The Woman Who Commanded the Largest Pirate Fleet in History

Ching Shih commanded 1,800 ships and 80,000 sailors.

She defeated the Chinese imperial navy. The Portuguese navy. The British East India Company.

She wrote a legal code for her fleet that gave female captives more rights than many free women had under imperial law.

When the Chinese government finally gave up fighting her, she negotiated her own peace treaty. In person. On her terms.

She retired undefeated. Opened a gambling house. Died at sixty at home.

Blackbeard had four ships and died with his head on a pole. History made him the icon.