Piracy:A Selective Historical Account
B. J.Lofland (Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Macau)
從遠古開始，東西半球都有經驗豐富的海盜。這些海盜活動通常是由一些歷史環境因素，諸如政權的衰落，嚴格限制的貿易政策以及戰爭帶來的失業和動亂等引起的。
19世紀初期是被稱為中國海盜的黃金時期，有時亦被認為是一個海盜同盟的時期。這個有效地運作的組織包括由近二千艘船組成的六支艦隊，這當時是中國政府和沿海村落面對的一大難題。
雖然我們現在有更好的控制方法，但海盜問題不但沒有減退，反而越來越令人擔憂。而這個問題不僅是國內的難題，亦成為國際上的難題。
October 10, 1992, Kuala Lumpur: Pirates took over a grounded Indonesia freighter, M V Banowati, and threw its twenty-seven crewmen into the sea off the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah. The captain and his crew were picked up shortly after the attack by fifty armed men.
March 1, 1993, Manila: A fisherman was shot and wounded and two others were missing, feared dead, yesterday after pirates armed with machine guns seized ten fishing boats and forced forty-two fishermen to jump into the Sulu Sea in the Southern Philippines.
March 29, 1993, Hong Kong: A local fisherman was murdered by Mainland pirates aboard his fishing boat yesterday.
These accounts from the South China Morning Post indicate thegrowing number of attacks by pirates in the South China Sea; especially vulnerable are ships travelling through the Malacca Straits. The above incidents all occurred after the International Maritime Bureau had set up an anti-piracy center in Kuala Lumpur. The center is hoping to pressure area governments, especially those of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to cooperate in dealing with the menace. According to reports, the first half of 1992 saw fifty incidents of piracy compared with sixty-one for entire 1991, thirty-two in 1990 and three in 1989. ①
Why this sudden rise in piracy in the area? Although no single cause can be given for any event or phenomena, a look into history suggests that special events and circumstances have generally encouraged piracy, which has existed as long as man has plied the seas. Some seafaring folk have considered piracy an honorable occupation, similar to the way that desert-dwelling Arabs have looked upon raiding neighboring tribes as an acceptable part of their culture. Piracy was familiar to the Phoenicians, Greek, Romans and Carthaginians. In early European history especially active were the Vikings in the North and the Moors in the South. During Rome's dominance the Mediterranean was infested with pirates. In 67 B.C. Pompey the Great organized a fleet of 270 ships for the purpose of clearing the entire sea of marauders. In 75 B.C. young Julius Caesar was kidnapped for ransom. Under Augustus an efficient patrol force kept the sea safe for shipping for 250 years; but in the third century A.D. piracy again emerged and increased as the strength of the Roman Empire declined.②
A century before England's "gentleman pirates" such as Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkins, Japan's growing maritime commerce encouraged adventurers who traded and looted as opportunity arose. They made sudden attacks on coastal villages, brandishing large swords and seizing provisions, hostages and loot, disappearing as quickly as they came.
Although known in Chinese records as "Japanese pirates"(Wo-k'ou, or in Japanese, Wak'o, a term with pejorative connotations of "dwarf"), these raiders actually included many Chinese … By the latter decades of Ming rule, Chinese actually formed the majority among the "Japanese pirates. "③
Even before this, in the early decades of the 14th century, these Wako warrior-merchant adventurers from the western coast of Japan were a scourge to Korea.④
During the Middle Ages, the Barbary Coast of Moslem North Africa (Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli) became an active area for piracy; the Barbary corsairs, as these pirates were called, raided the coasts of Europe and attacked European vessels in the Mediterranean. The Crusades brought increased shipping between Europe and the Holy Land, offering lucrative targets for marauders. The Barbary corsairs, being Moslem, experienced the satisfaction of furthering Islam's cause in addition to increasing their personal wealth as they not only robbed the Jerusalem-bound pilgrims, but captured and sold many of them into slavery. These pirates of the Barbary Coast collected protection money for hundreds of years, their activities increasing as Ottoman control over North Africa declined. Especially infamous for their daring exploits were the Barbarossa brothers of the 16th century. Barbary Coast piracy was finally suppressed in the early 19th century by the Americans, British and French.
Piracy has been not only a result, but also a cause of political and economic conditions. After the fall of Rome in the West, Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, held out for an additional thousand years, finally submitting to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. A result of this power shift was that the Turkish navy, made up mainly of corsairs with Christian captives manning the oars, gained control of the Mediterranean. The Ottoman seapower was eventually defeated by the nations of Christian Europe at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The period between Constantinople's fall and Lepanto sawEuropean shipping in the Mediterranean severely interrupted due to Turkish piracy. This interruption was the major reason for Christopher Columbus' voyage in search of a westward route to India. Another example of piracy's influence upon historic events concerns the Hanseatic League. This league of merchants was a promoter and facilitator of European commerce during the Middle Ages, and was organized as a direct response to the activities of Breton, Welsh and English pirates in northern Europe.⑤
Piracy is generally defined as robbery or violent action for private ends, without authorization by public authority, committed at sea or in the air outside jurisdiction of any state. However, the meaning of, and attitude toward piracy has varied throughout history according to the time and social views of different cultures. For example, a number of cultures have not held a high opinion of trade as an occupation. Of the four Chinese categories of profession or pursuits, trade comes last;hence, there has been a tine line between trade and piracy. Chinese fishermen during hard times, augmented their incomes with piracy. Short quick missions were carried out, and gangs often disbanded after each raid.⑥ Until the republic was established in Peking, boat people were not allowed to marry with the land population; it was presumed that they were pirates or descendents of pirates, political refugees or escaped prisoners. They had no social standing.⑦One source suggests that it was not so different in Europe; "…□it was only in the 18th century that European writers began to make clear distinction between a pirate and an honest trader. "⑧
Among Malays piracy had for many centuries been considered honorable work; perhaps this relates to the Moslem's religious duty of war against the infidel. The Dutch in the 17th century used harsh measures to build a trade monopoly; this destroyed the local shipping trade and resulted in poverty and a big increase in piracy. Then as Dutch control declined in the late 18th century, immense pirate fleets cruised regular routes between well-established bases in a wide area, attackingfearlessly the strongest warships of the Dutch East India Company.⑨
Asian history, especially that of China, shows a definite relationship of piracy with dynastic cycle and trade policy. The Koreans, in a successful effort to combat Japanese piracy, in 1443 agreed to a more generous flow of official trade--at first fifty-some ships per year, then even more. Also, the Japanese were given the right to maintain permanent trading posts in three port towns of Southern Korea. In the early Ming period of Chinese history, piracy was kept to a low level; but later as the central government weakened, pirate raids increased and became stronger. The growing disorder from these raids encouraged the government, traditionally more interested in agriculture and land-based commerce, to prohibit maritime trade; for a time there was a ban on going out to sea.⑩ This prohibition, however, resulted in forcing seamen into smuggling or buccaneering for a livlihood. And after 1550 pirate raids became actual invasions launched from Chusan Island south of Shanghai. Ming anti-pirate operations bought off the leading renegades with gifts and pardons in addition to attacking Chusan Island. But this didn't stop the problem.
The Ming government in the last half of the 14th century had, as the Koreans did later, tried to control Japanese piracy through official agreements. But this wasn't successful, as piracy and illegal trade increased until it accounted for over half the flow of goods between Japan and China.(11) In the late 18th century China strictly limited exports as well as imports: only cardamom (for brown dye), zinc and bamboo could be imported. Vietnamese rice (forbidden by Vietnam for export) was in demand in China, while Chinese iron (not on China's export list) was in demand in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government decided to allow Chinese junks bringing iron, to take back 300,000 catties of rice for every 100,000 catties of iron. These regulations encouraged more smuggling.(12)
Although piracy's definition suggests illegal action, history gives numerous examples of piracy supported or at least condoned byrecognized authority. Perhaps the best known example was during the rule of England's Elizabeth I, a period of strong English-Spanish rivalry. Although the two countries were not at war, the queen gave her approval to the plundering of Spanish shipping by such sea dogs as Sir Francis Drake and John Hawkins. These raids helped finance the fleet of ships which defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. The exploits of English seaman, Henry Morgan, ranged from legitimate privateering to pure piracy in the Spanish Main (Caribbean Sea) which area was most profitable for pirates from 1650-1750. Morgan is largely responsible for the fact that much of the West Indies is today British. (13)
An interesting example of official use of privateers occurred during the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. The British tried unsuccessfully to hire Louisiana privateer Jean Lafitte; he decided to side with the Americans at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), a decision which proved to be a decisive factor in the American victory. (14) Another example concerns the Chinese government during the period between the two world wars, a time of growing disorder in Southern China which encouraged pirate activity. For whatever reasons, the Chinese government either could not or would not interfere with their bases of operation on Chinese territory. Nor would the government agree to the British navy's attacks upon piracy, which they had allowed in the past;this would have infringed upon Chinese sovereign rights and China's national prestige.(15)Especially during the 17th century it was a common practice for governments to hire privateers during wartime, France and Holland being two examples. Sometimes these pirate groups were commissioned to capture booty wherever they could, because the governments could not pay them.(16)
Recent articles in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post criticize Chinese authorities for turning a blind eye on, if not participating in raids on ships around the South China Sea. "Regular attacks on ships on the South China Sea have triggered new fears that the raids may be directed by officials off Po Toi Island. "(17) Pirate raids are being linked toChinese official boardings by Chinese officials, but no proof is evident. The Hong Kong government appears to be hesitant to get to the bottom of the matter.(18)
Records show that individuals have chosen to become pirates for various reasons. From the period of the Renaissance, wars left unemployed sailors who were tempted into piracy. Those privateers employed by governments during wartime would usually continue unauthorized after the wars ended. The usual recruit was someone with little to live for-little to lose-perhaps a criminal already, with less chance of being arrested at sea. Periods of economic depression encouraged piracy; to a jobless person, piracy offered escape from hunger and possibly from debtors' prison. Lives of common workers have often been harsh and unrewarding, while those of pirates offered freedom and boisterous living. A glamorized view of pirate life-style appealed to adventure-seekers. Some pirates, however, were recruited by force, or "shanghaied" when the ship on which they were travelling or working was captured by pirates. Sometimes the capture was temporary, and ships with passengers and crews were allowed to sail on after being robbed. Of all people, doctors and carpenters stood the least chance of being released, and resistance brought harsh treatment.
When Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1841, it was uninhabited except for a few thousand Chinese pirates; the irregular coastline and offshore islands invited pirate activities and discouraged settlement by honest folk. But earlier records of piracy in the area appear in the Yuan Dynasty of the 13th and 14th centuries, and by the late Ming period the Hong Kong region was commonly known to be pirate-infested. One leading pirate of the Ming period was Lam Tokin, who had several thousand followers, and collected fees from all ships passing his area of control. Ho A-Pat, Lam Fung and Lau Heung were all pirate leaders who appeared one after another to plunder the South China coast. All were eventually defeated by the Ming navy.
During the Ching Dynasty the piracy problem continued, but wasdifferent in that Ming pirates had operated locally, while the later ones were regional with coordinated operations from Hainan to Taiwan, to Guangdong, and with larger followings estimated at 40,000-50,000 or more.(19)
Near the close of the 18th century, pirates began to prey on the salt trade, and dominated it by 1805, having burned 270 government salt junks； this left four junks which were independent of pirate control. In 1805 each junk of the fleet paid 200 Spanish dollars for a pirate convoy to Canton. Those refusing to pay were destroyed. Local secret societies helped regularize collection of protection money: 50 yuan per 100 kg of salt, which raised the price of salt drastically.(20) Opium traders, including the East India Company, also complained about interference of pirates in the early 19th century.
By late 1805 the Pearl River Delta regularly suffered pirate/bandit raids; East India Company ships reported many burned villages. Pirates were operating successfully on land by working with local bandits who guided them to prime targets. It was a common trick to enter market towns disguised as itinerant traders or magicians. The pirates' land-based points of contact were often illegal gambling dens along the coast. Protection documents were available at these financial offices, which were sometimes operated by the pirates themselves, who bribed local officials. Nan-hai county had seventy or eighty of these contact points, and Foshan, rty-some.(21) One tax office in Canton served as feecollecting agent. The headquarters of the pirates' financial operations was probably Macau, where protection was sold and the Confederation (of pirates) was supplied with weapons and ammunition. These professional pirates lacked neither organizational skills nor money.
The golden age of Chinese piracy occurred during the early 19th century, the time of the infamous pirate leader, Cheng I. Between 1807 and 1810 the South China Sea was especially plagued with pirate activity. This was the period of the Confederation, organized and largely controlled by Cheng I, made up of approximately two thousandships of different sizes, which were organized into six squadrons. Each squadron was named for the color of its flag: red, black, white, green, blue or yellow, and each squadron had its own cruising area. Cheng I was commander of the red squadron, which gradually became stronger than the other five. This superiority resulted in jealousy among the other squadrons and eventually brought down the Confederation. One reason for Cheng I's success was his very capable and astute wife, Cheng I Sao. It was Cheng I Sao who gained favor with the coastal villages which were decreed friendly villages. She always saw to it that they were paid for wine, rice and other provisions which they supplied. Any disobedient pirate who harmed these friendly villages was beheaded. Therefore the Red Squadron never lacked provisions; but those villages without this agreement were ruthlessly attacked--especially those not near forts.
Another person who contributed to Cheng I's rise to power was his very able and dedicated assistant, Cheng Pao, who had been captured in his youth, adopted and trained by Cheng I. Cheng I's affection for this youth is said to have been not entirely for his martial qualities; but Cheng's wife, Cheng I Sao didn't seem to resent this relationship. On November 16, 1807, when Cheng I, age 42, died suddenly in Vietnam (either hit by a cannonball or blown overboard and drowned in a storm), Cheng I Sao was strong enough to take command of the Red Squadron. She appointed Chang Pao, her dead husband's favorite, to be her chief lieutenant. Mother of two of Cheng I's sons and former prostitute, Cheng I Sao now became the Dragon Lady of the South China Sea with more than three hundred junks and between thirty and forty thousand men under her command.(22) And Chang Pao (more popularly known as Cheung Po-Tsai) eventually became one of the most notorious pirate leaders of the region, having over 270 boats and fifteen thousand men under him. It was Chang Pao who built the Tin Hau temples in Ma Wan, Cheung Chau and Chik Chue (Stanley). These temples are still dedicated to seafaring activities.(23)
It was during the time of the Confederation that a Mr. Glasspoole, twenty-year-old fourth officer of an East India Company ship, Marquis of Ely, along with seven other seamen, was captured and held captive for eleven weeks by the Red Squadron. This happened about twelve miles from Macau in 1809, Glasspoole having joined the East India Company in 1804. The Marquis of Ely with Captain Brook Kay in command had sailed from England to China with over 100, 000 British pounds' worth of cloth when the eight men were taken captive. After his release, Glasspoole submitted a report which has since been lost-probably when the Canton factories closed; however, this report entitled Narrative of Captivity and Treatment Amongst the Landrones appears in several other available works.(24)
The report, in simple style and "bearing the stamp of truth,"(25) is corroborated by Chinese history. Glasspoole's description of the pirate chief likely refers to Chang Pao. He apparently didn't know that the commander of the Red Squadron was a woman. No name is mentioned, but there is "abundant evidence, both from his work and from the China Records that Cheng I Sao was the controlling influence among the pirates into whose hands Glasspoole fell. "(26)
Glasspoole noted that strict discipline was maintained on board the pirate ship. This discipline was the result of a law code devised by Cheng I Sao and imposed generally throughout the Confederation, and which can be summarized in three rules:
1) If any man goes privately on shore, or what is called transgressing the bars, he shall be taken and his ears be perforated in the presence of the whole fleet; repeating the same act, he shall suffer death.
2) Not the least thing shall be taken privately from the stolen or plundered goods. All shall be registered, and the pirate receive for himself, out of ten parts, only two; eight parts belong to the store house called the general fund; (the penalty for) taking anything out of this general fund shall be death.
3) No person shall debauch at his pleasure captive women taken in the villages and open places, and brought on board ship; he must first request the ship's purser for permission and then go inside the ship's hold. To use violence against any woman, or wed her without permission, shall be punished with death.(27)
Glasspoole made a number of observations based upon his eleven-week captivity. The pirate captain lived aft with five or six wives. No single women were allowed on board. The sailors never went ashore, and each was allotted a small berth about four feet square for his wife and family. The quarters were dirty, which encouraged rats and other pests which were sometimes added to the human diet. One time they lived on only rice and caterpillars for three weeks. Feast or famine was the normal lot on pirate ships. A normal diet was coarse red rice and fish. Ransomes for hostages often included food such as sugar, rice, pigs and chickens.
Favorite pastimes on board ship were card games with gambling and smoking opium. Glasspoole noted that his pirate shipmates were strongly superstitious; they sprinkled each other with garlic water as a charm against gunshot.(28) Idols were frequently consulted and good omens relied upon. Cheng I Sao, with Chang Pao's help, took advantage of this superstition. According to Chinese custom, the six squadrons always consulted their gods for good omens before each operation. For this purpose an impressive temple was built on one of the decks, and before embarking on a raid, incense was burned and the gods invoked for advice. But advance collaboration between Chang Pao and his priests assured the gods' approval. Thus the leaders' positions were strengthened.(29)
The pirates regularly collected protection money, and Glasspoole tells of his accompanying the crew on a fee-collecting village raid. It was usual for the pirates, especially when swimming was required, to carry two short daggers, one lashed under each arm. In the raid heexperienced, prisoners were taken. Each ransomed person was required to offer a pig or several fowls to the idol he worshipped; this food was actually eaten by the crew. Ransoms of from $600 to $6,000 were usually collected. Women often couldn't escape because of their bound feet; those who were not ransomed were sold to individual pirates for $40 each. On this particular raid, several women captives committed suicide by jumping overboard.(30) In theory, women weren't allowed on ships unless married to one of the crew, and it was not uncommon for leaders to have several wives, although pirate crews were mostly unmarried men.
Some sources say that women captives were usually released, but Glasspoole observed otherwise, and J. L. Turner, a British captive of the Red Fleet in 1807, said that the beautiful were usually taken as concubines or wives, while the ugliest were automatically returned and the rest ransomed. But pirate husbands were obliged to be loyal; no promiscuity was allowed. However, one source reports that most vessels
carried eight or ten women who were "intended to please all the society indiscriminately and to do the work of their sex." Yet it seemed to him that the "greater part of the crew were satisfied without them," probably because the pirates "committed almost publicly crimes against nature. "(31)
Women sailors were not unusual; it was traditional for them to handle the sampans in China. These women were from the lower classes and therefore with unbound feet, tough, aggressive and working as hard as men and often fighting in battle. Women sometimes played a role in political maneuvers. Cheng I was known to strengthen his position in the Confederation by giving women captives or family members (his sister in one instance) as brides to pirates of other fleets.
The most prized captives were young boys who were usually brought up by the pirates as servants or adopted as sons——as Cheng I adopted Chang Pao. Westerners' lives were often spared in exchange for trainingin the use of western guns. Those with practical abilities, such as carpenters and physicians, were also considered valuable captives. Prisoners who attempted to escape were usually tortured or killed. A favorite method of torture was tying the hands and nailing the feet to the deck for several hours; more serious offences were punished by disembowelment, quartering and throwing into the sea. Sometimes captives were offered freedom after four or five years, but this offer was refused by most from fear of recognition by the law. One Governor General in 1805 estimated that more than half of the entire pirate force consisted of captives. However, in 1804 a Governor General complained that all good helmsmen were leaving the navy for better pay with pirates.(32)
Another example of a captive who rose to great power (Chang Pao mentioned earlier) is Kuo P'o-Tai, leader of the Black Squadron. Son of a Tanka family of Pan-Y…□ he was kidnapped at age fourteen by Cheng Yi and forced to become a pirate. He also became a favorite of Cheng Yi who trained him well. At the height of his career, Kuo is described as literate, spending his leisure time reading the sizeable library located in the hold of his flagship. Also captured by Cheng Yi was Cheng Liu-Táng who was eventually put in charge of eight junks. After serving for ten years, when he was fifty, an accident removed half of Cheng Liu-Táng's face, and he, with 388 followers shortly surrendered.
Some of the pirate leaders demonstrated remarkable administrative ability. Wu-Shih Erh, leader of one fleet, employed several accountants: two kept track of rice, silver and gunpowder distributed to Wu's subordinates; another's job was to keep track of the salt junks. Huang Ho, a degree holder who had been dismissed from office, became Wu's advisor, strategist and spy as well as manager of his blackmail list. Huang also used his training to design threatening placards to encourage villagers to cooperate with Wu.(33)
At one point in his captivity, Glasspoole says that his boat joined a fleet of about 500 sail of different sizes which sailed up river to levycontributions on towns and villages. Negotiations were carried on and letters exchanged, usually at night. Once the pirates encountered a fleet of Mandarins; as pirates boarded one boat, the Mandarin admiral blew it up. The battle began, and the pirate crew were offered $10 for every Chinese head they produced.(34) Glasspoole describes the pirates as very barbarous, and adds that they seldom attacked European ships except when known to be very weak or poorly manned. He does refer to a bay where "the head Admiral of Landrones was lying at anchor, with about two hundred vessels and a Portuguese Brig they had captured a few days before, and murdered the captain and part of the crew."(35)
The plundering of the British Troughton is of interest. Having lost her masts (January, 1835), she was attacked by "fishermen" who bound the sailors, broke open the chests and robbed the cabins. They took all the nautical instruments and set fire to the ship, releasing some of the crew. The loot from the Troughton was cleverly hidden: $ 3,000$ 4,000 was sewn into a bag which was then tied to the anchor of one boat; several thousand dollars were scattered into sand and gravel ballast of another boat; some boxes were buried almost ten feet deep on a beach. In this case the Canton government by June 1836 had returned $ 32,500 of the $ 74,400 stolen, and beheaded between fifty and sixty pirates.(36) Another example of harsh, summary punishment of pirates occurred in August, 1828. The French crew and one passenger of the Navigateur (which for some reason had been sold) were travelling by junk to Macau. Within a few miles of their destination, all but one of them were murdered by "people of the junk." Only five or six of the guilty escaped; of those captured, forty-nine were convicted and "sternly dealt with"; two were acquitted and bambooed; the junk captain, Woo-Kwan, was "cut to pieces slowly and ignominiously."(37) After a captivity of eleven weeks and three days, Glasspoole and his six shipmates (one had been killed) were finally rescued. A Lieutenant Maugham was charged with the mission of handing over $ 7, 500, two bales of superfine scarlet cloth, two chests of opium, two casks ofgunpowder and a telescope. The pirate captain complained that the telescope was not new, so was given an extra $100. Lieutenant Maugham took the freed captives to the Marquis of Ely at Port Whampoa.(38)
Glasspoole calculated that at the time of his captivity, the total pirate ships numbered 1,800-1,900 of various sizes, some being cut-down merchant junks. The larger ones, five or six tons, carried as many as twenty to thirty guns of different sizes, and three-hundred to four-hundred men. Of this class, there were at least two-hundred throughout the squadrons. These boats were manned by approximately seventy-thousand men who he believed were disaffected Chinese who revolted against Mandarin oppression by at first attacking small trading ships, from rowboats with thirty to forty men.
Glasspoole's report states that piracy was completely out of control, (39) with villages within five miles of Canton being plundered and burned. The Chinese government would lose face if they asked the English or others for help against the pirates; but Mandarins let it be known that they would accept help. Capt. Austen of the H. M. S. St. Albans offered help, but asked for a direct commission. An interview was granted, but after a long wait, Capt. Austen was told the Governor General would see him another day. However, the Chinese did hire six Portuguese ships for six months to work at pirate control.(40) In order to save manpower and resources, the Governor General issued public notices inviting pirates to submit to the government in exchange for amnesty and official jobs. He announced his compassion for "these lower sort of men …" and made every allowance for them, saying that some were born like that.(41)
This government effort brought results; but other forces were at work within the pirate confederation which contributed to its demise. Jealousy of the Red Squadron, mentioned earlier, was an important factor. Another source of tension was emerging by 1809: a love triangle made up of Chang Pao and Cheng I Sao of the Red Fleet and Kuo Pó-ó-Tai, commander of the Black Fleet, who resented Chang Pao's rise and the fact that the Red Fleet was larger than his. Tiring of piracy, Kuo refused to help Chang Pao when he was in difficulty, and eventually defeated him in battle. Kuo now surrendered to government forces, turning in captives from the Red Fleet as evidence of his sincerity. An official from Macau, Miguel de Arriaga, helped him negotiate, and he was given a rank of sub-lieutenant in the Ching navy to fight against pirates. Within three weeks nine-thousand pirates from the various fleets followed Kuo Po-Tai's example by surrendering.(42)
Cheng I Sao and Chang Pao, completely discouraged, accepted the offer and turned themselves in.(43) Chang Pao said, "We pirates are like broken bamboo sticks on the sea, floating and sinking alternately, without enjoying rest. "(44) All members of the Red Squadron surrendered and were given free pardon; every ship was given wine and pork, and each man a sum of money. Some were given jobs in the navy and others retired to land. Chang Pao helped capture the remaining pirates, including the notorious commanders of the Green, Yellow and White Flags: Frogs Meal, Jewel of the Whole Crew and Scourge of the Eastern Seas. In the end, Chang Pao was allowed to keep several vessels under his command. He then proceeded to build a second career in the military by becoming a colonel in less than ten years. The fact that a number of these surrendered pirates received numerous promotions in military posts shows their usefulness to the state as well as the government's generosity.(45) Cheng I Sao managed to acquire for herself the title of Ming-Sao, corresponding to her husband's rank, although it was illegal to give this title to a remarried widow. After Chang Pao's death in 1822, Cheng I Sao, at age sixty-five, settled down in or near Canton and died four years later.(46)
The surrender of the pirate confederation brought the Governor General the honor of a hereditary title and the right to wear peacock feathers with two eyes; it brought to the region marked relief from pirate attacks. However, there have been resurgences from time totime. Bell mentions a definite increase during the second decade of the twentieth century. Little mercy, he writes, was shown to those caught; they were immediately shot. In Canton fifty were shot in one week, and two-hundred in a five-week period. Bell describes precautions taken against pirates on boats travelling between Hong Kong and Canton. Heavy iron gates were placed across companionways and locked, making it impossible to pass beyond them in either direction. Two guards with loaded rifles patrolled the decks until the ship docked. Pirates sometimes posed as passengers. "It is a well-known and proved fact that at least thirty-thousand pirates live in Canton and along the watery arms that lead into the country from the metropolis."(47)
Every May the Bun Festival of Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong, attracts large crowds. The purpose of this colorful tradition is to appease the spirits of people murdered by pirates on the island. Over the years, Cantonese opera shows, lion and unicorn dances and ghost-worshipping ceremonies plus a parade of fancifully dressed children all have cast a romantic glow over cruel, brutal acts of the past. A visit to the cave where Chang Pao (Cheung Po Tsai), according to local folklore, cached his booty may bring, at worst, a few not-unpleasant shivers. Nearly two-hundred years ago, Chang Pao carried off 1,140 prisoners from nearby Lin-tou. Pleasant though it may be to enjoy this commemoration of the past, the reality is that the violence of piracy has become a growing concern of the present. Piracy began with navigation, and history suggests that it will endure. Economic and social conditions, wars and shifts in power will continue to determine piracy's ebb and flow.
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Notes
①______."IMB to launch piracy center in September," South China Morning Post, 17 June 1992, "Freight and Shipping Section, "p. 1.
②Ford A. Rockwell, "Piracy," Encyclopedia Americana.
③John Firbank, Reischauer and Craig, East Asia Tradition and Transformation (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1973), p. 203.
④Ibid., p. 383.
⑤Rockwell, p. 134.
⑥Dian H. Murray, Pirates of the South China Sea (Stanford: University Press, 1987), p. 23.
⑦Archie Bell, The Spell of China (Boston: The Page Co, 1917), p. 38.
⑧D.G.E. Hall, A History of South East Asia, 4th ed. (London: Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1981), p. 536.
⑨Ibid., p. 362.
⑩Adam Liu Yuen-Chung, ed. Forts and Pirates (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Historical Society, 1990), p. 2, quoting Fairbank.
(11)Fairbank, p. 383.
(12)Murray, p. 30.
(13)Rockwell, p. 134.
(14)Ibid.
(15)Lennox A. Mills, British Rule in Eastern Asia (New York: Russell and Russell, 1942), p. 469.
(16)Liu, p. 5.
(17)_______,"'Official' pirates put shippers on guard," South China Morning Post, 17 April 1993.
(18)______, "HK fisherman shot by pirates," South China Morning Post, 29 March 1993.
(19)Liu, pp. 2-5.
(20)Murray p. 87.
(21)Ibid., pp. 83-84.
(22)Ibid., pp. 71-72.
(23)Liu, p. 8.
(24)Richard Glasspoole, Mr. Glasspoole and the Chinese Pirates (London: The Golden Cockerel Press, 1935), p. 10.
(25)Ibid., p. 14.
(26)Ibid.
(27)Ibid., pp. 11-12.
(28)Ibid., p. 1.
(29)Murray, p. 120, quoting Moutalt.
(30)Glasspoole, pp. 38-39.
(31)Murray, p. 78, quoting Turner.
(32)Ibid., pp. 62 and 77.
(33)Ibid., p. 66.
(34)Glasspoole, p. 41.
(35)Ibid., p. 31.
(36)William C. Hunter, Bits of Old China (Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh Ltd., 1911), pp. 200-201.
(37)Ibid., p. 186.
(38)Glasspoole, p. 53.
(39)Another time and place with out-of-control piracy is described by George Backwell, presently piloting Far East Jetfoils between Macau and Hong Kong. In the 1970's the ship Backwell was working called at the port of Lagos, Nigeria. His vessel, along with approximately 200 others, lay at anchor, waiting its turn to offload its very valuable cargo of more than a hundred tons of dried fish. Knowing the wait would be a long one (it turned out to be eleven months), and that the area was infested with pirates, the crew protected the cargo by welding shut the doors to the hold. Indeed, pirates wearing crash-helmets swooped upon the ship more than once, only to leave empty-handed. But crash helmets were insufficient protection for those pirates attacking nearby Russian vessels whose crew-members armed with machine-guns mowed them down as they boarded.
(40)Glasspoole, p. 18.
(41)Ibid., pp. 20-21.
(42)Murray, p. 136.
(43)This surrender was not without complications, according to Murray, p. 126. After negotiations reached a stalemate of several weeks, Cheng I Sao, against the advice of her colleagues travelled to Canton, along with several other pirate wives and children to win concessions from the government.
(44)Glasspoole, pp. 20-21.
(45)Liu, p. 41.
(46)Although Cheng I Sao is undoubtedly the Queen of Pirates of all times andplaces, three other female pirates deserve mentioning. Two were active in the Caribbean at approximately the same time as Cheng I Sao: Anne Bonny, Irish, and Mary Read, English, were both illigitimate, a circumstance which at that time carried a social stigma which launched them on tumultuous lives outside the mainstream of society. Anne left her no-good husband to join a swashbuckling pirate, while Mary, disguised as a male from birth, fought as a dragoon in the War of the Spanish Succession, and later became a seaman. The paths of Anne and Mary eventually crossed, both becoming members of the same pirate crew, and earning reputations as furious fighters; they were usually referred to as tigresses or hellcats. In 1820 they were captured by a British navy ship, but their executions were delayed because both were pregnant, and British law didn't allow killing unborn children. Mary died in prison before her child was bom, but no record of Anne's execution has been found.
A third noteworthy woman pirate is Lai Choi San, whom Aleko Lilius in I Sailed with Chinese Pirates, refers to as Queen of Macau Pirates. She operated in the Pearl River Delta during the lawless period between the two World Wars. Lilius describes her as an intelligent, exquisitely dressed Robin Hood-type commander, who was in complete control of her crews.
(47)Bell, pp. 29-30.
