"Who Was The Most Successful Pirate in History?" Topic

"Any guesses? Edward Teach, commonly known as Blackbeard? Captain Kidd? Captain Morgan? Grace O Malley, aka the Pirate Queen? Sir Francis Drake?

None of them are even close, though Drake has the distinction of capturing what may well have been the largest prize taken in a single raid: the Spanish galleon Cagafuego. The title goes to Cheng I Sao (aka Hsi Kai Ching, Ching Shih, Lady Ching, or Mrs. Ching depending on the vintage and quality of the account you read.), who terrorized the South China Seas in the first half of the nineteenth century–a time when many Chinese women were literally hobbled by bound feet.

Piracy was a family business in nineteenth century China. Pirate clans lived on their boats–some of them lived their entire lives without setting foot on land. Within the world of the pirates. some women held rank, commanded ships, and fought shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. Cheng I Sao took female participation in the family business to a new level.

According to popular accounts, Cheng I Sao was a Canton prostitute who married the successful pirate Cheng I in 1801 and soon became his partner in building a successful confederation of pirates from competing clans. When Cheng I died in 1807, his widow took over. She avoided succession struggles by appointing her adopted stepson as her second in command and later marrying him…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

The Dread Pirate Roberts!!!!

Gottfrid Svartholm has to be up there.

Bernard Madoff

There's a story about her by Jorge Luis Borges, IIRC. This link is to a less-than-satisfactory version. PDF link

The guy/gal who was able to retire comfortably and not worried about being tracked down by old crewmates or the law?

Andrew beat me to it.

Christopher

Nah, there are still others on the loose that make Madoff look like a rank amateur by comparison.

My ex wife!

The collective members of the US Congress.

Capt. Crunch ,he robbed every kid of their teeth,and I also second Bernie Madoff

I totally agree with 79thPA.

Andrew Carnegie.

In terms of real pirates, I'll cast my vote for Henry Morgan.

As far as modern day "pirates" are concerned, it has to be Wall Street and its crew of faithful lackeys in both Congress and the Federal bureaucracy.

B

Bill Gates?

(smile)
Laugh a lot for cavcrazy one! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The guy/gal who was able to retire comfortably and not worried about being tracked down by old crewmates or the law

Henry Morgan.
Ended up governor of Jamaica and spent a lot of time hunting down former associates.

Drake did pretty well but ended up in The Tower of London on treason charges ( a bit TO successful perhaps?).

Anne Bonney.
Ended up a wealthy plantation owner in later life.

There are probably a few others but most pirates came to a sticky end.

Hi All,
I think the best Pirate Queen must be Queen Elizabeth one.
She had the blokes do the dirty-work for her.
Be safe
Rory

Nope, not Bill.

He's an entrepreneur.

Sorry, can't answer, since they don't provide fresh water, or Scooby snacks in the DH.

I'm surprised no Americans especially in the named either Ralph Semmes or especially James Iredell Waddell…….

For the record I actually think they did really well.

Henry Morgan has to be up there ending up as governor and getting a rum named after him.

That said I'll go with The Dread Pirate Roberts too.

What about Henry Avery for the win?

Pretty sure he captured the biggest single prize ever recorded in the Ganj-i-sawai, and he was never captured.