Posted by alan gardner on August 07, 2003 at 20:00:39 from 81.131.33.149 user AlanGardner.
Came across a great book the other day - 'Setting Sails' by Derek Maitland, about the Chinese junk. Reason for mentioning it here is because there is some detail about the Bias Bay pirates of the 1930s. 'One of the most dreaded' was a woman, Lai Choi-San.
By the way, in fairness to the Chinese pirates, what I hadn't realised is that I'm afraid it could be argued it was the British that caused piracy in the first place.
The Chinese had thriving trade routes via junk, which was gradually wrested from them by British steamships, and so, Maitland suggests, the junks were forced to turn to piracy in order to survive.