The Uber-Empires Greatest Ever Pirate Warlord

JMISBEST

Mongoose
Just a bit of info on my Uber-Empires Greatest Ever Pirate Warlord

At the height of his power he commanded around 12,000 regular ships ranging from 1,000 tons to 47,000 tons and around 1,120 capital ships that ranged from 260,000 tons to 1,170,500 tons, was ruler in all but name of a area almost twice the size of all of known space and thanks to anti-aging drugs reigned for at least 13 days past 36 centuries. As well as which even now a mere few weeks short of 41 centuries after he was confirmed dead all that's know about his end is that he died a violent death, nothing more and nothing less
 
12,000 ships and he's still a "pirate"? To support that many raiders the empire he's raiding must be extremely rich/large. And with battleships he's no longer a pirate, he's a star-nation.

I don't suppose you ever look at what it takes to support an illicit empire of this magnitude? You know, ship repair, people, families of the pirates, new crews, etc?
 
What fun would that be, pahvoc?

In order to make it easier to keep track of the uber empire, I propose that these posts be contained in a single thread that JmIsbest can update rather than stsrting a new post each time. What say you?
 
JMISBEST said:
Just a bit of info on my Uber-Empires Greatest Ever Pirate Warlord

At the height of his power he commanded around 12,000 regular ships ranging from 1,000 tons to 47,000 tons and around 1,120 capital ships that ranged from 260,000 tons to 1,170,500 tons, was ruler in all but name of a area almost twice the size of all of known space and thanks to anti-aging drugs reigned for at least 13 days past 36 centuries. As well as which even now a mere few weeks short of 41 centuries after he was confirmed dead all that's know about his end is that he died a violent death, nothing more and nothing less

Just divide all your numbers by 1,000. Less fluff to keep track of.
 
So... is this guy still making his living as a pirate whilst he's de facto ruler of such a huge area? Pirating with battleships?

The economics of this setup just don't make sense. You can only make so much money from piracy before you kill trade. Without trade, there is no piracy.

A ruler of such a vast area would need to protect trade, not raid it. Criminality siphons off part of the legitimate economy, but beyond a certain point an organisation needs to move to *being* that legitimate economy. That point is reached long before you have a thousand capital ships.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Shih


300 ships and 20 -40 000 pirates under her control.
Most successful pirate ever.
 
The term "pirate" is rather loose, and often intermixed with privateer. The British suffered heavily from American privateer's, but considered them to an extent to be more pirates than privateers.

There were the Barbary coast pirates who terrorized the Med, England, France and as far as Denmark. Does that also make the Vikings pirates? From the Wiki article:

Code of laws

Once she held the fleet's leadership position, Ching Shih started the task of uniting the fleet by issuing a code of laws.[7]:28 The Neumann translation of The History of Pirates Who Infested the China Sea claims that it was Cheung Po Tsai that issued the code.[8] Yuan Yung-lun says that Cheung issued his own code of three regulations, called san-t'iao, for his own fleet, but these are not known to exist in a written form.[4] The code was very strict and according to Richard Glasspoole, strictly enforced.[9]

First, anyone giving their own orders (ones that did not come down from Ching Shih) or disobeying those of a superior was beheaded on the spot.

Second, no one was to steal from the public fund or any villagers that supplied the pirates.[4]

Third, all goods taken as booty had to be presented for group inspection. The booty was registered by a purser and then distributed by the fleet leader. The original seizer received twenty percent and the rest was placed into the public fund.

Fourth, actual money was turned over to the squadron leader, who only gave a small amount back to the seizer, so the rest could be used to purchase supplies for unsuccessful ships.[4][7]:39 According to Philip Maughan, the punishment for a first-time offense of withholding booty was severe whipping of the back. Large amounts of withheld treasure or subsequent offenses carried the death penalty.[7]:29

Ching Shih's code had special rules for female captives. Standard practice was to release women, but J.L. Turner witnessed differently. Usually the pirates made their most beautiful captives their concubines or wives. If a pirate took a wife he had to be faithful to her.[10] The ones deemed unattractive were released and any remaining w
ere ransomed. Pirates that raped female captives were put to death, but if pirates had consensual sex with captives, the pirate was beheaded and the woman he was with had cannonballs attached to her legs and was thrown over the side of the boat.[4][7]:29[10]

Violations of other parts of the code were punished with flogging, clapping in irons, or quartering. Deserters or those who had left without official permission had their ears chopped off, and then were paraded around their squadron. Glasspoole concluded that the code "gave rise to a force that was intrepid in attack, desperate in defense, and unyielding even when outnumbered."[9]


So that's not exactly what we might consider to be a "pirate". Once a group, like the Barbary Pirates, or Ching Shih, they really begin to become quasi-governmental entities and nations in their own right. Though that's probably more of a philosphical discussion that doesn't belong here.

Oh, and one other thing, towards the label of "most successful pirate ever", the full quote - "She is widely considered to be the most successful pirate in history, based on the fact that she commanded the largest crew ever assembled, and that she died in her own bed as a free woman." She was a successful pirate, but did she loot more money than pirates who preyed on Spanish Galleons? I don't know. I find the final part - "...and that she died in her own bed as a free woman." to be telling. Most pirates died in the carrying out of their duties. The Barbary pirates stayed at home and had crews doing their dirty work for them, making them more like crime bosses than possible what a pirate is. Again we get into the philosphical area.
 
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