Hello there! Come on in! I suppose it is fair
to say we are all living through historic
times and I hope I live long enough to see
how it is viewed when we look back. I suspect
many of those in charge will not be remembered
kindly and that some of the minutiae with
which we currently obsesses will seem a little
odd. Britain has been rather obsessed this
week with focusing on how a senior government
aide thought the best way to test his eyesight
was to go for a long drive and how many times
a four year old needs to stop for the toilet.
I know. If you don’t live here then it probably
appears absurd. Getting the truth of any event
is hard.
As well as my books I read many history websites
and from dozens of them you can learn that
it was May 29 in 1576 that the Spanish army
under General Cristóbal de Mondragón conquered
the Zierik sea. Here is the problem with having
an enquiring mind – where the hell is the
Zierik sea? I thought. I’ve never heard
of it and that’s because there is no such
sea.
There is a city called Zierikzee in the Netherlands
which, like pretty much anything Dutch, is
near the sea and that did have some bother
with the Spanish in 1576 but not, as far as
I can work out, on May 29. Facts, facts, facts.
They can drive you mad. There do seem to have
been plenty of other opportunities on May
29 for men to battle it out at sea. Battle
of Gallipoli 1416 - On May 29, 1416, Venetian
versus the Turks. Spoiler alert - the Venetians
won. 1692 Battle at La Hogue - English v the
France. English won. This is like giving very
late football results.
Anyway, it’s the sort of thing you find
boys doing in history all the time. Not content
with killing each other land the males of
the species have also done their best to do
it while bobbing about in boats. You don’t
hear a lot about women on the high seas and
that’s a pity because there have been some
corkers.
If we know anything about girls taking the
helm of a ship and shouting ‘Avast behind’
then probably the most familiar names are
those of Mary Read and Anne Bonney. Hard to
find specific dates for them as they were
both pirates who historically have not been
keen on paperwork. I have a book on pirates
and they are the only women in it. The author
can’t help himself but call them names like
‘hellcats’, ‘banshees’ and ‘Amazons’
instead of just telling us the story.
Mary Read was born sometime between 1670 – 1698
in London, England. It’s a common story.
Mary’s mother had married a sailor. He went
to sea where he was foolish enough to perish
leaving her with a baby boy. Fortunately her
mother in law was rich and could support her.
Unfortunately Mrs Read fell for another sailor,
got pregnant and her first son died. In order
to persuade the first, rich mother in law
that to continue financial support, Mrs Read
would need to give birth to another boy and
pass him off as her first son. That’s when
Mary came along. A female disappointment.
Undaunted Mrs Read dressed Mary as a boy and
passed him off as her son. In 17th century
Europe boys and girls dressed the same until
they were five or six so it seemed like a
plan. The ruse totally worked and old rich
mum in law kept on supporting them till she
died.
As it happens Mary loved being a boy and wanted
to carry on so she did the next logical thing
in this strange tale – she joined the Navy,
then she joined the army, then the cavalry
– ooh she liked a fight. Unfortunately,
while fighting, she fell in love with a Flemish
soldier. Soon her camp mates were daring to
suggest she was an homosexual so she told
the fellow the truth. He was thrilled. Getting
any woman in a war zone was tricky at the
best of times. It’s a nice story. They got
married and opened a pub in Holland but before
there could be a happy ending Mr Flemish up
and died. Mary went back to what she knew.
She dressed once more as boy and headed to
the West Indies on a merchant ship.
Anne Bonny meanwhile was growing up in Ireland.
For complicated reasons she too was dressed
up as a boy by her mother. It seems to have
been a popular plan around then. Anyway, check
out the whole story but suffice to say she
ended up in the Bahamas where aged 16 she
eloped with a sailor called James Bonny.
Back to Mary at sea. Her ship was captured
by pirates who spoke English. So did Mary
and this seems to have been enough to receive
an offer to join the piratical crew so she
did. Eventually Mary and Anne would meet and
serve under Calico Jack, an English pirate
captain in the Bahamas most famous for his
association with them. It did not end well.
Jack’s entire crew were eventually arrested
and it says something about life on board
that both women were able to ‘plead their
bellies’ using pregnancy to stay their execution.
Mary seems to have died in prison possibly
from complications after childbirth while
Anne simply disappeared.
Neither woman seems to have been a particularly
remarkable pirate. The fascination is that
they were women at all. Is that it for female
pirates? Not at all. In fact someone who is
not even in this book is the most successful
pirate of all time. Ching Shih or Madame Ching
who ruled the China seas in the early 19th-century.
She was born in 1775 and seems to have been
captured by pirates at the age of 15 and set
to work as a prostitute on a floating brothel.
Clearly she was smart because by the time
she was 26, she owned the place and caught
the eye a notorious pirate called Cheng I.
Cheng was a powerful man from a long line
of pirates but it wasn’t enough to turn
a young woman’s head. Before she agreed
to marry him Madame Ching insisted on a pre
nup. Equal shares everything, all the booty,
all the plunder, even the command from the
ship’s deck. She must have been something
because he agreed and they married.
Together they created the most powerful pirate
organisation in the world known as the Red
Flag Fleet. When Cheng died Madam Ching did
not waste time. She took control over the
Red Flag and of the South China seas. Two
years later an East India Company employee
named Richard Glasspoole was captured by her
pirates and he estimated that her fleet consisted
of 800 large junks or ships and 1,000 smaller
ones. Compare this to the pirate Blackbeard
who is way more famous. In the same century
he commanded just 4 ships and 300 pirates.
Her nautical empire was run with strict laws.
Anyone failing to obey an order could be beheaded
instantly. Perhaps the most interesting law
for a woman led crew were the ones related
to sex. Any pirate who raped a female captive
would be put to death. If the sex had been
consensual, they would both die. Ugly female
captives were released although who was the
judge of that I do not know.
Anyone in authority who could tried to stop
her gangs as they raided camps and ships,
river towns and coastal villages but no official
or naval fleet was able to stop her. In the
end it was an offer of amnesty from the Chinese
government which brought her reign to an end.
In 1809 she surrendered but not before she
had done her usual brilliant deal. She was
pardoned, the family were allowed to retain
many ships for use in the salt trade and some
high ranking pirates in her crew even got
jobs in the Chinese bureaucracy. Madam moved
to Macau and opened a gambling house… and
a brothel. Maybe that was for old time's sake.
She died in her bed aged 69 having seen out
her days in peace and quiet. The most successful
pirate lord in history, a lady who ended her
life a free woman.
I’d never thought of becoming a pirate.
When I get out of here I think I might try
and conquer the Zierik sea. I’ve got a sword
and I found some crew. Ok, it’s all a little
small but I think the Zierik sea is not that
tricky to master. I’ll let you know how
I get on. Maybe I’ll make the history books.
Take care. Be kind.
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