Pirates!

Today is talk like a pirate day. I know damned little about pirates, except that they were romantic, dashing figures that history has painted with a colorful brush. Many of them ended by taking a long swing on a short rope.

I thought it might be illuminative to look at some female pirates and try to determine how successful they were. Then I stumbled upon this, and decided to give up the search.

Cheng I Sao (Ching Yih Saou) — 1810s, South China Sea, commanded either five or six squadrons consisting of 800 large junks, about 1,000 smaller vessels, and between 70,000 and 80,000 men and women

No doubt, she was a pirate fo the first rank. I bet she made the British navy soil themselves.

For more on female pirates, go here.