captained the junk of the first class and used her as his flagship. Expedition to Tonkin After Shap Ng-tsai's sinking an American and two British merchant ships in spring of 1849, the British organized a squadron of three vessels to search out and destroy the pirates. They were the brig HMS Columbine, the sloop-of-war HMS Fury and the East India Company sloop HMS Phlegethon, each mounting twelve to eighteen guns and with crews of around 100 men. An unspecified number of Royal Marines also participated along with boats and sailors from HMS Hastings. Phlegethon was John Hay's flagship and was used to tow the Columbine through shallow water. Sailing from Hong Kong on October 8, of 1849, Commander Hay headed south along the Chinese coast for Concock where he began his search and after sailing through several ports without finding the pirates, he decided to go to Hoi-How where he met with the governor general of the province. 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. Upon investigation the expedition learnt that the pirates had left five days before on October 11 and had killed many men and taken several women. From there they headed for Hoonong and on October 18 they encountered a lookout vessel of Shap Ng-tsai's fleet. Phlegethon chased her down and men in her boats destroyed the craft. 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. Arriving in the area on October 20, Hay decided first to complete a reconnaissance with the Phlegethon and a few boats, during which they sighted thirty-seven junks in group sailing southwest in Junk Passage for the mouth of the Tonkin river. Hay regrouped with his ships while the pirate junks searched from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm for the river's opening. When they found it, the Chinese entered, so Hay made plans for passing the bar. Battle October 20 Hay's plan was simple, cross over the bar and attack, and at about 4:30 pm the Sino/British fleet entered the Tonkin. The first to enter was the Phlegethon