Warring Societies of Pre-colonial Southeast Asialords could successfully mobilize enough fleets to defeat the Mac dy-
nasty in Hanoi.^22 A large field for naval exercises was also established
in 1642 in Hue, the capital of the Nguyen, which was in July used for
annual practice, including training in firing cannon and rowing.^23
When Nguyen Cochinchina included the lower Mekong, its naval
capacities were expanded dramatically through major shipbuilding
centres along the coasts and upland timber sources, especially Quang
Hoa (the mountainous area northwest of Gia Dinh). The Nguyen navy
increased from over 100 ships in the early 1630s to 230–240 in 1642,
and to 200 large and 500 small galleys in 1695.^24 By the mid-eighteenth
century, a division known as the Hoang Sa fleet (doi Hoang Sa) was
established and dispatched to the Paracel Islands for sea products and
geographical reconnaissance.^25
Such a naval capacity permitted the Nguyen Lords not only to offset
the Le-Trinh’s advantages in manpower that sustained their land armies,
but also to protect them from Dutch naval attacks following their al-
liance with the north. During the Trinh–Nguyen war (1627–1672),
the Nguyen were able to repulse seven northern campaigns, mostly
using artillery located on several ramparts along the Gianh Riverbank
and naval fleets stationed on the river.^26 In 1672, they repelled a Trinh
assault consisting of thousands of vessels in the Gianh River and Nhat
Le.^27 One of the most impressive performances of the Vietnamese navy
during this period was probably their successful encounter in 1642–43
with Dutch fleets sent to avenge the Nguyen capture of money, men,
and merchandise from a VOC vessel wrecked in 1641. A Dutch fleet
of five ships carrying 222 men was deployed to attack Cochinchina in
Quang Ngai and Hoi An in the summer of 1642. The attack, however,
failed with a price of more than ten casualties. In July of the following
year, the fleet came back and attacked the Nguyen on the Gianh River.
60 Nguyen warships were mobilized to besiege the enemy: exploding
- DNTL, vol. 1, quyen 1, 19–29.
- DNTL, vol. 1, quyen 2, 47.
- Michael W. Charney, Southeast Asian Warfare, 1300–1900 (Brill: Leiden, 2004):
104. - DNTL, vol.1, quyen 10, 145; DNTL, vol. 8, quyen 104, 246–47.
- DNTL, vol. 1, quyen 2, 47.
- DNTL, vol. 1, quyen 5, 75.