Shap-'ng Tsai

Shap-'ng Tsai was a Chinese pirate active in the South China Sea from about 1845 to 1859. He commanded about 70 junks stationed at Tien-pai about 180 miles west of Hong Kong.Rogoziński, Jan. "Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend". Da Capo Press, 1996. ISBN 030680722X] Coastal villages and traders paid Shap-'ng Tsai protection money so they would not be attacked. Chinese naval ships that pursued the pirate were captured and their officers taken captive and held for ransom. The Chinese government offered him a pardon and the rank of officer in the military but he did not accept.

End of Pirate career

Tsai was blamed for sinking an American ship and three British ships carying opium in the spring of 1849. That September, a squadron of British ships went to Tien-pai and found 100 captured ships there held for ransom, but failed to find the main pirate fleet. Then in October, three British ships pursued the pirates to the islands and channels of Haiphong, Vietnam. The British ships were outnumbered and fought the pirates for two days. Afterwards the British ship reported the destruction of 58 junks carrying 1200 cannons and 3000 crewmen. Tsai escaped the battle with six smaller junks and 400 men. He later surrendered to the Chinese government and accepted the military position.

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