She, the Sea

Hannah Stowe is a female sailor in a still largely male world. But while the day to day experience can be isolating, the history of seafaring is rich with female role models - if only you know where to look. Stowe has been seeking out these unknown or forgotten women sailors since she first captained her own boat, and here she weaves in some of their stories alongside her own, as she takes us on a fascinating voyage to China's South Sea, in search of one of the most audacious of these pioneering women: Zheng Yi Sao, the world's most successful pirate. Born in 1775 in Guangdong Province, Zheng Yi Sao started out an illiterate prostitute on a floating brothel and ended up commanding a federation of pirate boats and controlling the South China Sea, abetting the British and Americans in the illegal trade of opium, before striking a deal with the Qing dynasty in which her fleet of 70,000 people and 1,200 vessels became their navy. She retired from sailing and set up a successful gambling business in Macau and - in contrast to her better-known male counterparts like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan - she died peacefully of old age.

As Stowe sails around the port of Canton, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, the Pearl River Delta, Tung Chung Bay, and Hainan Island, so she tells both Zheng Yi Sao's story and the stories of other notable female sailors of the past. Combining rich travel writing and revisionist feminist history, She, The Sea is an enthralling celebration of women who have ruled the waves.