Female pirates may have been the minority, but they were just as awesome. Ching Shih has been called the most successful pirate ever, though she's joined by infamous pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and more. Join us as we add another entry.
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Female pirates may have been the minority, but they were just as awesome. Ching Shih has been called the most successful pirate ever, though she's joined by infamous pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and more. Join us as we add another entry.
Twitter & Facebook: @macabrepedia
Instagram: @macabrepediapod
Email us at: macabrepediapod@gmail.com
Macabrepedia makes light of dark subject matters that may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
Marissa:Buccaneers and buried gold, X marks the spot, Peg legs, eye patches, parent best friends and rats for dinner. What these things have in common while they're associated with famous real and fictional pirates. These pirates are real manly men. They don't care illiquid, looking nice just interested in gold, whatever they can steal, and of course, violence. Of course, they were complex humans, but their lives were spent on the sea or in port, a pirate's life for me. But less well known for those who chose this life but were decidedly in the minority. Those who often felt like this was a better alternative than what life had gifted them. Those who frequently disguised themselves because the superstitious among the crew thought them bad luck, the women join us as we add another entry to this our Macabrepedia
Matthew:Hello, and welcome to Macabrepedia marriage of true crime and that truly bizarre. We are your hosts Matthew and Marissa. And you are shiver me timbers and all that sounds like we're doing pirates today.
Marissa:Indeed. When he's Talk Like a Pirate Day,
Matthew:I don't know. But it's not today. But it is today.
Marissa:Well, that's gonna be today. I was tempted out September. We're nowhere near but that's okay.
Matthew:We'll have to do another one.
Marissa:There's plenty of them out there. So alright, we'll be talking today about a few female pirates
Matthew:I think they're called salty lasses.
Marissa:If you want to call them salty lasses, you are welcome to
Matthew:I don't know enough of the stories in order to pass judgment. You
Marissa:could say they were a little salty. Alright, well,
Matthew:yeah. Good. seaspray. That's the joke.
Marissa:Yeah. And then the other other ways. So
Matthew:salty. Suffering from hyper, nitro anemia?
Marissa:No, no, not that. No.
Matthew:You mean, they were mean? Yeah.
Marissa:A little more attitude or a little bit about things. So not all of them, of course. All right. Well,
Matthew:then tell us about these. These. These sea dogs?
Marissa:Yes, sir. Well, we're gonna start with Qing sheep. I take it back.
Matthew:Take it back. That really, really makes our dynamic seem really different than it is.
Marissa:I'll take it back. Okay, so cheat sheet. We're gonna talk about her. Okay. Ching. She, so she,
Matthew:oh, this is gonna be one of those. One of those entries that we are going to mispronounce a lot of names, huh? Yes, absolutely. Oh, we're getting into the Asian names.
Marissa:First time, I think. Um, well, no, the cannibal Yeah. Sobre Sagra. So anyway, so Carla, I think that is it. Okay, so we're really bad at this. Anyway. So change she, she was born in 1785. And you know what, she was born pretty poor. And she was born? Well, there's a little bit of people aren't completely sure. But they think she was born in the Guangdong, Quandong province, sorry. But it was not an easy start. Basically, her family was very poor. It was a day to day struggle just to stay alive. Luckily, though, in some ways, she she was physically very beautiful. And so she did start. I say luckily, but only in some ways, because this is not that lucky. But she did start working as a prostitute in the brothels in Guangdong life is a prostitute. Not easy. And she at least got something No, I would not. No, thank you.
Matthew:I mean, I feel like it's a pretty, pretty safe statement. I think it's pretty safe to say, well, you know, if you read the books, Justine and Juliet, by the Marquis de Assad, might change your mind. There have
Marissa:been some changes, but historically speaking, a lot of them not a great not a great job.
Matthew:Yeah, not not yet. High risk of abuse.
Marissa:And there's ease and all kinds of things. Yeah.
Matthew:I mean, I don't, I don't I mean, I don't really know a lot of what prostitution would have been like in China at that time. I mean, some some places have like a different, you know, different style of prostitution. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, like, like in Japan, there's like, like the geishas or it wasn't that high. Yeah, they're, they're kind of you know, comfort ladies. No, she wasn't a high class. She
Marissa:no she was not. This is not the high class hooker, clientele were a lot of pirates. So. Okay, things like that. She was pirates that she worked on what I believe is a flower boat called a flower boat, which was It was literally a boat full of just flowers, aka prostitutes and just a lot of caramel flour. Yes. And just fun. I think like a lot of like gambling.
Matthew:Casino boat seems like a Yeah, rolling up and down Mississippi of China.
Marissa:Anyway, while she's doing all this, you know, she, she, she she she does see all these ships that are coming in and they sail past all these trade supplies for the wealthy Chinese clientele, fresh fruits, fresh, fresh vegetables, meats, all kinds of things, anything you could want, basically, but she she she can't get into yourself because she's not wealthy enough, right? She wants them. She wants them. So one day she she and her prostitutes for her brothel were actually dragged out and they were into the dragged into the presence of a pirate. And his name was Zhang Yi. Legendary where he's his whole family was he's from a long line of pirates. Like, this is like pirate aristocracy.
Matthew:Right? You said it like I was supposed to like, oh, wow, no kidding. I mean, I did not pretty much the end of my end of my Chinese history knowledge ends with like Red Cliff and Dynasty Warriors video games.
Marissa:That's how much No. Okay, so she did not act like the rest of the girls here though. Because Ching she actually refused to cower down. And this really caught his eye. Like this is like his thing. Right? So Zhang hee hee hee noticed her you looked at Bonner. And she just kind of seemed to like, dare him. There was one story that said that she actually jumped on and clotted his face. Yeah. So but he liked it. He was all about that. feisty. Yeah. And he offered her. He offered her like, all kinds of stuff. And she was like, No, I don't want that. And so he was he was very taken with her. She wanted all that stuff. Yes. But she is holding out for something else. So she she asks him, she's like, I want half of your pirate fleet.
Matthew:Or he must have I mean, this what probably wasn't in their very first encounter. This was probably she probably spent a little time wooing him.
Marissa:I do not know, but I don't think it was much time. What Yeah, well,
Matthew:I mean, I just don't think that he was like, Hey, you're coming with me. She caught his eyes out. And he was like, I bought some gold. And she was like, How about half your fleet and he's like,
Marissa:deal. He wanted her marry him. That's
Matthew:like, I had a little bit of a relationship. And he did some fun, I think early on.
Marissa:So they became partners, they married, she married Jamie, one of the most powerful men around and because of this and the way that she conducted herself, she quickly gained the respect of the crew. So she this woman seems like she's really very confident.
Matthew:Yes, it definitely seems like she has a strong personality. Yeah.
Marissa:zhenqi came from a long line of parents, as I said, but he quickly realized that he could use this partnership. And so they wed and she took to this new life like it was the most natural thing in the world with the red fleet. She's like she was made for this life almost. At this time, it's important to note that it was the time of like Chinese foot binding for the aristocracy.
Matthew:Which foot binding is when Yeah, women spend well girls really young girls very young girls, they have their foot literally bound so that the like the ball of the foot curls, like your pinky toe, I mean, if this was a visual medium, but you take your pinky toe and you basically wrap it tightly so that it starts to bend in towards where your like
Unknown:the big toe is. Yeah, so toes will break
Matthew:Yeah, so eventually your bones will permanently break or be deformed so that you have like tiny little hubs
Marissa:perfect little Lotus foot is called out and there if you if you do look if you have any interest this is very much a tangent but if you have any interest you can see these little tiny little like she's still that these women would put their feet into it's just crazy
Matthew:there was there was supposed to be something if I'm not mistaken I don't have this in front of me but it was something that was like it was also this gets real weird but it was supposed to be like the they wanted the foot to be so small that a man could fit it in his mouth. That is toe suck into another level.
Marissa:A whole lot of hate feet
Matthew:so just also made it so they couldn't they couldn't run away
Marissa:that it does. Yeah, it very much crippled them. Yeah,
Matthew:they basically they they walk with extreme pain so they couldn't really
Marissa:come was a sign of social status. Yeah, and there
Matthew:was this is this is a tangent but yeah, a lot of like, stuff like that is a sign of social status of having like I don't even need to walk I have I have incredibly light skin because I've never go into the sun because I don't
Marissa:have to work. Yes. But that didn't really, I shouldn't probably had that much of a tangent because it's a very small point. But it was the time for that this was only for the upper classes that actually did that though the lower classes these women worked because they could also because a huge fee. Yeah, they had their own probably not, but they had their own feet.
Matthew:You agreed to Vienna? Like yeah, wait, no.
Marissa:Probably normal sized feet,
Matthew:pretty sure I'm pretty sure the size of your purse does not denote the size of your foot.
Marissa:But anyway, they, they sometimes would become sailors just because they could. These are lower class women, though. So but they had this opportunity, they would have to be tough and assertive, almost to the point of aggression, and sometimes very much to the point of aggression, really fleeing from what their lives would have been on land. So so there was a lot of women pirates in China. There were more than you think. Yeah, clearly. Yeah.
Matthew:I just asked that question. Obviously, I don't think there's
Marissa:being difficult today for absolutely no reason.
Matthew:What's what we do in this podcast.
Marissa:This is what we do in life. So it's nothing to lose, many women actually would accept the risk that could even be death by hanging because the rewards could be so great. This is one of the few opportunities they had that could in fact, give them so many riches. So see. Yeah. And just being a sailor in general. But Jean, she was all about this life.
Matthew:It also explains why, you know, people took to her if there's already women that are sailors and pirates, you know what I mean? Like, it'd be different in a European setting where women are considered on lucky to have on ships. Yeah, you know, so.
Marissa:So, so much it was still not like common, though. Sure. It was far more men than when I want to make it seem like it was common, but there were there were more than you would think. So she she actually she was all about this life, so much so that her husband actually eventually started to fear her in some ways, because she was so strong of a leader. And it was never to the point of him trying to get rid of her or anything like that. But it was just like, wow, this woman really? Wow. She's powerful. Meanwhile, during this time, Zhang Yi adopted Okay, so both of them really But Jang hee hee adopted a 15 year old boy named Zhang Bao as his son Zhang Bao, he's, he also ended up becoming a lover to both the husband and the wife. So this is a weird dynamic here.
Matthew:That's that that's an adoption that has bow
Marissa:and adoption. Yeah. But then at no for the couple forums that confederation of Guangdong pirate fleet, as was hundreds of ships
Matthew:directly underneath her specifically as much in the fleet as in like it's it's a it's a federation. Yeah, it's a group of captains who have all come together to agree to be like, where we're all on the same side.
Marissa:And but 100 ships,
Matthew:which is huge.
Marissa:It's a lot. It's a lot. It's called the Red fleet. So there was a written agreement drawn up, which bound them all together, and it was signed by seven major pirate leaders. For three years, they terrorize the trading ships and China's ports causing major problems for the Navy that was there. But in 1807, zhangxi died. She's sad. But at this point, she
Matthew:wishes the death of a pirate Oh,
Marissa:he's a human being. Yeah, okay. But in Asia 70 died at this point. She Ching she is just 22 years old. But power passes to her entirely without anyone contesting it.
Unknown:Do we know how he died know that there
Marissa:are a lot of accounts like someone who said he drowned or like a storm or something but a bunch of different
Matthew:throw something about there was like he fell overboard and drowned
Marissa:possibility but there are you know, parts do like to get drunk, right? But now we don't know. But after all, she had been rolling with her husband had proven herself in battle for one thing, but also as a leader. So there though there were some people who were a little uncomfortable, nobody really contested it. So she just became the leader of this fleet. She's awesome. She chose Jang Bao, the adopted son as her second in command. He was the guy who had been adopted and he became Ching she's lover at this point in earnest. Like they actually got married. But make no mistake, she she was in charge and she acted like it. It wasn't like he started taking over she was very much in charge. She made a set of rules for life, on the sea for all of our sailors. This was the toughest code ever imposed on pirates anywhere in the world.
Matthew:Do we have examples? Yes, we do.
Marissa:This may So the her pirates were a more formal and cohesive group. There were punishments there. It was a set set of rules. And if they did not follow this code, the punishments were severe, much more than the articles for the Pirates of the Caribbean. Like, way more. She was quick and cruel with these punishments if she thought they were necessary. And there's only there's only cemented her position as head of the organization like rolling with fear.
Matthew:Right, but it's also it's an absolute organization. So if you don't like her rules get hit. There's 100 ships, like good luck. Yeah, go ahead. You don't want to be part of this federation. You become a target of this federation. Yeah. So yeah, so you gotta you gotta mind your P's and Q's.
Marissa:So for examples, any pirate who disobeyed or stole from the common plunder, so from another pirate or from the common, you know, separation was beheaded. Fair, fair, fair. It is fair if a pirate flaw failed to share the goods that they found with their fellow pirates. They came back and they just didn't tell anyone but someone found out. They would be flogged the first time. But the second time it happened they would be executed. So you get a warning with that one? Yeah, Bear. deserters had their ears chopped off. Okay. Yeah. If a pirate radio news. Yeah, yeah. So if a pirate a male pirate raped a female captive that they had, they would be executed. If it was found out that the woman had agreed to have sex with this man. This has to be the captive woman to if it was found out that she had agreed to have sex. The man was beheaded and weights were tied to the woman's legs and she was thrown overboard.
Matthew:So no sex with captives. Correct. Whether they want wanted or not
Marissa:be correct. But the parts they could have lives, but they had to stay loyal to those wives. That was also a rule. So Ching, she also refused to allow her pirates to use the word plunder. And instead, she insisted that they called it
Matthew:asset acquisitions.
Marissa:No transshipped goods
Matthew:transshipped goods? Yes, I'm sorry, Chinese.
Marissa:I'm sure it translates. She was she was really looking to the future for her enterprise. Her entire pirate fleet had been taking protection money during this entire time. Right. So she'd been taking protection money while from like salt ships that were coming through the area. So they would give them money so that they could come to the area without being robbed. Basically, it's
Matthew:a it's the the Chinese pirate version of the mafia. Oh, nice Sharpie got here be a real terrible thing, if you know. It'd be real terrible.
Marissa:So she started thinking, this is not a bad business model. You know, I mean, we're not doing that much. We're just taking the money to tell this does not rob them. Right. Yeah.
Matthew:And then that that is that is a method that has often been used throughout in a number of different things where it's like, we'll pay you just just just to not do stuff like you don't have to take it just help just make the agreement that you won't come after us. Yeah. So yeah.
Marissa:Yeah. So she, she actually extended this, she made it so that the ships that were coming through the routes that the pirates frequented could pay protection money, but all ships basically so makes your job a lot
Matthew:easier and a lot safer. Yeah, exactly. That which is also enticing to other pirates to be like, Look, you get a cut of this protection money, and nobody has to die. You basically just hang out. Bang your sabers and collect, collect a check. Yeah.
Marissa:It's awesome, right? I mean, not for the people who have to be extorted, but, you know, at least are not getting destroyed and killed and all that. Yeah, but
Matthew:part of that agreement is also legitimate protection. So if there's a pirate ship that's not in that Federation, exactly. Now bring all that that's another part of it. It is it's it's a it's a it's a protection racket, but at the same time, it's it's legit. I mean, it's a corporation.
Marissa:Yeah. And she did extend it to the point where she she did offer that as protection through the through the area. This would be anyone like the emergence traders, fishermen, villagers, whatever, whoever they would pay a monthly fee sometimes and get protection from the pirates. So sometimes they would just be like, just a set fee. If the if a pirate was found to attack a ship that had already paid this do they would be forced to pay what they had taken back and then some orders the ship as like, our bad? Yeah, pretty much like our bad.
Matthew:I mean, you kind of have to do that. Because if not, it's you lose the trust. You know? Yeah. So like, you have to be like, you get it all back. Because if not, then you you. It's you know, it really takes away the value of the protection if if it's hit or miss.
Marissa:And she also set it up so they had spies all along the coast, which really messed with like the Chinese officials who were trying to put a stop to this whole thing because they were they were trying to stop it. but they were not successful. At this time Ching she and her fleet were they were not being very nice though it started starting to go a little bit off the rails at this point. If they raided a coastal area, and then these people retaliated against them, they would make an example of them. So they very bad, bad news for these people. They seem to hold no sympathy whatsoever. They would take its business baby this business, but yeah, they would take hostages regularly for ransom. One of these hostages actually wrote in his diary that he wrote about like conditions on the ship. I said they were really bad and terrible. He said that rats were bred on board as a delicacy. They were bred as a delicacy, and, and the conditions were like filthy, a diet of calorie. Caterpillar's and rice was considered nutritious. Apparently quite bad.
Matthew:I mean, bugs are the food of the future.
Marissa:Yeah. Well, they are at I mean, it's true. Yeah, maybe she
Matthew:was. She's like caterpillars. Force, right.
Marissa:So pirates could only keep women on board if they were married. That was a rule here. And he wrote that about that. Some men got around this with multiple wives though. No, that's the loophole. And these people were all cramped into really tiny living quarters on the ship. He also spoke of how efficient but also cruel the pirate queen was massacring those from attacked villagers, villages who were not taken as hostage. So be their hostages for ransom, or you did
Matthew:business. What are you going to do? I mean, you can't I mean, you got to think like their whole, unless they have like a port of toward UGA, or NASA or something, you know, the pirate kingdoms like you find in the Caribbean? Or Caribbean, whatever. But you. I mean, what their whole they're floating. They're floating. City, you know. So I mean, there's only so much room that you can you can do so you can let them go. You can kill them, or you can sell them. Yeah. Just as it is. It is a microcosm of corporate America.
Marissa:But of course, the Navy the Chinese navy was not happy with us, of course, because it's messing with everything. Especially though, that a woman was holding this position. Because as we know, you know, people don't tend to like that. Usually. Sure. That's
Matthew:awfully sexist.
Marissa:It's not true. Tell me it's
Matthew:not true. Because, you know, I don't I respect ladies.
Marissa:I know you do. But um, I mean, like, I also see, you know, just a ton of interest in these murderess is because they're women. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just there's so much.
Matthew:Yeah, it doesn't matter where on the planet you are. It is far more likely that women are considered to be the less aggressive, less strong and less Yeah, the gentler of the of the genders.
Marissa:But anyway, so they elected a new governor general. And this guy arrived to get rid of her and he kind of made it his point. He tried really was trying to get rid of her and everything there. He wanted to make the pirates retreat. It was really messing with just trade everything really, they were taking all these goods and everything. He imposed an embargo on coastal trade, meaning that all ships were barred from port. He used this time to repair and refit the battered Navy. We've been fighting the pirates. But this was bad for the pirates. Most of what they used to survive was from ships. So without the ships coming through, they were really starting to run low and supplies. So they attacked Guangzhou, capital of the Guangdong Province out of sheer desperation. This caused the Chinese to ask the British and the Portuguese for help.
Matthew:Which have solid ships. Yeah,
Marissa:these guys all came together, and they attack attack Ching, she and her men in 1809. The naval Alliance kept the pirates blockaded for two weeks, which at this point, the pirates are starving, what two weeks away without supplies and the ship. But Ching she was lucky with the way that the winds were blowing. And they had actually, the Chinese navy actually sent fire ships that were meant to destroy her ships, but the wind blew them back toward the ships that had sent them bad luck. Bad luck. So she she wasn't driven out by the Chinese navy. But you know what? The market was becoming saturated. This is what happens when something is successful, right. There were more rivals for power in the area more pirates trying to get the ships that were coming through. So she she she thinks this through. The Pirate Queen actually negotiated with a top Chinese official for her and Jang Bao. She was just 25 years old when she did this. So this is this this woman is intense. Very young.
Matthew:She Mrs. 1809 at no not at this point. So she this has already been a few years of her being a pirate. So she was doing this like 19
Marissa:Yeah, interesting. She negotiated so that fewer than four 100 of her pirates suffered any punishment at all. She This is art of negotiation with this woman. 60 of these pirates were banished for two years 151 were exiled. 126 were executed. But think about how many she had. She had 1000 Yes.
Matthew:Yeah. 800 ships, each ship probably has 60 to 100 people. Yeah. So these are the I don't I mean, I don't know what Chinese ships at in 1809 1800s would have been like, but if this was like a man of war ship of the line or something from like, you know, the European ships, like there's there's upwards of 100 people on some of these ships. So if you're thinking 800 ships, 50 to 50 to 70 80,000 people,
Marissa:it was somewhere between 50 and 70, or 80,000, for sure. And only 400 had any consequences at all. These are the worst of the worst,
Matthew:out of crimes specific to them. Mostly. Yeah.
Marissa:And the 126 were executed had to just be like, the worst. But that's it's crazy that she negotiated this, in my opinion. It's just it's awesome. But she had 50 to 80,000 people at one point. But she had 17,000. I've read one of these sources said that she had about 17,318 I believe personally under her Yeah, at this point. They owe a huge army. It's still huge. They also rendered their weapons, but they could keep their plunder and their ships. And they received official pardons. Okay, which is awesome. That's good deal.
Matthew:Yeah, it's like you can this is a severance package. If you would like to retire. Yes. Yeah. When's the best time to do
Marissa:they also offered them positions in the navy or they said that you could join the Navy? Nice. Yeah, yeah. So that they weren't just like, No, just go away. They were like, you can join the Navy. Yes, the
Matthew:art of negotiation and also just a war of attrition to where it's just like, you are going to cost us way more than if we just say like, alright, retired police.
Marissa:Yeah, and it is it's it's a lot of people to they it probably would help them to just be like, yeah, you can join the Navy you have experienced on the seas of course, right. So Jang bow was even offered a position in the Navy and he started working against them, like the pirates so he's working for the Chinese navy against piracy now becomes like a real stand up guy. Jane Bell died though when he was just 36 years old. And she she ran a gambling house in a brothel she she continued her business endeavors like she was very successful even after this whole pack cheese
Matthew:this the scoop, she decided to no longer be the commander of the Admiral of
Marissa:the Reno she negotiated to
Matthew:just we just didn't she was she was running a casino and stuff. I mean, after she got out she This is and you said that he was 15. So this is like 1520 years after Zhang Mao was taken in
Marissa:20 years after I think he was 15. So that he was 36 when he died, but yeah, so she died when she was either 59 or 69. I see both. But she died peacefully in bed. So I mean, she
Matthew:has a landlubber Yeah.
Marissa:But she has been called the most successful pirate in history.
Matthew:And this is also shown in Pirates of the Caribbean. She's in Pirates of the Caribbean
Marissa:has been like after the first year because I stopped paying
Matthew:someone more than this. Basically, this whole thing kind of comes together. It's the story of Pirates of the Caribbean where the the fleet comes together to whatever I'm not gonna say You know, I think recap Disney movies. This podcast is today's sponsor is Captain er ours beard fuses. Have your boarding attempts not been met with an acceptable level of fear and intimidation? Are the stories of your exploits lacking Are you in need of a little extra Genesee quoi to tie your outfit together? Then why not try Captain er RS beard fuses. These treated fuses are long lasting and extra smoky. Your enemies are sure to mistaken you for a demon with a head Raven smoking sparks. Captain er wars beard fuses come with securing clips and flame retardant Beard Wax, use offer code, walk the plank and get a free eyepatch. That's ye AR with six hours.
Marissa:It's too bad this episode is after you shave your beard.
Matthew:You don't tell us the listeners. Also not gonna let my beard on fire but well Under certain circumstances, that would have been a good red fair thing. Oh, yeah, just go in there with smoking beer Damn, next opportunity next year. And also, of course, a big thank you to all of our patrons and listeners, of course, but those patrons that do throw us a couple of doubloons into the coffers each month, we do appreciate you for doing so, putting a little more effort into getting some more Patreon material out there, we had released a mini episode that was hosted by our daughters cyca and Alyssa over on Patreon, where they covered Bloody Mary birth, both the urban legend as well as the Mary,
Marissa:Mary, Queen, Mary, Queen, Mary,
Matthew:daughter of Henry the eighth. But yeah, so there's a little tidbits in there, adding a couple of extra little, little, little little mini episodes over there as well. So you can check that out for $5. But to all of our listeners, thank you so much for joining us every week, and sharing and liking, commenting, leaving reviews.
Marissa:Yeah, and please, if you haven't already done so go over to wherever you're listening and leave us a five star review. It really helps the podcast a lot. If you want to leave a comment as well, that does help. And we appreciate everyone who's done that so far. Thank you so much.
Matthew:And now back to those scallywags
Marissa:scallywags. It's not nice. It's probably true.
Matthew:They're pirates.
Marissa:So the next part that we will discuss a bit is and Bonnie Hey Imani. She's in black sales.
Matthew:I don't think she made it shows me no but black sales. She there was an awesome and Bonnie and black sales. Yeah, she's really stars. Not a sponsor.
Marissa:sponsor, but still good that can you imagine if we were sponsored by stars? I mean, we just quit our jobs, wouldn't we? Anyway, she. We can't have a female pirate list without an Bonnie. No, no. So Anne was born sometime around 1700 in County Cork, Ireland. Her parents were there was a lawyer. His name was William Cormac. And he had a child with Mary Brennan who was his servants who worked with him as a mate and that child was in Bologna. Well, she wasn't Bonnie. I think she was an Cormac. But
Matthew:I was gonna say Bonnie means like, pretty.
Marissa:Yes, but she actually married a Bonnie, but we're getting into that. So Anne was of course illegitimate. Her father dressed her up as a boy when he was out and about. And when his wife found out about this, she actually cut him off financially. And so he and Anne's mother moved away and they moved to South Carolina I think, and then her mom died when she was just 12 sad so he
Matthew:dressed her as a as a boy to be like this as my little servant boy.
Marissa:Yes, well, well no, I think it was like this is my relatives child um, time like helping him or something. Right because one more type thing.
Matthew:Yeah, right. But you can you can you can you can. A guy can carry a little a little boy around a lot easier than he can be Palin around with a little girl. Yeah. And when you're doing that,
Marissa:those clearly had an effect on Bonnie. Her mom dying and of course everything that was going on her life was kind of she she moved from Ireland to South Carolina and especially at this time, that would have been a big change. So she she was a little bit of a Hellion she actually got into trouble when she was 13 years old for stabbing a servant girl with a knife.
Matthew:That tracks Yeah,
Marissa:she she married a pirate. His name was James Bonnie. She wasn't much older at this point. Then this comes her famous last name. So you know Ambani a Bonnie's father. us pretty. But Anne's father did not approve and he disowned her and kicked her out of the house. He did not like this guy. So and and her husband,
Matthew:why didn't you? Why didn't you like her?
Marissa:Because he was a pirate.
Matthew:Oh, well, I guess Fair enough.
Marissa:So just, you know, it kind of seemed like his daughter was not the prim and proper little lady that he wanted her to be a
Matthew:little dresser like a boy long enough. Exactly. And tell her Don't be don't act like a girl. You're gonna blow my cover.
Marissa:But, you know, didn't work out for him and he disowned her. So they moved they moved to NASA actually. And her husband became completely opposite from what he was doing. He became an informant against the pirates telling the governor about the pirates in the area and what they were doing. What a third Yeah, and Bonnie did not like this.
Matthew:Again, I referenced it during the the Chinese portion of this episode, but NASA was like the pirate area of the Caribbean.
Marissa:So and when he was doing all this and you know, hanging out with pirates so you get information, whatever. She was actually spending time in Local taverns and that's where she met John Calico Jack Rackham. Oh, yeah, Jack RACO? Yeah, you said to be one of the most handsome and charming Pirates of the era even. And the two of them became lovers,
Matthew:doesn't he? He doesn't come across that way so much in Black Sails, but he's a great character in Plexus.
Marissa:He's fantastic. But Calico Jack actually offered Bonnie's husband money to divorce her. But her husband refused. Recommend Bonnie then left together on their own. So she's like, okay, whatever.
Matthew:give you money to Okay, well, then, okay, I'll take whatever as cheaper anywho
Marissa:she became a member of his crew, and she disguised herself as a man there also. So, you know, she has some experience some experience with this works until she became pregnant and it was obvious that she was pregnant, and then people were kind of clued in, you know. And then Calico Jack, and Bonnie and their pirate friend, also a Lady Mary Reed, stole a ship, recruited a new crew, and spent years in Jamaica terrorizing the seas. After she dumped her child, she did have the child on land, and there's no mention of the child after that. So who knows?
Matthew:We'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she was thrown some some coinage back back that way. Yeah, or just, I don't know, gave it to some an nunnery.
Marissa:We do not know. Your child is unknown. But she fought alongside men. And she was named one of the most monitored pirates. So she actually had a bounty on her head. She was very good at fighting. And in 1720, they were attacked and the ship was easily taken because most of the parents were very drunk at the time, like slaving li drunk like they were passed out. And they just came upon them and easy, easy target. Right at that point. Yes. They were all tried at that point. Well, actually, first of all, I did see something where and Bonnie and Mary Reed were the only ones who were actually fighting against these people.
Matthew:And Mary Reed is another female. I just
Marissa:said she's not America female pirate but they were the only ones fighting and all the men who are below deck and I saw something that so they got so frustrated that they actually fired a gun into the body of the ship. Because they were so mad at nobody was getting up and fine tune
Matthew:into the hold. Yeah. You get you get you're motivated.
Marissa:And well, I guess maybe not. You're drunk though. But it wasn't good. So they were all taken in. They were all arrested. And they were all tried and sentence Tang. Supposedly Bonnie's last words to Jack Rackham were had you fought like a man you may not have hanged like a dog. True true words. Yeah. But both Reed and Bonnie actually, they it's the phrases they claim their belly, but they claim to be pregnant. To delay there has to be a female Macabrepedia. But at least one of them was so probably. I don't know. Well, hold on. There's Okay. Well, okay. Well, I said that, but there's record of read Mary read. She actually died a fever in jail. But it was possibly childbirth fever is why I said that. Yeah. So as far as and goes, though, there's a lot of debate. Like there's some stories that say that her father got her off after she gave birth. And the other ones, let's just say there's, there's no record, they don't know. There is a ledger listing the burial of an A and Bonnie without any in 1733, which is 13 years after the trial. Yeah, but it was in the same town as the trial took place. So she may have been in prison the whole time. Maybe we don't know. Also, some sources say that she didn't die until 1782 in South Carolina after giving birth to eat more children and having a long life. So we don't know. Okay. Yeah, records are
Matthew:not the best, you know, 17th 17th are difficult.
Marissa:Yeah. So, I mentioned Mary Ricci is another famous female pirates. She met Jack recom in 1720. She also dresses man, you know, that's how you get on the pirate ship and as pirate her
Matthew:Yeah, because, like we had also touched on before, like, it's bad luck to have a female on board. Yeah.
Marissa:And also probably just safer to be a man from like a sexual standpoint.
Matthew:As a woman, you probably also don't want to be on the ship. Yeah, that's what
Marissa:I mean. Yeah. Her mother had an extramarital affair, which produced Mary. But Mary's mother had also had a son. And from the affair, no, this was legitimate son, but the son dies. So she dresses Mary up as her dead son. Yeah, so get inheritance from her mother in law. Who would think that that child was still alive that they would get the money from an inheritance? Nice. Yeah, so she dressed is a boy growing up and she continued to do so on a pirate ship. You know, it's just a natural course of events. She joined the military. She fell in love. She got married, she became a widow. She joined up with the pirates, lots of things. Lots of things for life. Yeah, she powered around with Anne Bonny and Calico Jack Rackham. Supposedly a lover of and Bonnie. Yeah, yeah, there's that's been said as well, that her and and we're lucky
Matthew:to be in Pirates of the Caribbean, or Caribbean.
Marissa:I used to say Caribbean but since the movies came out, Caribbean, so they they they were, you know, friends, and they pirated away away for a while before they were captured. She was captured at the same time as and Bonnie, of course, like, as I mentioned on the same ship, yeah, she did claim she was pregnant. And then she died the next spring, maybe in childbirth, definitely a fever. That's all within it says just fever. So yeah, that's Mary. There are some other many other part ladies who are fairly famous, but we'll just touch on a couple more. There's Rachel wall which I'm going to bring up because you know how we did Bathsheba Spooner, the first woman to be executed in New England and the brand new United States. Well, Rachel wall was the last woman to be hanged in New England in the United States. Interesting year. Yeah. 1789
Matthew:and Bathsheba Spooner was 117 78. So that's only like 11 years. Yeah, women hanging must not have been that much worse than the last. But still, maybe they just kind of also just like, you know, okay, we got to, we got to stop paying these ladies.
Marissa:Not a good look, mommy, good luck. She was actually a pirate. She left home. Obviously, this is about pirates. But she left
Matthew:home the weird of all of a sudden your here's a segue
Marissa:made in London. Now she left home at 16. And she married. She travelled until she set up in Boston. So she landed in Boston for a while her husband actually convinced her to be a pirate.
Matthew:Was he also a pirate? I think so. Yeah. Or he was just like, you know, you know, it'd be really good for you. I think like if I was your high school counselor, yeah. Your profession. I think I'm really good at this pirate.
Marissa:Yeah, so they they dressed up a ship as one in distress. So like they they got on the ship and they they acted like they were in distress. They needed help. And then when somebody came to help them, they robbed them.
Matthew:That's, that's another classic highway, lay in the middle of the road looking like a pervert person.
Marissa:She went home after her husband died. She was done with piracy at this point. So I don't know how she how big she wasn't do it if she's just doing it for him. But she went home and then she started working as a maid. But she discovered that she really liked the life that piracy had afforded her as far as you know,
Matthew:the lot of freedom and all the stuff good bit of money.
Marissa:Yeah, exactly. So she started to steal stuff. And she did get caught. She stole a botnet and because of that, she was sentenced to hang and she died for stealing a botnet. So she also threatened and actually attempted to cut out a lady's tongue.
Matthew:The person who had the ball Yeah,
Marissa:so assault also, that's got to you got to add that in. She didn't actually get the bonnet so I don't know.
Matthew:Well, cutting a person's tongue out kind of overshadows overshadows the whole bonnet thing. I think it's it's a discredit to her to say oh, she was hanging for stealing Oban. It she was hanging for tearing a person's tongue out
Marissa:for trying to Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, she was trying to write. But so the last one we're going to talk about though is she may or may not be real. Oh, good. We like those. Yeah. But she's interesting. Her name was awilda. She She was supposedly a Scandinavian princess, who became a pirate to rebel against her dad.
Matthew:Do you have a timeframe? Um, yeah, I
Marissa:mean, if she was if she if she is real, she was supposed to have lived in the fifth century. Oh, yeah. Long time ago.
Matthew:Yeah, that's yeah, everything from the fifth century is really just a legend, anyway.
Marissa:Yeah. I mean, he. If it was that far back, you have no idea if it's real or not. This is what they say about her. She was locked in a tower she was protected by two huge venomous snakes until a suitor could come and save her and marry her. I mean, what does that sound like? proposal does? So supposedly this princess escaped herself by dressing as a man. common theme
Matthew:and walking by snakes were very specific. Yeah.
Marissa:venomous, very big venomous snakes.
Matthew:Who are they're just okay, just to keep her feel like this is probably a legend. At least that
Marissa:at least embellished Yeah. So she escaped by dressing as a man she stole a ship eventually becoming the leader of a pirate ship that was so successful, that the King of Denmark sent ships after her and it's actually said that the Crown Prince Prince ALF took her captive and realize that it was her realize it was the princess
Matthew:Prince Alpha aka Gordon Shumway
Unknown:no
Marissa:this is a different elf
Matthew:not from Mel Mac No. Okay,
Marissa:yeah. So anyway else and awilda married and lived happily ever after. And that's the story. Yeah and so that was that was five pirate ladies. There are many many more but these are often you know the most famous that are talked about so they stick out for sure definitely. What are more there are plenty more well good.
Matthew:Well one on September's Talk Like a Pirate Day we'll do more.
Marissa:Not a promise.
Matthew:Not a promise we might forget. But that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so very much for joining us as always. And reach out to us if you have any questions concerns, comments or suggestion pirating stories of your own, which was probably like what Napster now if you have those liar, yeah, if you have if you have those stories of you pirating TV and music, don't don't don't share those for your own safety as well as ours. But thank you so much. As always for listening you can reach out to us on Twitter and Facebook at Macabrepedia
Marissa:and Instagram Macabrepediapod or you can email us at macabrepediapod@gmail.com.
Matthew:And thank you as always, and join us next week as we add another entry into this our Macabrepedia is still doing I will do that
Marissa:until the end of time.