Pirates: Piracy in the South China Seas

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zheng Yi Sao was a pirate leader so formidable that she made Blackbeard and Captain Morgan look like amateurs. From humble beginnings as a sex worker in Canton, she rose to command a vast pirate fleet that wrought havoc in the South China Sea. She took on the Qing Dynasty, the Portuguese and the East India Company and still managed to walk away free.

In the second episode of our 'Pirates' mini-series, Dan is joined by Andrew Choong, Curator of Historic Photographs & Ship Plans at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, to uncover the story of one of history's most successful buccaneers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	She was the queen of pirates.
0:06.0	More formidable than Blackbeard or Captain Morgan.
0:10.0	She commanded a confederation of hundreds of shits and tens of thousands of men.
0:16.0	Her pirate kingdom operated a highly drilled navy.
0:24.5	There were separate squadrons demarcated by a strict color code system.
0:28.1	Her men were trained, severely disciplined.
0:33.7	Punishment for disobedience would have made Nelson's navy blush for their severity.
0:37.4	One could lose a nose or an ear for insubordination. As a result, China's Qing Navy,
0:41.3	even its European allies, struggled to contain her fleets, whom she outsmarted and outmaneuvered
0:47.6	on numerous occasions. Her name, the Zheng Yi-Sao, and she terrorized the South China Sea
0:54.0	at the turn of the 19th century,
0:56.3	first alongside her pirate boss husband, then as undisputed leader herself.
1:03.7	The South China Sea has got a maze of islands and coves and narrow pastures, chokepoints.
1:10.2	It was, and well, and still is, ideal for pirate operations.
1:14.4	This was a golden age for ocean trade, particularly between Europe and East Asia. There were ships
1:21.6	laden with tea and porcelain and silk and opium and weapons, entering and leaving ports like
1:26.9	Canton, modern-day Guangzhou, every day.
1:30.9	There was plenty of opportunity for the pirates to gobble up prizes.
1:35.9	So this is the second episode of our Pirates series right here on Dan Snow's history,
1:40.1	and I'm joined by Andrew Chung.
1:42.6	He's curator of historic photos and ships' plans at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich.
1:50.3	Together, we're going to delve into the history of piracy in the South China Seas,
	...

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