Screenshot of the epub’s front cover which was found on the Project Gutenberg site.
I had previously posted a similar and abbreviated list of these regulations sometime ago.
"Being chief captain, Chang Paou robbed and plundered incessantly, and daily increased his men and his vessels. In order to maintain some sort of order in the midst of mayhem Paou issued the three following regulations:—
First:
If any man goes privately on shore, or what is called transgressing the bars, he shall be taken and his ears be perforated in the presence of the whole fleet; repeating the same act, he shall suffer death.
Second:
Not the least thing shall be taken privately from the stolen and plundered goods. All shall be registered, and the pirate receive for himself, out often parts, only two; eight parts belong to the storehouse, called the general fund; taking anything out of this general fund, without permission, shall be death.
Third:
No person shall debauch at his pleasure captive women taken in the villages and open places, and brought on board a ship; he must first request the ship's purser for permission, and then go aside in the ship's hold. To use violence against any woman, or to wed her without permission, shall be punished with death."
History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea from 1807 to 1810
I was listening to similar Euro-pirate rules the other day...the first three were straightforward and sensible one-liners...the fourth was a whole paragraph on what to do with either a surfit or sortage of booze! Those Pirates had their priorities!
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Blimey!
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