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SMNTY Classics: Arrgh, Women Pirates! · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sandy and Samantha and about some stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you production by Heart Radio, and today
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: we are bringing back a classic on pirates, women and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Pirates because it's Woman's History Month and we were trying
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to find some good history episodes. We actually Kristen and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Caroline did do a similar episode and way back past
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: host Kristen and Caroline and then Bridget and I did
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: one related so this is a popular topic.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, and then friend of show Holly, yeah, we
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: did crimin Elia that that was a part of their book.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Yes, so yeah, and it is fascinating, it really is.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: So please enjoy this classic episode.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and all good with
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: stuff I've never told you.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Production of iHeartRadio are madies?
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I said the G A Janny and are you
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: glad I began no that way.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: So Samantha and I have a beefy.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I think it's R just a HR because my initials
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: are a h R. And also it makes that joke
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: rated R work, so your G H and R doesn't work.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: It ruined joke.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Everyone's like, well, today is not the day for this one,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: but clearly lost it.
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: But yes, I did put it in there, so hot there.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: But if you've been listening to some of our recent
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: episodes that you know we've been a little over excited
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: about all of the badass where you have some of
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: the most notorious women in history, whether they're change makers, soldiers, spies, assassins,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: or just all together badass women, and we've decided we
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: need to expand that to women pirates of history. Yes,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: so I do have a question for you, Annie, Oh,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: pirate related question, yes, because pirates have been pretty romanticized
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: in general. Do you have or either a fond memory
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: of a pirate character or one that you love or
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: have watched recently.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: You're welcome.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Oh no, this is actually kind of embarrassing, but I
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: suppose I'll admit it. So I was in high school
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: when Pirates of the Caribbean came out, and this was
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the height of my emo face, which, as many of
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: you might know, involved Guideliner of course, and Johnny Depp
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: or very epic Guideliner in that movie. So I was
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a big fan of that, and I really didn't like
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Will Turner Orlando Bloom's character. But the reason this is
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: so obviously for reasons now in our what's going on
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: with him modernly, but also at the time, I was
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: in drama and I got in really big trouble once.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I can't remember why, but I had to write this
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: essay about my favorite actor, and I wrote about him,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: and I'm embarrassed to this day.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: It's just because I had a crush on him.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: Well, to be fair, you're not the only one.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Johnny Depp took the hearts of many, especially like my
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: generation when we saw him and What's Eating Gilbert Grape
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Big Thing, Try Baby was one of my favorite movies.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: So no shame, no shame in that.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: But yes, of course there's a lot of things asterisk
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: to his name today, but we will imagine that every time.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: I think of Pirates.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, this has everything to do with the fact that
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I was a daycare center worker.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: Is the stupid veggie tails.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: The veggie the Pirates song, I'm the pirate that doesn't
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: do anything?
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: I am a pirate? Did that do anything?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Oh? Wow?
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: Everybody remember that in their head. I'm absolutely don't.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: But I you know, I've seen still images of vet
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: details and I remember Pirates.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: So I worked at a church, local church that had
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: a daycare and of course this was one of the
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: favorites of the children, and I really wanted I hated
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: it after the fact, like there are moments of like, oh,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: that's cute, and then oh, this is creepy, and then
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: why it just became a why. But I also love
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: like Peter Pan Hook is probably one of my favorite
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: movies growing up, and I have memories of that. So yeah,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I think, like, even though we don't see them today
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: as much, maybe I'm wrong because I did fall out
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: of love with like Pirates of the Caribbean, and we
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: know they have a very long like sequel thing as well.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: They have plenty of parts to it.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: Is there any recent pirate movies out?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I think there's been a recent I know Margot Robbie's
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: going to be in the next Pirates of the Caribbean, so.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: It's still going okay, oh yeah.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: And obviously, as we're talking about this, listeners, you're probably
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: picking up on there aren't many female pirates in our entertainment.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: But I know I never saw it, but it was
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: another Peter Pan adaptation, and Brunie Moraw was a pirate
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: in that. Well.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I told you about the Gina Davis movie with Matthew Modine. Oh,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: who's from Stranger Things.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: Yes, you do, Yeah, you do.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: He was the father figure and Stranger Things the first season.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: That's Matthew Modine.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: He must not have made any impression on me, apparently.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I think he's coming back for the newest season because
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: he was such an epic bad guy.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, you go back to it.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: He was a big eighties nineties guy as well.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: But I remember Cutthroat Island specifically because she was the
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: main character as the pirate, and we didn't see too
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: many And apparently some of the women that we are
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: going to talk.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: About did have their own movies, but we just I
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: don't think it hit the claim that it could have.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Right, didn't become the cultural touchdown.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I bet that some of these were going to talk
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: about going to be HBO series or something soon.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: They should be, they should be.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, So before we get into specific women, let's talk
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: about history of the Pirting World.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: A brief history, A very brief Yes.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Yes, the Pirting World is much like most of our
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: historical episodes, and that in a lot of ways, it's
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: very romanticized, and so we have a lot of tales
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: that are splashed with legends and facts so our info
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: is a bag of like a grab bag of that's
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: what is said to have happened. And it's really hard
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: to verify those things, right, because there's a part, like
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: when we were talking about with spies and assassins, there's
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the legend is a key part of it. You want
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to build this refutation as a pirate, and when we're
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: talking about women in history, even less unfortunately has been recorded,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: but the legends and tales do go on, and we
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: would be remiss if we didn't share those with you, Cheryl,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that we know about them.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: Or the small things we know about them.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So let's do a definition because we love definitions
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: of piracy, which, according to the Guinness World Records, is
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: the act of attempting to board a ship with intent
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: to commit theft or any other crimes, with the apparent
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: intentions to use fource to achieve that end.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Very nice little definition. Also record.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I had a specific thing because I wanted
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: to know about the early histories and though the likelihood
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: of pirates existed when like the beginning of the existence
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: of boats, the first recorded pirates, according to the Guinness
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: World Book of Records, date back to the fourteenth century BCE,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: and according to the Egyptian records, it was when the
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Lukon pirates raided Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Of course, some of the most notable tales come from
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the period of the Golden Age of piracy.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Makes sense.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: The Golden Age was dated to be around the seventeenth
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and early eighteenth centuries. There were thousands of pirates roaming
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the seas at that time, and some of the most
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: famous pirates of all time, including Blackbeard and the Captain
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: William Kidd, were roaming the sea during this period as well.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Right, But we're not talking about them, of course not.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: We are talking about the famed women of the sea.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: And the list was bigger than I thought, so we
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: decided to pick a handful and dig a bit deeper
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: in their individual stories.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: So let's get started.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: So let's start with Sayita Alhara. Her name translated to
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: lady who was free and independent. I like that. Saita
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: was born in fourteen eighty five and was a part
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: of a prominent Muslim family. After fleeing Morocco when Christian
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: invaders fernand and Isabella conquered her land, she allied herself
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to Turkish pirate Barbarossa of Algiers, and she was a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: very savvy leader, improved herself as her husband's vice governor
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: of Tetwan. After her husband's death and he was the
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: governor of Tetwan, she was accepted by the community as
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the ruler. She also accepted a marriage proposal by the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: sultan of the Moroccan Watison dynasty and became queen, but
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: it was said she would not travel to him to
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: be married, so he had to make his way to her.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I like that too, and some believe she did this
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: as a sign of refusal to give up governing Techwan.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Of course, this leads up to her being the last
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: pirate queen. Her desire for vengeance pushed her to connect
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: with pirate Barbarossa of Algiers, Yes, which helped her to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: acquire a lot of booty as a pirate herself. But
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: it wasn't just that she pillaged and plundered, but that
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: she was well respected as queen of the Mediterranean and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: helped organize and negotiate the release of Christian captives and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Spanish and Portuguese captives. And though she was pretty successful
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: both on the sea and ruling the Tetwan, she was
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: overthrown by her own son in law in fifteen forty two.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Not much is known about her after that time, but
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: some say she accepted her defeat and retired to Chefshawan
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: until her death.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Right and as we have another queen for our famous pirate,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Queen Tetua of Illyria, who was one of the earliest
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: recorded with pirates ever. She became Queen regent in two
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: thirty one BC after the death of her husband Agron
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: due to his air still being an infant, and she
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: continued her rule following her husband's expansion policy for their kingdom,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: and to do this she used her forces to use
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: piracy to dominate Illiria's enemies and caused quite astir.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: From the Roman Empire.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: She was known for her fierce stance against any and
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: all ships and ordered her crews to treat all ships
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: as enemy ships so they were not kind and under
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: her reign, her pirates dominated the Adriatic Sea, quote terrorizing
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: the trade route of Greece and Italy. She was able
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: to attain quite a bit of wealth as well as power. Eventually,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the Romans had to intervene as many tradesmen and voyagers
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: complained of the continued siege and set ambassadors for a
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: diplomatic meeting. This didn't end so well that some of
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: the ambassadors were killed and several were imprisoned, which ended
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: up starting a war between Roman and Illyria that lasted
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: from two twenty nine BC to twenty seven BC. Queen
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Tetua was eventually forced to surrender. Of course, again, not
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: much is known after her surrender, but it is said
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: that she lifts several decades out. But there's another version
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: of which it states that she threw herself off the
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: cliffs of razon present day Montenegro rather than surrendered to
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: the Romans. I like that version. It just seems really
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: like tragic. A Roman tragedy, right, tragedy. It's like a
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Roman tragedy made the happen. Man.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Come on, come on, well, we have some more very exciting,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: possibly tragic to cover. But first we're gonna falls to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: a quick break for word from her sponsor, and we're
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: backpicking sponsor. And next we are talking about a pirate
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: queen or perhaps chieftain, but this time from Ireland. Grace
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: O'Malley or I'm going to attempt Gaelic name here, Gronya
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: ni moya I hope I got something.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Close to what it is.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: She was born in County Mayo around fifteen thirty to
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the elected Chieftain Dudara O'Malley of Umhall Kingdom. She had
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: grown up on the sea as her family was a
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: seafaring family. When she was told she couldn't join her
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: father on his expeditions due to her long hair, that
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: it would get caught up in the ropes or something
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: all the ship, she cut it off and demanded to
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: be allowed to join, and she was allowed. She eventually
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: married to Donald O'Flaherty, the heir of another chieftain, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: they had three children together. When her husband was murdered
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: by a rival clan, she took over her husband's ships
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and his land, and with the loyalty of some of
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: her husband's men, she took to the sea and began
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: her pirrating career. Just imagining that conversation with your parents,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: like what do you do?
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Pirate?
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: I'm proud?
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: IM sure? Yeah, I bet.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: She was a fierce pirate and was not hesitant in
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: getting revenge and vengeance against her enemies. That also sounds
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: like a common theme throughout these stories. And even immediately
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: after giving birth to her son Tibbot. She rallied her
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: crew to fight against their enemies. Though she had many
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: run ins and close calls, including being captured and imprisoned,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: she always returned back to the pirate world and even
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: met with Queen Elizabeth I, who they were at the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: same age. The Queen even released her back to quote
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: maintenance by Land and Sea and allowed her to continue
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: in her piracy and released her son who had been captured.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: She was also named O'Malley, the Chieftain of Mayo. She
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: died in sixteen oh three, the same year as Queen Elizabeth,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: and her legacy is still told. Obviously, we're talking about
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: it right now and talk about.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, And then we wanted to move on to Rachel Wall,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: who is an American and not so much royalty, but
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: she was one of the few female pirates from America
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: and she was born Rachel Schmidt to her Presbyterian parents
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in seventeen sixty. She eventually moved to
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: the waterfront around the age of sixteen because she had
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: fallen in love with the sea. Obviously, she eventually married
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: a fisherman named George Wall and they moved and settled
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: down in Boston, but at one point George leaves her
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: when she decides that she becomes a maid to you know,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: live on her own and take care of herself. But
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: then he returns and quote entices her to a life
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: of a bad company. As she wrote, the couple began
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: their pirating life in seventeen eighty one when they stole
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: the vessel Essex off the New Hampshire coast. They disguised
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the ship to look like it had been damaged and
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: would wait for passing ships, and when these ships would
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: come up to rescue them, they would storm the.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: Other ships and rob it.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Overall, they are said to have robbed at least twelve
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: ships and possibly killed twenty four sailors.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: Oh they were pretty fierce.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: However, that following year, George drowned in a storm and
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: raised return to Boston. There she kind of continued her
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: little bad ways, I guess, to rob doc ship as
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: well as she would get repeatedly arrested for theft. Eventually,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: she was arrested for highway robbery after stelling a woman's bonnet,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: and she was soon tried and convicted of her crimes
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: and eventually hanged at the age of twenty nine. Also
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: of note, she was the last woman to be hanged
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: in Boston.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, she stole a woman's bonnet. That's how they
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: got her. Yep. I mean it's all very tragic and
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: just not what I was expecting.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's move on to one of the best nicknamed pirates,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Back from the Dead Red.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: She's excellent.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: Yes, I love it excellent.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Also known as Jaccatte du laing Dulaia was born in
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the seventeenth century, a daughter of a Frenchman and Haitian woman.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Her mother died in childbirth and her father was murdered,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: which left her to care for her brother, who was
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: said to have some type of brain damage and needing
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: extra care. At a young age, she began her adventure
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: and pirating. She earned her nickname because it is said
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: that she had to fake her death to escape the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: government in the sixteen sixties, at which time she pretended
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: to be a man for several years. She came back
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: after the heat died down, and that's how she got
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: this this wonderful nickname. Back from the Dead Red of
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: course read being a reference to her very noticeable hair color.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: At twenty six, she and her crew took over a
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Caribbean island, naming it the free Booter Republic, and it
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: is here she would meet her and while defending the island,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: she was involved in a shootout that ended her life.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: This is one of those entries who some argue that
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: she may just be a legend and actually doesn't exist.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: But there are those who argue she had a child
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: who also became a pirate and a fear swordsman. You
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: know mystery's history. As I like to say, yes, the
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: story is great. The nickname is wonderful.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: I love the nickname so much.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: That's pretty much why she's here.
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: Yes, I'm not gonna lie.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: We we had to.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: We do have a few more for you listeners, but
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: first we have one more quick break forward from our sponsor,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and we're back.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Thank you sponsor, and we're back with our next pirate, Qingshi,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: and a quick shout out to listener Kelly who brought
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: her to our attention and sent us a copy of
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: the poem written about her, which by they we're going
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: to do a little read for you. So ching Shi
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: was originally known with Shi Zengu, who married a notorious
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Chinese pirate, Zingyi or Chinghai his fleet called the Red Fleet,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: made up of three hundred chips and head up to
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: possibly forty thousand men. Now, she Changshi, was a prostitute
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: in a brothel in Canton, where she met E and
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: married him in eighteen oh one. After the death of
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: her husband Ching She which means by the way, widow
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: of Chang, so there you go, took control of the
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: fleet with the help of her husband's adopted son, Chang Pao,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: and they continued their reign of power, growing the fleet
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: they say to possibly eighteen thousand vessels and up to
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: eighty thousand crew members, to say the least. She was
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: a fierce leader who was feared by the British, the Portuguese,
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: and the Qing dynasty, and her crew was kept under
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: her control. She definitely made sure that they followed her
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: laws and rules. One of her rules including deaths by
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: decapitation for the rape of female prisoners, or ears being
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: chopped off if you were caught deserting, So don't do those.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: So apparently she had a pretty intensive list of things
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: to follow.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: And they sure did.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: And she was so powerful she became a huge problem
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: for the Chinese government as in fact, in order to
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: stop her. They enlisted the help of the British and
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Portuguese navies to capture her. Of course, she, being very
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: savvy negotiator, was able to wrangle in an agreement which
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: she could surrender but would only kneel in reference to
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: being married. So, because when you surrender you're supposed to
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: kneel in front of them whatever whatnot, she decided.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: I'm not gonna kneel for this.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I'll kneel out of respect because you're going to marry
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: me to my companion, who was the adopted son of
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: her dead husband, Ching Powell. So she then was able
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: to get a pretty good deal and retire with all
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: of her loot and a full pardon. So she did
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: pretty good. So she died at the age of sixtey
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: nine in our sleep. But because she was the reason
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: we wanted to talk about all these pirate women and adventures,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: we wanted to do a dramatic reading of a poem
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: that was actually the reference from our listener, Kelly, thank You,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: which is The Fragrant Maiden is China's Must Wanted, which
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: was written in twenty eighteen by Kay Ming Chang.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: So if they ever hear this, I'm so sorry if
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: we butchered it, do our best.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: So fragrant maiden is China's must wanted, this country's least
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: wanted girls and ghost gods. I wasn't born cannonbald out
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: of my mother. I hollowed her breast into Boatso China,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: my country, my sore, my loyal leash.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: You aren't the first to say you want me on
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: my back at the brothel, I was born most wanted,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: China's best whore. When the midwife I sirened, I lamped
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: my bones, and the boys mothed to me, said woman,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: I've got to have you. Have you like a river.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I have no memory of being named. I flood anonymous,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I rinse canton like my rice. Bulb that I am.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I bark into a tree.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: You can't a country wants me like a man wants
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: his mother. A mouth to eat out of bullet holed breast,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: sprays a meadow with milk, gross heads of cabbage clients.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Brothel mothers beat me with brooms, whip me with my
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: own braid.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I belt a sea song. I sacked my body to
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: steal it back. Listen to my masked moan as it
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: makes a wind to marry I sail home to you, China.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Hear the short shark with teeth and eat you out
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: to sea. I stroke my sword, I fingercomb your beach clean.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I split like the sea.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: I'm room enough for every man to drown inside me
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: to China. Say you want me, I'll come with a
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: fleet to follow you. Oh oh, yes, I'm coming. I'm coming.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: I'm coming for you. So good, so good. And I
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: really hope we did that justice because it was a
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: beautiful poem. Yes, and reading it is a little more difficult.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, It's been a long time since I've dipped into
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the world of poetry, and I might be a bit rusty,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: but yeah, it's an excellent, excellent poem. We did want
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: to include some honorable mentions for Anne Bonnie and Mary Reid.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Any of you who are familiar with the world of
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: women in Pirates, you're probably.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Like, why didn't they talk about them?
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: It's because Bridget and I did an episode a while
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: back on women who dressed as men to get what
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: they wanted, and we talked about them, and to this day,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Virgitte and I asked like, who should play them in
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: an HBO adaption? And I still will randomly get tweets
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: about who, and Tessa Thompson is almost always one of them,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: so yes, you can check out that episod for more.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: But certainly they had fascinating histories. Also, Sadie the Goat,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: who was an American pirate in the nineteenth century. Sadie
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Ferrell got her nickname for her infamous style of mugging
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: people in the streets of New York City by squirly
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: headbutting them in the stomach like a goat. She and
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: her crew pillaged up and down the Hudson and Harlem rivers.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Right, and just to go back to an Bonnie and
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Mary Reid, although if you'll go back to listen, Yeah,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: they're both part of the Calico Jack's crew and they
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: were known for their impressive fighting skills, out doing some
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: of their counterparts.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: So they're pretty good. And they also were not hanged
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: when the rest.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Of the crew were because they were able to say
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: that they were pregnant and so they were able to kind.
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: Of escape that fate. Although Mary Reid I do believe.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Ended up dying in prison. Yeah, nonetheless, But yeah, so
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: there you go. Extra honorable mentions.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: We always got to right, we can never stop, Yes,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for sending us that poem and putting
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: this on our radar. It was a fun one to
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: dig into, and as always, listeners, we love getting suggestions
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: from you. If you have any ideas of topics we
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: should cover, or any pirates we missed, please send them
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: our way our email, Stuff Media mom Stuff at iHeartMedia
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find us on Twitter at
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram at Stuff I've Never
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Told You. Thanks It's always to our super producer Christina,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: thank you and thanks to you for listening Stuff I've
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Never Told You, the production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts alread you
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.