Rebellion and Piracy: Radical Community at Sea Isabelle Reynolds

77 Rebellion and Piracy: Radical Community at Sea

Isabelle Reynolds

Introduction: Pirates Need Love Too

Conceptualizing piracy as active rebellion, rather than social revolution, creates a framework by which the piratical and purposeful creation of community can be contrasted with normative social structures and power relations. For the purposes of this paper, I define community as a space and/or group which is deliberately held in opposition to dominant society. These spaces are purposefully constructed differently than their normative counterparts. In the Golden Age especially, Anne Bonny and Mary Read were sensationalized for their refusal to align themselves with the society they left—not only because of their piracy, but also due to their identities and aesthetic presentation. The community-oriented nature of many European pirates and pirate crews, and the care that they exhibited for each other, flies in the face of European capitalism, patriarchy, and violent religious enforcement. Rabbi Pirate Samuel Palache fled, with 1200 other Jewish Spaniards, to Holland during the Spanish Inquisition. As he used piracy as a weapon against Spain, as well as a way to establish and protect his community from violence, he rebelled against the oppressive violence of the home that he fled. Mistress Ching exhibits similar ideals of radical community in the face of state violence. Her use of her authority to institutionalize consent and respect for women explicitly ties her piracy to a capacity to protect the women of her community in a way that would have been impossible, were she not a pirate. As pirates often hailed from violent states themselves, they of course absorbed and replicated the cultural values of those states, but their use of piracy to rebel against

oppressive institutions is widespread. Pirates everywhere sought to create spaces that existed separate and apart from those to which they were once subject. All over the world, and throughout the history of piracy, pirate law and its conventions are and have been reflective of the radical community that pirates create for themselves in direct opposition to the societies from which they were rejected. Women Pirates: Piracy as Escape

In Chapter VII of A General History of the Pirates, Charles

Johnson briefly outlines the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Despite their being specifically named and emphasized on the title page of the History’s first edition, their “remarkable actions and adventures” are relegated to twelve pages. 1 The sensationalism of their existence as “female pirates” emphasizes their ‘unnatural’, single parent upbringings and cross-dressing as children. 2 These parts of their stories were likely fabricated or “altered [in order] to fit into pre-existing” structures of power, and served to relegate their experiences as external to, and therefore as opposing, normal European society. 3 Johnson’s description of Bonny and Read echoes that of Saxo Grammaticus in his casting of Alfhild as unnaturally using gender presentation and expression when she was a pirate. Bonny and Read, however, likely never saw or cared about Johnson’s book, nor understood their piratical lives as descending from an overarching philosophical claim about the opposition between civilization and piracy. What Johnson and Saxo notably leave out of their narratives is the way that women used piracy as a tool in order to rebel against, and escape from, dangerous and violent European society. From what little we can purport to know about Bonny—that she held status as an illegitimate daughter, that she experienced sexualized violence, and that her father “turn’d her out of doors” because of her choice of husband—she did not have an excellent time fulfilling the role of keeping her father’s house, or living as the daughter of an Attorney who could do nothing to protect her from violence in her

79 own home. 4 On this basis, I situate her decision to “go to Sea with [Jack] Rackam in Men’s Clothes” as a rejection of the society which raised her, and of the social institutions of marriage and law enforced by her father. 5 Her rebellion against those was in the interests of a future in which she could determine her path and shape a world for herself.

Mary Read and Anne Bonny as women pirates have been sensationalized and sexualized by media since they were first introduced to European society. This move by writers, to cast them as “unnatural women” while emphasizing their bodily femininity, di

rectly contrasts the way they likely dressed, acted, and lived. 6 Furthermore, it reflects a specific gender anxiety occuring in the 18 th century which translated into a desire by society to clearly demark femininity and masculinity. 7 This anxiety clearly influences the ways that women are represented and treated in Europe when Read and Bonny abandon that society for their own. The first published image of the two of them challenges the gendered society that they left: their depiction “emphasizes their ferocity [as] they stand with legs apart [...] dressed in jackets and wide legged pants, […] ready to fight". 8 This is likely a more accurate representation of their aesthetic as pirates, and it destabilizes the reader’s understanding of what a woman is. They both have fled societies which do not allow them the liberty or respect to live in the world unharmed and unmolested on the basis of their gender expression. It is evident, therefore, that as they abandon their homes for a better future at sea, they rebel against the social structures which harmed and constrained their activity on land. Their reception in Europe, and the subsequent manipulation of their image, makes clear that the liberty that they had in their activity and their expression as pirates would not have been possible if they had not abandoned the constraints of European society.

Jewish Piracy and the Creation of Community

Jewish pirates have carved out space for themselves and their communities in both European society and in the structures of Caribbean piracy. Edward Kritzler, in his chapter "Samuel Palache, Pirate Rabbi" in Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, follows the piracy of Palache, who, having fled the Spanish inquisition and established institutional space for his community in Amsterdam, used his piratical skills as a political tool with which to take his revenge against Spanish shipping. In fleeing the inquisition, Palache not only fol

lowed a familial tradition of piracy within his Moroccan family, but participated in a construction of community which is somewhat reflective of that of Bonny and Read. As Palache experienced both “Judaism and piracy [as] dominant influences” in his life, they contextualize his establishment of a “residence in Middleburg [and petitioning of the Dutch government] to allow further Sephardic settlement”. 9 He not only facilitated an alliance between Morocco and the Netherlands, but did so through his capacity as a pirate, and in the direct interests of creating institutional protection for his community—a protection which could not exist under the influence and reach of the Spanish crown. He continued to lead “pirate crews to seize Spanish ships”, endorsed by the Dutch state, and sanctioned by his newly established community in Holland. 10 These piratical journeys both solidified his relationship with the Dutch crown, and thereby further entrenched the stability of Amsterdam’s Jewish community.

In the Caribbean, Jewish communities, which also formed following the Spanish Inquisition, were established and influential, especially during the beginnings of English occupation of the islands. Interestingly, the Jewish “Diaspora found homelands in many parts of the world and from some of these locations carried out piratical activities especially against the Spanish”. 11 As Jamaica “had consistently been a haven for Jews in the New World”, and had had consistent relationships with the English government throughout

81 their settlement, the Jewish community there was instrumental in the protection of pirates during the English occupation. 12 Jewish involvement and control within piratical activity in Jamaica was ultimately combined with British power, which eventually “broke the back of the Spanish Empire”. 13 Both Caribbean Jewish piracy, and the piracy of Samuel Palache, is reflective of a radical investment in, and protection of, community through the use of piracy as a way to rebel against an oppressive and violent state.

Chinese Piracy and Mistress Ching’s Power

In the early 1800s, the formidable strength and size of the pirate fleet of Mistress Ching, or Zhèng Yī Săo, while impressive and important for its existence off the “Western coast [near] Cochin China”, is not what made it rebellious or radical. 14 Zhèng Yī Săo succeeded her husband Zhèng Yī as leader of an “enormous pirate fleet” in Annam. 15 The success of her fleet was tied in large part to the solidarity and sense of community between the six flags under her leadership, as when “one squadron attacked, another [would come] to [its] aid”. 16 Furthermore, in addition to rigidly enforced rules which are reflective of other pirate codes, Zhèng Yī Săo used her access to power and influence to prohibit sexualized violence within her fleet. As any “violation of female chastity without permission” was banned by the “Pirate Queen”, she was able to institutionalize a safety of women in her fleet which would have been categorically impossible on mainland China, within the strong “patriarchy of Confucian culture”. 17 In this way, her redefinition of both acceptable behaviour and the role of women in society is a radical investment in the protection of women, and mirrors the way that Bonny and Read escaped situations of patriarchal oppression through piracy.

Zhèng Yī Săo’s actions also mirror that of Samuel Palache in that, through piracy, she gains an influence and an importance which allows her to institutionalize her community both as opposed

to Chinese law, and as protected under it. Her negotiation with the Chinese government to grant pardons to her entire fleet, and the success of those negotiations, indicate that her use of piracy does not reflect a desire to tear down normative society, but rather demonstrates a deep interest in the survival of the community that she cultivated in her fleet. The importance of her leadership in this project is clear as she facilitated the negotiations for pardons herself : her willingness to engage with a state that had excluded her both as a woman and as pirate is an investment in the safety of her crews over her personal pride. 18 The success of her negotiations,

and the subsequent blanket pardon of her entire fleet, would not have been possible without Zhèng Yī Săo’s use of piracy to destabilize social order, or without the strength of her rebellion being recognized and conceded to by the state. Like Bonny, Read, and Plache, Zhèng Yī Săo knowingly and specifically deploys piracy against normative and oppressive cultural norms. Furthermore, she deploys it specifically as a tool of liberation and of community creation.

Pirate Law: Representation, Rebellion, and Rediker

In his article “"Under the Banner of King Death": The Social World of Anglo-American Pirates”, Marcus Rediker presents that piracy was an aspect of a revolutionary order of society, which pirates deliberately and knowingly created and positioned as a challenge to European power. Many of his claims reflect my assertion that choosing piracy is a way to create and contribute to a better society, however these can be attributed to Rediker “being idealistic and overly Marxist” in his depictions of pirates and piracy. 19 He asserts that the average pirate was simply “an unremarkable man caught in harsh, often deadly circumstances” whose actions and life Rediker sweepingly attributes to an overarching desire to “overthrow an unjust system based on moral principles”. 20 Rediker fails to take seriously the reality that, “as a royal official condescendingly observed, [pirates are] "desperate Rogues" who could have

83 little hope in life ashore”. 21 Rediker ridicules this condescending comment without acknowledging that it reveals a central failure in his own argument. As he neglects to include the lives and perspectives of pirates who are not just men who used to be sailors in Europe, Rediker ignores the diversity of crews, captains, and philosophies which lead and influenced different pirates.

By positioning piracy in opposition to Western power, Rediker’s writing maintains a dichotomous relationship between the two. His focus on Caribbean and European piracy excludes the stories of Samuel Palache and of Mistress Ching, as their stories do not

fit into his narrative: both of these pirates were explicitly invested in building a better future for their communities, and worked with existing states to do so. If the existence of piracy were indicative of a widespread revolution against power structures, Samuel Palache and Zhèng Yī Săo would not engage with state power to create positive change, they would reject those structures wholeheartedly. Furthermore, Rediker emphasizes the ‘humanity’ and good sense of pirates, their laws, their crews, and their leadership, but he ignores the explicit violence that many pirates inflicted on innocent people, often along gendered and racialized lines. Not only is there no overarching drive among pirates to overthrow power, but pirates often replicate said power on board their ships.

As Rediker “argues that pirates were more progressive and accepting of race than other facets of society” he identifies the space within the structure of piracy which allowed figures like Bonny and Read to pave their own path, and that Samuel Palache and Zhèng Yī Săo engaged with on their own terms. 22 Rediker fails to recognize, however, that while there is “evidence to support [his claims, there is also] evidence that […] each pirate and crew was very individual”. 23 Many pirates replicated the same social violence against which Rediker attempts to position them. As “[pirates are] challenging social norms and taboos”, it is easy for Rediker to posit an allencompassing ideology, but this is an idealizing and divisive move. 24 His ideological positioning of pirates compromises their autonomy

while erasing the actual oppression and violence from which many pirates were attempting to escape. This is not a widespread or organized revolution, but radical and individual acts of rebellion for the creation of a safer community.

Conclusion: Piracy is a Path, not an Ideology

Women as pirates, Jewish pirate communities, and Chinese piracy under the leadership of Zhèng Yī Săo are all indicative of the importance of piracy as an extra-societal way to create space for one’s own community. As the ease with which they moved through the world was transformed after leaving Europe, Read and Bonny both used piracy as a path to freedom from oppression and violence, and then carved out space for themselves on Rakham’s pirate ship. Samuel Palache’s experience and use of piracy is tied up in his commitment to his community and family, and he engaged with state power in order to do so. Similarly, Zhèng Yī Săo used her power as a pirate queen in order to protect women on her ships, and subsequently used that same power to engage with the Chinese government and secure the safety and security of her entire fleet. These individuals are not indicative of an overarching revolution within all of piracy that pushes to overthrow existing state power, but are rather examples of how piracy is a malleable space for the future of one’s community, to which their acts of individual rebellion contribute.

1 Johnson, Charles. [Daniel Defoe]. A General History of the Pyrates. Edited by Manuel Schonhorn. Mineola: Dover Publications, (2015), Title Page of the First Edition 1724. 2 Johnson and 153 & 164. 3 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750, Lecture Slides, “The Golden Age of Piracy”. March 5, 2019. 4 Johnson, 159, 164, & 165. 5 Johnson, 165. 6 O'Driscoll, Sally. "The Pirate's Breasts: Criminal Women and the Meanings of the Body." The Eighteenth Century 53, no. 3 (2012):, 359.

7 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750, Lecture Slides, “The Golden Age of Piracy”. 8 O’Driscoll, 558-59. 9 Kritzler, Edward. "Samuel Palache, Pirate Rabbi." In Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. London: JR, (2009), 77 & 81. 10 Kritzler, 86. 11 Hancock, David. “Jews and the Atlantic World: Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries: Review Essay” In The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 41, no. 1 (2010), 151. 12 Hancock, 152. 13 Hancock, 153. 14 Ellms, Charles, L Barber, and Juliet Sutherland. “History of the Ladrone Pirates.” In The Pirates Own Book: Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers. Project Gutenberg Online, (2004), 512. 15 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750 Lecture Slides, “Asian Piracy” March 20 & 25, 2019. 16 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750 Lecture Slides, “Asian Piracy”. 17 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750 Lecture Slides, “Asian Piracy”. 18 Ellms, 565. 19 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750, Lecture Slides, “The Golden Age of Piracy”. March 5, 2019. 20 Rediker, Marcus. ""Under the Banner of King Death": The Social World of Anglo-American Pirates, 1716 to 1726." In The William and Mary Quarterly 38, no. 2 (1981), 226; EMSP 2480/HIST 2750, Lecture Slides, “The Golden Age of Piracy”. 21 Rediker, 208. 22 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750, Lecture Slides, “The Golden Age of Piracy”. 23 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750, Lecture Slides, “The Golden Age of Piracy”. 24 EMSP 2480/HIST 2750 Lecture Slides, “Asian Piracy”. Bibliography Ellms, Charles, L Barber, and Juliet Sutherland. “History of the Ladrone Pirates.”

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