Was Ching Shih the Most Successful Pirate in History?

Women typically don’t come to mind where piracy is involved, but maybe that should change. Talk about famous pirates will inevitably land upon the name of Blackbeard, for example. Yet despite all of the conventions of the time, some women really did rise to notoriety as pirates. Perhaps the most successful was Zheng Yi Sao, also known as Ching Shih, a Chinese female pirate who once commanded thousands of outlaws on the South China Sea.

Born in 1775, Ching Shih lived during the Qing Dynasty. Following the death of her pirate husband in 1807, she took over command of his 1,800 ships, known as the Red Flag Fleet, and over 40,000 men (or 80,000 according to some sources). Her authority was respected, and her strict code of laws was obeyed by the men. Several attempts by Qing Dynasty officials, the Portuguese Navy, and the East India Company to bring Ching Shih down were unsuccessful, and she gained the notoriety of becoming arguably the world’s most successful pirate.

In 1810, Ching Shih accepted amnesty from the Chinese government after a series of battles with the Portuguese Navy left the Red Flag Fleet severely weakened. She retired from her life of piracy and returned to her hometown, where she became the proprietor of a gambling house. In 1844, Ching Shih died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 69.

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