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Julia Greenwell's avatar

Wasn't the naval fleet commanded by pirate, Ching Shih, actually larger? Granted she was a pirate, so it was not an official navy, but not even the East India Trading Company's fleet was able to defeat her.

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James Fell's avatar

In terms of #s I think they were fairly similar, but her fleet was mostly junks whereas the Ming fleet had a bunch of big warships.

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Beth Goodbody's avatar

With no penises how did these men pee?

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James Fell's avatar

Similarly to women, I would guess.

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Beth Goodbody's avatar

So they were left an opening for the urethra? They must have been or they would have died but I'm amazed that someone knew how to do that.

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WombatWins's avatar

When a boy was fully castrated, a catheter was inserted into the urethra. If he healed ok, he would be able to wee. If it scarred over, he died. Boys could also die from blood loss, sepsis, shock and other complications. Similar to girls undergoing genital mutilation today.

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WombatWins's avatar

I was wrong about the catheter. Here’s a fascinating article on castration.

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/84/12/4324/2864451

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Beth Goodbody's avatar

Thank you for sharing this article. Made me a little squeamish. Those poor men. And, confirms my beliefs that those hormones do more than make babies.

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