On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:40:41 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

By the end of the 18th century more than 60,000
pirates on 600 pirate junks and 1,000 auxiliary craft plied the waters
around Macau.

Those figures seem pretty high. Where did they get enough victims.
They would have to be stealing from each and every fisherman, just for
openers. If you consider water around to be 10 000 sq mi, then there
would be a pirate junk every four miles in every direction. Put it
that way, it sounds a lot like BS. A dozen pirates in sight at all
times?

Casady