Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbam Here history is most successful and feared pirate fleets shared some key attributes. They were well oiled operations and enforced strict rules despite the lawlessness of their profession. Crucially, a lot of them were helmed by intelligent leaders who played politics, exercised diplomacy as needed, and earned the respect of their peers. One exceptionally skilled fleet commander terrorized the
South China Sea in the early nineteenth century. At the height of her power, she directed a vast coalition of several thousand pirates, the largest pirate crew ever assembled. Then. Having made history in spectacular fashion, she retired from piracy and lived to a ripe old age. So who was this seafaring outlaw. Well. In contemporary English language books and websites, she's often called ching Shi, but that wasn't her real name.
We spoke by email with Diane Murray, a history professor her at the University of Notre Dame and authority on China's pirate past. She explained that the name ching Chi was the invention of an author in the early eighteen hundreds who was attempting to translate a Chinese text into English, Murray said. The lady pirate in question is most commonly referred to in the official Chinese sources simply as Mrs Chang.
Chang's early life is poorly documented. We do know that she worked at a Cantonese brothel before she married a man by the name of Change in the year eighteen o one or so. She was likely in her twenties at the time. Her husband, a notorious pirate, was the product of a changing seascape. From seventeen seventy one to eighteen o two, Vietnam was embroiled in the Taishan Rebellion,
a peasant light uprising against the Lay dynasty. Lacking a strong naval force, the rebels contracted small time pirates to fight and loot on their behalf. In exchange, the plunderers received weapons, vessels, and, best of all, safe harbors. Such allowances created an environment where organized, large scale piracy could flourish even after the rebellion was put down. As of eighteen o two, the South China see played host to
roughly fifty thou pirates. By eighteen o four, the Chang husband and wife team had united five numerous fleets into one gigantic confederation made up of seventy thousand men and four hundred junks, which are large sailing vessels. The coalition was broken up into half a dozen semi autonomous squadrons, whose leaders were answerable to the Chang's. Each unit bore the name of a colored flag. There's a red flag fleet,
a black flag fleet, and so on. One of the sailors in this mighty criminal syndicate was Chang Po, a teenager who had been captured by Change. Murray said, after recognizing his potential for leadership, Change initiated Chang Po into the pirate ranks by means of a homosexual liaison. Soon enough, Chang e put the youth in command of his own vessel, and even adopted him as his own child. But it was Mrs Chang who held the confederation together after change
abrupt death in November of eighteen o seven. Taking charge of the enterprise, she implemented a new code of conduct. Under these rules, pirates and her fleets would be executed if they stole goods from a communal fund that was meant to benefit everyone, or if they raped a captive woman. The rules were co authored by Chang Po, who had
assumed a powerful new role within the outfit. Murray said, Mrs Chang realized that she needed a lieutenant to help her command the three hundred junks and twenty to forty men of what had previously been her husband's red flag fleet. Cheang Po took the job, becoming Mrs Cheang's lover and later her second spouse. For years, MSUs chengg maintained good relationships with the leaders of every fleet in the coalition. She ran a tight ship um and oversaw everything for
monetary transactions to religious ceremonies. On her watch, the pirate alliance expanded even further. Of the two hundred and seventy government owned ships stationed at Tien Paie, two hundred and sixty six fell on or her control. By demanding regular patronage from sailing merchants, missus chang sailors profited off of
Canton's lucrative salt trade. As a matter of fact, the Outlaws extracted so much revenue across their domain that missus Chang found it necessary to establish a network of land based financial offices. Her strategic mind was well suited to warfare. Mus Chang's fleets regularly embarrassed to the navies of southern China. They grew notries for kidnapping Chinese officials, blockheading rivers, and routing just about anyone who opposed their will. But that
was to change. In eighteen o nine, China's increasingly agitated government borrowed well armed vessels from the British East India Company and the Portuguese Navy. At the same time, it also offered amnesty to pirates who surrendered. Marie explained the offer was tempting to the leader of the Black Flag Fleet, who then forced a confrontation with the Red Flag Fleet. While negotiating with the government, the Black Flag leader turned over the captives from that inter squadron battle as a
gesture of goodwill. Before long, other units were defecting from missus Chang's confederation. She could read the writing on the wall. Blackbeard and other career pirates who kept plundering until the bitter end usually met horrible deaths, whether on the high seas or at the gallows. Missus Chang decided to go a different route. On April eighth, eighteen ten, after an earlier round of peace talks failed, she took a delegation of seventeen pirate wives and children to the Governor General's
office in Canton. Inside Missus Chang Broke heard a favorable amnesty deal. Murray said. Cheang Po was allowed to retain between twenty to thirty of his vessels for use in the salt trade, and received an appointment in the Chinese Water Forces. Furthermore, most of the pirates who had served under her were granted pardons as well. Cheng Po passed away in eighteen twenty two at the age of thirty six. He was survived by his wife, who died peacefully in
eighteen forty four at the age of sixty nine. Today's episode was written by barkman Chen and produced by Tyler clayg. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other adventurous topics, visit our home planet how Stuff Works dot com, and for more podcast my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.