Red Flag Fleet and its Code of Conduct

Under the leadership of Mrs. Cheng a confederation of some fifty thousand pirates sailed in two hundred oceangoing junks, between six and eight hundred coastal vessels, and dozens of river junks. The pirates attacked fishing, cargo vessels, and oceangoing junks. The Red Flag Fleet operated in and dominated the coastal waters of southern China. 

The rules for conduct for the pirates of the Red Fleet were more stringent than those practiced by the pirates of the West Indies.

Offence                           Punishment

Disobeying orders           Death by beheading

Stealing                           Death by beheading

Deserting                         Loss of both ears

Concealing or                  Flogged

holding back                      

plundered goods             

If any of these offences were repeated you would be suffer death. We can assume that the poor retches would die a slow and torturous death.

Under the Black Flag, David Cordingly