By Manushag N. Powell, Purdue University
Apart from the European pirate queens, there have been other tremendous examples of women who have ruled over pirates elsewhere in the world. A case in study is Cheng I Sao, the woman who was, more than any other we’ve got records for, indisputably a pirate, a pirate queen, and indisputably a pirate of legend, too.
Who Was Cheng I Sao?
Cheng Sao, also called Ching Shih, was a 19th century pirate admiral who took on the British, the Portuguese, and the Ching alike. Her pirate fleet consisted of some 400 ships, and her pirates numbered in the tens of thousands.
Instead of retiring to the faraway Caribbean or Madagascar exile like so many of our Golden Agers, Cheng I Sao reputedly settled down as the doyen of an infamous gambling house in Macao.
An Expert Negotiator
Eventually, she established such a base of power that she was able to negotiate a posh settlement for herself and her fleet. Garnering almost all of them not only peace and protection but also the right to keep most of their ill-gotten gains.
For all the cultural power of the pirates of the Caribbean and the havoc they caused, piracy never involved, even at its height, more than 2,000, or 3,000 men. The high point of Chinese piracy involved six or seven fleets and more than 50,000 mariners. It dwarfed the invincible Spanish Armada if one needs a point of comparison.
Also important, these were junk rigged ships whose sales were expanded forward in front of the mast by batons rigid polls basically, that ran through the cloth. Junk culture was unique to the East. Large floating communities made of junk boats, many of them functioning essentially as houseboats, carried entire families who rarely set foot ashore.
Women on Pirate Ships
Women were present as laboring members of these communities, unlike in the Mediterranean, or Caribbean ships. In a few cases, they may have assumed command ranks. This did not make a female pirate admiral a common sight, however, quite the opposite.
Dian Murray, the historian who has done the most in English to untangle fact from fiction in Cheng I Sao’s legend, compares her exploits to “The Ballad of Mulan”, although she also knows that this does not seem to be a comparison made by Chinese writers.
This article comes directly from content in the video series The Real History of Pirates. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Cheng I Sao’s Marriages and Inheritance
When she was a Cantonese sex worker known as Shih Yang, Cheng I Sao (the name means Madame Chiang) met the great Pirate Cheng I and married him in 1801. Their union occurred against the backdrop of rebellion in Vietnam that caused a large pirating and privateering operation to become unstable, leading to instability in China’s Pearl River Delta, as well.
When things in the Delta had settled, Cheng I and Cheng I Sao had consolidated power as chiefs among a new confederation of pirates. They controlled the important red flag fleet.
When Cheng I died in 1807, Cheng Sao took over the family business very ably, taking the unusual step in this case of marrying her adoptive stepson, Chang Pao, a handsome and clever young man who had been captured and then adopted by her late husband.
Cheng I Sao’s Workings
Using their relationship to legitimate her power, and still in her early 30s, she built up the power of the fleet, and also increased its regulation as a protection money racket.
Cheng I Sao and Chang Pao instituted and enforced a law code with some striking similarities to the Caribbean articles of piracy. In any case, by 1809 and 1810, the pirate confederacy was threatening enough that after a few defeats failed to caw them, the Portuguese and Cantonese governments opted to negotiate. And Cheng I Sao seems to have been the lead negotiator who secured highly favorable terms, and that’s about all we know of her.
What Historical Records Tell
She must have been remarkable in any number of ways. But unfortunately, in the absence of archival information, many authors captivated by her legend choose to invent. Adding in details about her looks, her voice, and her personality. Most imagine her as seductive.
She must have been remarkable in any number of ways. And unfortunately, in the absence of archival information, many authors captivated by her legend choose to invent. Adding in details about her looks, her voice, her personality. Most imagine her as seductive.
A notable exception is Jorge Luis Borges, who depicted her as a slinking woman with sleepy eyes and a smile full of decayed teeth. Borges envisioned her as merely a sober commander of men rather than the preternaturally gifted marine administrator she seems to have been.
Cheng I Sao: A True Pirate
Whatever the case, pirate queen though she was, she seems not to have had any goal of creating a pirate dynasty. Instead, she negotiated a good deal for her people, took her profits, and ran. In this, she was like many pirates. The eventual goal was not the short merry life of Roberts, but to make a fortune and get safely out.
The historian Murray is openly frustrated by the sloppy ways Cheng I Sao is treated, stating, “The tendency to overwrite on the basis of insufficient evidence has in my opinion marred, many pirate studies in the West.”
Common Questions about Cheng I Sao
Cheng Sao, also called Ching Shih, was a 19th-century pirate admiral who took on the British, the Portuguese, and the Ching alike. Her pirate fleet consisted of some 400 ships, and her pirates numbered in the tens of thousands.
There were junk rigged ships whose sales were expanded forward in front of the mast by batons rigid polls basically, that ran through the cloth. Junk culture was unique to the East. Large floating communities made of junk boats, many of them functioning essentially as houseboats, carried entire families who rarely set foot ashore.
Cheng I Sao established such a base of power that she was able to negotiate a posh settlement for herself and her fleet. Garnering almost all of them not only peace and protection but also the right to keep most of their ill-gotten gains.
