WEBVTT - Pirates 5: The Red Fleet 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.920 This episode features stories about sex work that may be 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.519 a bit too grown up for some of our younger listeners. 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:15.040 Discretion is advised. The larger boats floating in the harbor 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.239 had upper decks and more rooms to accommodate the clientele. 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.960 Each boat was painted in bright shades of yellow, red, green, 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:25.640 and blue. Equally vibrant silk flags danced in the wind. 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.720 Prisms of every color adorned the rose tinted glass lantern 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.760 shades aboard, two string fiddles played while women dressed in 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:38.520 embroidered robes sang. The sing sing girlies, as many called them, 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:41.159 sang of love and war and beckoned the men to 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.280 join them in the early evening light. Some said these 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:48.640 boats were the most beautiful in all the world. Merchant, military, 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.080 and even pirate ships pulled into the harbor, drawn by 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.000 women and their songs. Men who worked in the factories 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.760 along the harbor often lined up to board the small boats. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.959 Diplomats and other high ranking of a shoals sought out 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.480 the larger and more expensive ones. While some called them 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.040 flower boats, others refer to them simply as pleasure boats 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.440 or more bluntly floating brothels. Parents who cannot afford to feed. 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.360 Their families sometimes sold their daughters to the boat owners, 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.880 who promised to feed and clothe them and give them 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.480 a place to sleep. The girls, who could be as 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.480 young as thirteen, began work around five or six in 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.800 the evening, continuing until the early morning hours. The more 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.200 prominent boats catering to the affluent men, served food and drink. 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.960 Their owners provided enough girls to fulfill every man's desire, 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.720 from a dinner companion and discussion partner, to singing and 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.959 dancing and sex. If the girls didn't contract syphilis, for 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.680 which there was no cure, they hoped to attract a 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:48.160 wealthy man who might keep her as his mistress. Otherwise, 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.480 once they grew older, the brothel owners discarded them, leaving 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.280 them with little money. In a world where men dominated 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:59.600 the workforce, Canton flower boats served only Chinese men, Western men, 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:01.960 and of or foreigners were sent to the lower class 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:06.480 brothels at Wampoa, often run by the poorest families. These 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.079 women shared similar stories with others around the world. Without 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.400 equal rights and pay, women had little opportunity if they 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.400 were born into poverty or a lower class. For the 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.440 poorest women in Canton, they could work sixteen hour days 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.040 and factories for pay that wouldn't be enough for food 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.840 or rent, or they could find work in a brothel. 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.400 During the Golden Age of pirates, research suggests that one 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.240 in five women living in ports and harbor towns were 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:35.000 sex workers. Both pirates and sailors alike frequently emptied their 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:37.720 pockets to spend time with them. Others were said to 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.880 pay five hundred pieces of eight just to see them naked. 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.320 A woman's ability to earn a living relied heavily on 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.680 her youth and her looks. As they aged, any chance 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.680 of a better future grew dimmer by the year. But 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.960 in China, one sing sing girl set her sights on 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.720 a better future, and as will soon discover, her light 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.000 shone brighter than all the lance earns in the harbor. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:13.919 I'm Aaron Manky and welcome two pirates. In seventy eight, 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.720 Jingshi's family needed to supplement their income, which meant forcing 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.240 their thirteen year old daughter to become a sex worker 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.040 on a Cantonese flower boat. Within a few years, her 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.320 beauty had made her highly popular with the more elite customers, 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:28.839 and by eighteen o one she had worked her way 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.320 up to Madam Although no longer one of the regular girls, 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.720 Chinghi still kept an eye out for a better opportunity, 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.360 and in eighteen o one, that opportunity sailed into harbor 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.800 flying a pirate flag. Jang yees fleet of ships each 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.960 flew a red flag, making them stand out among other 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.480 pirate ships. While black flags were the common calling card 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:55.360 for pirates, red flags were worse. In pirates and maritime lingo. 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.000 Red flags meant that the captain and crew would not 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:02.480 negotiate nor offer mercy or pity to targeted ships. Jang 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.840 Ye's fleet was sizeable, over two hundred ships in fact, 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:10.200 although his power extended well beyond that. He commanded upwards 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.760 of forty thousand men across six hundred ships, and while 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.040 he controlled the red fleets, he entrusted other pirate captains 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.960 with the white, green, yellow, blue, and black fleets. Jang 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.960 Yee had not only built a formidable armada, but he 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:28.240 also had created and ruled an entire pirate confederacy. The 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.440 colored flags also announced to his captains that ships flying 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:36.080 certain colors belonged to the confederation and should not be attacked. Instead, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.159 his fleet sought out merchant ships for their silk, gold 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:43.839 spices and other cargo. The pirates also ran a protection racket. 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:47.919 Any village that didn't pay protection money found itself targeted 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.599 for a raid. Pirating had been the only life jang 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.120 Yi knew. His father had been a pirate, as well 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.160 as the men before him. Most of his fleet consisted 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.760 of large cargo ships otherwise called junk. Each eighty footship 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.160 was capable of carrying approximately eight hundred pounds of cargo 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:09.200 and housed about forty cannons. Jang Ye had become one of, 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.200 if not the most powerful pirate to sail the South 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.560 China Sea. Then he was about to meet the one 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.720 person who would take the pirate confederacy to an even 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.880 higher level. It said that when jang Yi visited the 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:24.039 flower boat, Ching Shi worked on her beauty and spirit 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.160 captivated him, But it was her reputation as a shrewd 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.320 businesswoman that might have intrigued him the most. Word of 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.520 her financial prowess had traveled far and wide, as did 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.159 her giles in wielding power over influential men. The pirate 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.920 king was so enchanted with ching Shi that he proposed 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.400 to her. Right then she would accept, she told him, 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:44.680 but only if he gave her fifty percent of his 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:49.159 finances and partial control over his entire fleet. It was 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.240 a bold move, and one Jang Yee might have walked 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.680 away from fact in legend blur here and historians have 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.000 debated over two different outcomes. One is that he ordered 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.120 his men to kidnap her, and the other is that 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.680 he agreed to her terms. Either way, the outcome remained 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.400 the same. Ching she got what she asked for. If 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.279 Jang thought his new bride had spirit, though he wouldn't 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:15.039 be disappointed. She worked alongside him growing his empire. She 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.200 instituted codes acts of loyalty were revered above all else 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:22.920 and highly rewarded. If her husband went to see she 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.040 went with him. She learned everything he knew about steering 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:28.880 a ship and managing a crew. When it came to 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.400 women aboard the ship, Chinghi didn't subscribe to many pirate 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.200 and sailor superstitions that women were bad luck. However, she 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:38.839 did implement a code of conduct that she expected the 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.279 men to follow whenever they had attractive female hostages on board. 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:46.520 Men were castrated or hanged for committing sexual assault. Chances 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.320 are that Ching she survived horrors in her own time 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.400 working on the flower boats, which would explain her insistence 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.000 for punishing crew who committed violence against women on board. 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.360 Other rules were broader and assured complete compliance among crew. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.719 Any crew member who refused to follow an order faced 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:09.000 immediate execution. Bounties had to be shared. Anyone hiding treasure 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.960 for themselves risked losing an appendage. Rule breakers were flogged, 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:17.040 kept in irons, chastised, or even quartered, depending on the 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.440 severity of the transgression. But while her rules and codes 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.120 were strictly enforced, she made other kinder changes as well. 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.679 Changes that one over not only Jane Yie and his crew, 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:38.640 but many others as well. As I said before, while 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.800 rule breakers suffered her wrath, ching Chi made sure to 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:45.680 treat and reward the most loyal men exceptionally well, setting 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.680 an example for all the others. Before long, she grew 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.040 her husband's confederacy to over eight hundred ships and nearly 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.400 sixty thousand pirates. Many of those men had come from 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.000 Vietnam hoping for a better life. Soon the pirate couple 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.920 had created the largest and the most formidable pirate fleets 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.120 in the world. However, not all was well. You see, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:07.280 the couple had failed to conceive an heir to their 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:11.480 pirate kingdom together, though they found a solution. A twenty 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.679 year old captain aboard one of the Red Fleet ships 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.440 had proved himself worthy and loyal. Chung Po denounced his 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:21.440 own family and joined jiang Yees, making him second in command. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:25.280 The adoption raised questions among the crew. Chung Po was 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.440 a full grown man, after all, not a child Ching. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.840 She was clever, though, and the move proved more of 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.400 a strategy than anything remotely maternal. Without a male heir, 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.640 jing Ye couldn't pass along his power and wealth should 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.600 he die, and as a woman, that would leave her 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.200 in a tenuous position. But threats to their dynasty came 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.760 from outside forces as well. Governments from around the globe 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:52.000 set out to destabilize their fleet. Portugal, England, even armies 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.760 in China saw the ever growing pirate confederacies rising power 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.720 and vowed to break it. Despite government attempts, though the 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.200 Can Federacy continued to remain untouched until one day in 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.280 eighteen o seven. That's when Jing Ye went on a 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.880 hunting trip off the coast of Vietnam and left his 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.959 wife and newly adopted son in charge. It said that 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.040 a terrible storm swept him off the deck and out 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:19.199 to sea. Suddenly, Ching Shi was a widow. Now normally, 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.960 male heirs took over and the widow was expected to 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.960 retire from the public eye, but ching She had planned 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.760 well and she was far from retirement. Jing Ye had 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.720 a living nephew, you see, and a few male cousins 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.199 who all made it clear that they wanted to control 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.960 the Red Fleet. Other members within their confederacy also vide 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:42.280 for power. All challenged Chung Po's place, but Chinghi had 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.520 no intentions of handing the fleet over, either to relatives 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.920 or traitorous upstarts. Her lieutenants and Chung Po supported her 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.280 bid for power, securing five of the six fleets. But 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.600 to solidify the Red Fleet's allegiance, she needed a different 0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.199 relationship with the new patriarch and former second in man, 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.080 Chong Po. The best way to do that, she decided, 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.000 was to marry him. Within a couple of weeks after 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.960 her husband's death, the two were wed. Their union asserted 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.760 the couple's combined power within the confederacy and one loyalty 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:17.320 from her dead husband's relatives. Ching Shi had the captains 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.520 who had sought to overthrow them captured to demonstrate what 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.560 happened to traders or anyone who might attempt another coup, 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.400 she had the men publicly executed. To keep tight control, 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.960 she created a new rule. All business transactions had to 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.200 be approved through her. This tactic kept her in charge 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:37.240 of all the finances and therefore kept the ultimate power 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:41.320 in her hands alone. The fleets continued to grow and thrive, 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.720 and by eighteen o eight, the Red Fleet attempted to 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.000 dominate the provincial salt trade. According to the legend, the 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.360 Red Fleet knew of every ship that sailed in the 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.839 South China Sea. Ships passing through that escaped attack could 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.320 count their blessings, but no ship passed without paying attacks. 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:01.280 Every move, every attack went through chain. She She insisted 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.800 that all bounties were inspected. The fleet's bookkeeper, who reported 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.880 directly to her, entered every item into the ledger. The 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.800 fleet's island fortress made launching attacks easy. The assault on 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:17.080 passing ships continued, even on Chinese government vessels. Eventually, the 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.200 government controlled just four of their original fleet of two 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.839 hundred and seventy ships, and all those ships carrying salt 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.160 paid the fleet taxes in order to transport their cargo, 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.600 but salt wouldn't be the only resource. Text The Red 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:34.400 Fleet charged fishing vessels anywhere from fifty to five hundred 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:39.040 Spanish silver dollars for every trip they made. China might 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.720 have had an emperor, but ching She ruled the South 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.440 China Sea, and her power continued to soar. To all 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:58.679 who came across them, the Red Fleet seemed unstoppable. Before long, 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.559 the pirates had set up tag offices in major ports 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.920 cities run by agents. Ching Shi kept on friendly terms. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:09.400 As a brilliant strategist, she coordinated every attack, going over 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:13.760 the smallest of details to ensure success. Aside from merchant vessels, 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:17.679 garrisons became her favorite target. Her men would simply overpower 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.079 the military base and take what they needed whenever they wanted. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.439 In September of eighteen o nine, Chingshi's men captured an 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:29.679 East India Company employee. Later, after his release in December, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.720 he would report that the pirate queen commanded over eighty 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:36.880 thousand men. Chinghi and the Red Fleet made trade and 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:41.280 safe passage for merchant ships nearly impossible. China's emperor could 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.640 no longer ignore such a threat. Mostly though, the idea 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.120 that a woman with so much power was out there 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:52.360 just infuriated him. The land, see people, and resources should 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.079 belong to him. At first, he offered amnesty to the pirates, 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:59.080 hoping to break their loyalty to Ching Shi. While that 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.080 might have made a dent, the offer alone wouldn't be enough. 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.239 The Emperor discovered that the pirates had severely strained relations 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:10.240 between China and other countries. Officials in Canton entered into 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.400 international negotiations, finally accepting help from the British and the 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.800 Portuguese in September of eighteen o nine. They asked the 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.000 British to rescue a few ships coming from Siam carrying 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:25.400 valuable tribute, and the British agreed. On September fifteenth, the 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.600 Mercury set sail with twenty cannons and fifty volunteers. Meanwhile, 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.320 the Chinese government signed a lease for Portuguese man of 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.200 warships to sail with the Cantonese navy. When it finally happened, 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.760 the attack on the Red Fleet was brutal and swift. 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.880 Although the pirates had beaten the Portuguese back twice before 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.400 this time, they arrived with ships and weapons far superior 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.480 to the Red Fleet. Unable to respond with the same force. 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.600 Chingshi understood her time of reign had come to an 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.840 end as she watched the Portuguese destroy one of her 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.800 ships after the other. Chingshi had no choice but to 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.440 accept the Emperor's offer of amnesty, of course, under one 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:06.840 condition that they meet to negotiate the terms. Cantonese officials agreed. 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.560 Those along the banks had to be stunned by the site. 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.880 Two hundred and sixty of Ching Chi's vessels, with fourteen 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.920 thousand of her men aboard, sailed into the Pearl River. 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.479 After docking, Chung Po and a handful of his lieutenants 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:24.400 were sent on shore to begin the negotiations. Things didn't 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.720 start off well, though. They rejected the Governor's general request 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:29.760 that the fleet turn in all their ships and that 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.640 all the men aboard live on shore for weeks. The 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:39.280 negotiations continued before eventually just stalling. Finally, unarmed and unaccompanied, 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.480 Ching Shi visited the Governor General's office herself. While most 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:45.480 pirates might be lucky to talk their way out of 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.880 a noose, ching she negotiated well, getting most of the 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.880 things she wanted. In the end, Cheung Po kept eighty 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:55.560 ships in his command in addition, he and a good 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.520 portion of his men were granted positions in the Chinese navy. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.680 Ching Shi and her men were also given everything that 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.720 they alluded, making many of them exceptionally wealthy, and it 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:09.040 seemed that smoother waters were ahead. Over time, Chung Po 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.720 was named captain of the Qing dynasty's Guangdong Navy. Then, 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.520 as for Ching sh, she gave birth to a son 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:19.040 in eighteen thirteen, and eventually even had a daughter. Though 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.920 she was no longer a powerful pirate queen, her new 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.600 life seemed to be going rather well. However, in eighteen 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.840 twenty two, Chung Po was lost at sea. She had 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.040 lost both of her husband's the same way. Once again 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.840 a widow, Chinghi opted to move on with her life. 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.280 She relocated to Macau with her young family and opened 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.360 a gambling house with her immense wealth. Eventually she even 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:46.280 opened a brothel, ending her journey where she had started well, 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.840 except that she had done it all on her own terms, 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.120 and although she had aged, that spirit that Jing Yi 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.840 had first noticed on the flower boats many years before 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.640 was clearly still there. Having done what she had set 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:02.040 out to do and changing history to boot, Chinghi lived 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.600 out the rest of her days in luxury. Although her 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:08.720 husband's had been famous and formidable pirates, their achievements paled 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.680 in comparison to hers. In eighteen forty four, at the 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:18.239 age of sixty nine, ching, she passed away in her sleep, wealthy, comfortable, 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:30.240 and very much at peace. We've all heard a superstition 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:32.800 or two in our time. Walking under a ladder or 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.560 breaking a mirror are considered bad luck. Throwing salt over 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.800 your shoulder wards off evil, perhaps even the devil himself. 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.440 And when it comes to bad luck on ships, there's 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:46.560 no shortage of superstitions, from navy to merchants to pirates. 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.600 A single misstep could endanger the ship and all who 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.880 sailed upon it. We've probably all seen the movies where 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:57.240 sailors encounter sirens, mythical femme fatals whose song lured men 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.960 to their death by crashing the ship on jagged rocks. 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.560 Killing and albatross was also bad luck for the crew 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.000 and of course for the bird. And although it wasn't universal, 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.840 a voyage that started on a Friday was likely to 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.840 be doomed. Red skies in the morning meant a dangerous 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:17.480 day awaited the sailors whistling challenged the wind and conjured storms. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.879 No one dared say the word drowned or goodbye for 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:24.639 fear of bringing bad luck, and oddly enough, bananas on 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:28.400 a ship were also considered bad, although there's no explanation 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.280 as to why that I can find. To ward off 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:35.320 evil sailors had patron saints like St. Nicholas and Saint Elmo, 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.080 Mermaids could either be helpful or harbingers of bad luck, 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.440 and black cats, while bad luck on land were often 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.080 considered good luck on ships, the cats hunted rodents, and 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.880 rodents ruined grain on ships and spread disease. So it's 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:53.159 easy to understand how this superstition has some truth to it. 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:58.000 But not one superstition seemed as pervasive or universal as 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:02.119 women aboard ships as symbol of bad luck. But we 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.320 already know women pirates who did rather well, Ching Schi 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.480 and Bonnie Mary read for starters, and while Jing Yee 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.160 and Captain Jack Calico felt at ease with women aboard, 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:17.199 pirates like Blackbeard strictly forbade them. It's not clear if 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.720 he prohibited women because of superstition or because they were 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:26.000 a distraction, or maybe just both. Women sometimes disguise themselves 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.960 as men to gain passage on ships, and of course 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.960 women traveled on ships as passengers. Since travel by sea 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.320 helped to establish colonies in the New Lands, it's probably 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.040 safe to say that enough ships carrying women did not 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:43.080 end in disaster. There are even reports of sailors throwing 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.200 women overboard in a misguided attempt to save the ship 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.280 or themselves, and this leaves us to wonder if the 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.359 act was based on superstition or if they looked at 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.760 women as cargo and extra weight. So where did the 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.120 superstition come from? Well, it might just date back as 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:04.840 far as thirteen seventy nine. Thomas Walsingham, a fourteenth century priest, 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.720 wrote that a baron once kidnapped sixty women from a convent. 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.720 Once he and his men had the frightened women aboard 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.800 their ship, they set sail from Southampton, England, to Brittany, France. 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:18.800 According to the story, it was December and a winter 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.520 storm blew in from the west. With the ship in 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.639 danger of sinking, the men began tossing cargo overboard, potentially 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.320 to lighten the ship's load, and when their predicament didn't change, 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:33.400 they tossed the women overboard as well. Sadly, the ship 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:38.280 sank anyway, and the baron drowned as well. Wherever the 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.479 myth truly came from, And regardless of who believed in it, 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:46.920 superstition alone made women like ching She the exception rather 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:55.000 than the rule. It's a very modern idea to imagine 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:58.800 piracy as purely a man's world. I hope today's exploration 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:01.960 of ching Che's thrill life and accomplishments helped you see 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:05.320 how wrong that assumption is. But we're not done just yet. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.120 We've got one last tale of ladies on the high 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.720 Sea and our cargo hold, And if you stick around 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.160 through this brief sponsor break, my crewmates Alie Steed will 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:23.200 tell you all about it. There are always first in history, 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.280 first men on the moon, the first European ships to 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:31.040 arrive in the Americas, and New England's first and only 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.199 female pirate. Rachel Schmidt was born in seventeen sixty on 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.720 a farm in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Her parents were farmers by 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:42.520 trade and Protestants by religion. Though she spent her childhood 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.560 among the barns in the fields, she loved the sea. 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:48.440 At sixteen, she left home to make a new life 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.680 by the waterfront. Her love of the water also led 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:55.359 her to another kind of love, a fisherman named George Wall. 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.720 Rachel's family disapproved of George, but despite her parents of 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:02.560 jack actions, she married him and the two went off 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:06.320 to live near Boston. Like many young couples, they struggled 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.560 to support themselves. George continued to work as a fisherman 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:12.119 and Rachel found employment as a maid to a family 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.679 on prosperous Beacon Hill. Fisherman didn't make a lot of 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:21.120 money from long, backbreaking and sometimes deadly work. Brutal storms 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.399 capsized boats, and boat owners looking to save some money 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:28.080 didn't always keep fishing vessels in the best condition, And 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:32.000 of course, there were the pirates. The couple's life was 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:35.320 about to change, though. One night, George returned home with 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:39.199 five other sailors and their woman companions. They had a 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.120 great idea and they couldn't wait to tell her about it. 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:46.280 They could all be making a lot more money as pirates. 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:49.800 The group convinced Rachel to leave a maid's life on 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:52.879 land behind for a life of adventure at sea. But 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:55.440 to make their plan work, they would need a ship. 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:59.399 Buying one was completely out of the question, so the 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.320 group stole a small ship named the Essex and headed 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.560 offshore to the coast of New Hampshire. The ship's size 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:08.199 could hardly be considered a threat to other boats, so 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:11.040 the crew had to get creative. No stranger to what 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:14.600 bad weather could do two ships, the fisherman came up 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.240 with a plan. The crew set to work on the ship, 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:21.840 making it a pier storm battered, though it remained totally seaworthy. 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.760 The next phase required them to wait for storms. After 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:29.080 the worst of a storm had passed, they strategically placed 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:33.600 the ship offshore and set the trap, using Rachel as bait. 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.119 While the rest of the crew waited below deck, Rachel 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:41.840 called frantically for help, flagging down any passing ships. She 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:46.600 played the damsel in distress flawlessly. Upon seeing a young 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.959 and very pretty woman stranded on a broken down vessel, 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:52.760 sailors were more than likely to come to her aid. 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:56.640 She kept the attention focused on her while the unsuspecting 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:00.280 sailors pulled alongside the Essex. Once the ship up and 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.919 the sailors boarded, George and the crew emerged, taking the 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:08.840 rescuer's crew by surprise. The scheme usually went according to plan, 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:12.720 and the groups robbed dozens of ships, breaking in six 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:17.320 thousand dollars it's about a hundred and fourteen thousand today. 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:20.639 In the process, they killed twenty four sailors, and it 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:23.320 didn't take long for the locals to start spreading word 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:26.199 about a band of pirates luring in ships with a 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.000 beautiful woman. All good things must come to pass, and 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:33.040 the crew aboard the Essex became victims themselves when George 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:35.920 made a navigational error. They were out at sea when 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:40.160 a storm hit and the miscalculation caused the Essex to capsize. 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:44.359 Rachel and the others swam to safety, but George drowned 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:48.600 without a ship. The crew disbanded, each going their separate ways. 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:51.720 Rather than go home to her family, Rachel stayed in 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:55.320 Boston and returned to working as a maid. While everyone 0:23:55.440 --> 0:23:58.560 knew of her escapades aboard the Essex, no one paid 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.520 her much attention until she began her side hustle of 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:05.320 stealing from ships stocked at the harbor. She even boldly 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:09.040 robbed people of influence like a patriot friend of John Adams. 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:13.120 Even multiple arrests for theft and larceny didn't persuade her 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:15.879