"Yo ho ho and a bottle of maotai! Lilius's forgotten classic reads as boldly and bloodily as a Chinese 'Treasure Island'. What is perhaps most remarkable about this extraordinary piece of journalism is that the writer lived to tell the tale."
Adam Williams author of The Dragon's Tail

It is 1930 and piracy is rampant on the South China seas. Murderous bands of cutthroats roam the Pearl River Delta and coastal shipping routes, an ever-present menace to the trade of Hong Kong and beyond. Globetrotting journalist Aleko E. Lilius sets out to infiltrate these mysterious pirate gangs and is eventually taken into the confidence of South China’s notorious pirate queen, Lai Choi San. Lilius lives, eats, sleeps and of course sails with the pirates, witnessing their harrowing misdeeds and delivering a sensational, rollicking tale of adventure.

Who is Aleko E. Lilius?

Aleko E. Lilius (1890-1977) was a journalist, writer of fiction and adventurer born in St. Petersburg in 1890. Constantly on the move, his flair for the exotic led him to explore Asia, North Africa and Mexico. He is best known for his thrilling exploits with the Pirate Queen of South China in I Sailed with Chinese Pirates and the Smuggling Queen of Tangiers in Turbulent Tangiers. Lilius spent much of his later life in America before retiring to Finland to paint.