Fierce Women, Forgotten with History

Ching Shih

Beginning with humble beginnings as a prostitute, Ching Shih rapidly metamorphized into one of the most fearsome pirate lords of the seas, commanding approximately 80,000 crew members in her fleet.

Born as Shil Xiang Gu, she met her captain husband Zheng Yi through a seaside brothel. Both Shih and her husband commanded the “red fleet,” quickly becoming infamous for her tact and sharp business skills.

After her husband died, she became “Ching Shih,” translating to “his widow.” Now with an entire fleet to herself, she expanded her pirate empire from 600 ships to 1,000 large ships and 800 smaller ships/rowboats.

Ching Shih set a strict code of conduct for her crewmembers; they would be killed if they raped any female captives and if they were to marry any of them, they had to be faithful. According to atlasobscura.com, both the crewmember and prisoner would be killed if they had consensual premarital sex.

Every fleet had tried to undermine the Red Fleet’s rule—but they failed. From the Qing dynasty, to the East India company, no one could defeat Ching Shih’s ragamuffin army of convicts.

She died in a quiet solitude, living to a ripe old age of 69. She subsequently retired from her nautical legacy once she was nearing old age. She received amnesty and lived the rest of her life to recount her larger than life pirate reputation.

Julie d’Aubigny Maupin

Madame Maupin was promiscuous for the French, a master at fencing and swordsmanship, wielded a beautiful mezzo-soprano singing voice, and was a dashing cross-dressing Casanova. If Maupin was a man, she would be the male equivalent of Westly from the princess bride.

Maupin grew up in a motherless home, raised by her father and several fencing masters. She began a multitude of affairs with both men and women, starting with her fencing instructors, all the way to a beautiful soprano singer.

One escapade that etched her fame was when she broke her lover out of a nunnery. According to encyclopedia.com, the woman’s parents were ashamed of their daughter’s affair with a woman, so they sent her to a convent. Maupin soon snuck into the convent as a novice, then escaped with her girlfriend. They set the convent ablaze and lived a short-lived affair.

This hot-headed androgynous cross-dresser lived by day as an opera singer and at night as a flirtatious, swindling swordsman. She once crashed a ball as a man, flirted with a young beautiful woman and later dueled with three men, in which encyclopedia.com suggests that she killed them.

At the end of her life, she decided to give up singing after her latest girlfriend died of the flu and retired to a quiet life. She lived with her husband for the rest of his days and then died at the age of 37 under unknown circumstances.