They had already engaged the Chinese brigands in combat as early as 1839 and it took until the late 1860s to finally put an end to fleets of pirate junks but even then piracy continued in China but was done so in a different way as new steam vessels meant a change in tactics.

Of the sixty-four he encountered at Tonkin River, the single largest junk carried forty-two guns of different poundage with a crew of 140.

The third class was smaller with twelve to nineteen guns and forty man crews, Hay counted forty-two of these vessels.

In total Commander Hay estimated that his squadron faced 1,224 enemy guns and 3,190 pirates including their leader Shap Ng-tsai who captained the junk of the first class and used her as his flagship.

On October 13 the governor general ordered an admiral named Wong to command a force of eight small junks which accompanied Hay's expedition.

The fleet of one brig, two sloops and eight heavily armed junks then continued south for Chooshan, there on October 16 they found the town burned and many dead Chinese.

On October 19, the expedition arrived at Hoonong and discovered that the pirates were at anchor twelve miles further near Chokeum in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The initial shots mostly went over the decks of the British and Qing ships but as the expedition drew nearer the pirates began to score several hits.

After only twenty-five minutes of combat Shap Ng-tasi's flagship was hit several times and exploded with a loud boom.

This time several of the junks were in too shallow water to be chased by large warships so several boats were lowered and armed with one cannon apiece and crewed by sailors and marines.

They, under Lieutenant George Hancock and Captain Moore of the marines attacked several of the pirate junks in close quarters boarding actions.

One significant factor of the battle was that not one man under Hay's command was killed or wounded but the Chinese and Vietnamese did suffer some casualties.

With his fleet destroyed Shap Ng-tsai ended his career as a pirate and accepted an officer's position in the Chinese navy.