her rivals. She also seduced her step-son, Cheung Po, to ensure her leadership would be respected by lower-level pirates who had followed her husband.
Uniting the Fleet Under a Code of Laws
To demonstrate her leadership and unite all of the fleet under her power, she enacted a code of laws that were to be strictly enforced. Under Ching Shih’s code of laws:
- Anyone disobeying a superior’s orders or found giving their own orders were to be beheaded immediately.
- There was no stealing from the public fund nor from the villagers who supported them with supplies.
- All goods seized were subject to inspection by the group and then distributed by the fleet leader, with 20% going to the bearer and the rest to the public fund.
- If money was looted, it was to be turned over immediately to a squad leader, with a small percentage remaining with the seizer. Sentences for failure to do this ranged from whipping to a death sentence.
Other code violations could result in flogging, quartering, being clapped in irons, and having one’s ears cut off for desertion. Ching Shih also laid down specific rules for the capture of females. Most often female captives were released, though some of the more beautiful ones were kept for the men to take as wives or concubines. If a man was to take one as his wife, it was required that he remain faithful to her. Both infidelity and rape were punished by death.
Ching Shih’s Pirate Career
Ching Shih’s primary focus was on military strategy and business. She formed her own “ad hoc” government, complete with its own set of laws and methods of tax collection. She even had a multitude of coastal villages that she imposed taxes on as well, sometimes killing, kidnapping, and ransoming to bring the settlements under her power.
Her violent means of maintaining her power led to a push by the Chinese government to destroy her fleet, culminating in a fierce set of battles in which Ching Shih took control of the government ships. But it wasn’t only the Chinese government that was after her power. The largest threat came from competing pirate fleets. No matter the methods of attack, Ching Shih’s fleet outfought and defeated officials, bounty hunters, and rival pirate crews throughout the early 1800s.
The Fleet is Defeated
A series of defeats by the Portuguese Navy in the fall of 1809 led to the fleet’s ultimate demise. Their final battle occurred in 1810 when they surrendered to the Portuguese Navy after the Qing Imperial government offered amnesty to all those who surrendered. As a result of the government agreement, the surrendering pirates were allowed to keep their loot for the year. In the end, 60 were banished, 151 exiled, and 126 put to death with the remaining 16,981 pirates receiving amnesty after surrendering their weapons.
Post-Piracy Life
Ching Shih was eventually pardoned and even negotiated the retention of 120 of her ships, which she decided to dedicate to the salt trade. She also secured positions for others close to her, including Cheung Po, in mostly Chinese bureaucratic jobs. She even secured an official recognition of her marriage to Cheung Po, which went against restrictions preventing widowed women from remarrying. The couple gave birth to both a son and daughter before Cheung Po died at sea. After her second husband’s death, she relocated to the island of Macau, where she opened a gambling establishment and continued in the salt trade. In her final years, she served as an advisor during the battle against Britain in the First Opium War before dying of illness surrounded by her family at the age of 69. Her legacy lives on as the greatest pirate in history.
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