A Chinese woman named Cheng I Sao (also referred to as Cheng Shih) controlled a fleet of more than 1,500 ships and upwards of 80,000 sailors in the early 19th century. She ruled with an iron hand, became extremely wealthy, and managed to talk her way out of legal troubles and retire peacefully. Link -via Reddit
A Chinese woman named Cheng I Sao (also referred to as Cheng Shih) controlled a fleet of more than 1,500 ships and upwards of 80,000 sailors in the early 19th century. She ruled with an iron hand, became extremely wealthy, and managed to talk her way out of legal troubles and retire peacefully. Link -via Reddit
Many pirate afficianados will recognize the reign of terror that was Cheng. She was a scourge in her day and only avoided the gallows by using her influence over the fleet to help bring a peace to the region's tribes.
If you like this story of a woman who kicked ass in Pirate times, you would love the story of Mary Carleton.
http://www.belch.com/blog/2006/10/05/well-behaved-women-rarely/
I'd like to see something along the lines of Master & Commander, but with pirates. These movies (any movie, for that matter) are notoriously expensive to make, but as digital effects get cheaper and faster to create, I hope they'll start to tell more of these stories.
Oh yeah, and pirates are better than ninjas.