Ching Shih

Lino portrait by Carine

Meet Ching Shih, widely considered the most successful pirate in history. She commanded the largest crew ever assembled, negotiated herself out of her crimes and died in 1844 in her own bed as a free woman.

She started off working as a young girl in a brothel, but she ended up running it in a few years. After taking over from her pirate husband, she terrorised the China Seas with her fleet of 300 junks (traditional Chinese sailing ships) manned by 20,000 to 40,000 pirates. She had very strict and harsh rules, which included the protection of female prisoners. If a man raped a woman on board, he would be put to death. If the sex was mutual, they would both have to die.

No navy could capture or defeat her fleet. They raided coastal towns and other ships, enriching themselves and infuriating the authorities. Only when Ching Shih was offered deal by the Chinese government did she step back on land. She negotiated the freedom of herself and 98% of her crew, some of her top guys even ended up working for the government. She died in Portuguese enclave Macao, as a salt trader and owner of a gambling house and brothel. The most successful pirate in history died a free woman.

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Grainne O’Malley was an Irish pirate queen who terrorised the Irish coast and those who worked against her. She also managed to manoeuvre herself out of any severe consequences and lived until her 70s. There’s a great BBC Sounds You’re Dead To Me episode on her life. Sayyida al Hurra, whose name means ‘lady who is free and independent, the woman sovereign who bows to no superior authority’, was also a pirate leader. A pirate queen even. She spoke several languages and became queen of Tétouan in Northen Morocco and in 1515, after the death of her husband, became the ‘undisputed leader of pirates of the westen Mediteranean’. Another parallel is that she also lived in retirement after this risky career.

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