Shi Yang the Pirate

On This Day in History: November 16, 1807

Comparatively speaking, piracy has a history as something of an equal opportunity employer. If you could be a ruthless and effective leader, many were willing to ignore the lack of penis. Of history’s many female pirates, none were so powerful as Shi Yang, who ruled over as many as 60,000 pirates, terrorizing the South China Sea in the early 19th century.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: November 16, 1807--

Born in 1775 in the south coastal province of Guangdong, it’s likely she engaged in sex work on floating brothels to support herself. Then, at the age of 26, she married a famous pirate named Zheng Yi. She is more commonly known by the honorific Zheng Yi Sao, but that translates to “wife of Zheng Yi” so fuck that. Her name was Shi Yang.

Anyway, for the next six years Shi Yang proved to be the power behind her husband’s ascension to head pirate of the region. Yang was highly organized, and helped her husband consolidate the loose groups of pirates into a confederation. In 1805, due in significant part to the work of Shi Yang, the various pirate groups signed an agreement that relinquished some of their own autonomy so they could better function as a more unified fighting force.

The Pirate Confederation was comprised of six fleets named by the colors of the flags they flew. Zheng Yi commanded the largest fleet, the red. The others were named black, purple, yellow, white, and blue. Then there was a storm on November 16, 1807, and Zheng Yi was tossed overboard and drowned. Shi Yang wasted no time taking over for her deceased husband.

Yang scrambled to strengthen her alliances with the leaders of the various fleets and gained informal leadership of the confederation. She rapidly increased their pirate activities; for the next few years she led the flotillas comprising approximately 400 ships into battle against the British East India Company, the Qing Empire, and the Portuguese Empire. A year into her reign she destroyed half the Qing navy.

She sounds pretty awesome, unless you were some poor fucker living along the Pearl River. After numerous brutal engagements with the Qing navy, the Pirate Confederation sailed upriver and did a lot of killing—several thousand people were slaughtered—in the riverside towns. At least she enforced a policy of not raping the female captives.

The Qing Empire formed alliances with the Portuguese and the British, and by 1810 the fortunes of the Pirate Confederation turned sour. She negotiated her surrender to the Qing authorities, and lived another 34 years, the prosperous owner of a gambling house. Shi Yang is considered one of the most successful pirates in history, regardless of gender.

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