The Age of the Sea Falconsone Dutch ship during the battle killing the entire crew, while two other
ships were heavily damaged.^28
Coastal topography has had a strong impact on the trajectory of
naval history and the rise and decline of other political projects in early
modern Vietnam as well. Especially significant was that of the Tayson
who used naval power to upset Nguyen Cochinchina, culminating in one
of the greatest military glories in pre-colonial Vietnam. The central river
systems where the Tayson emerged are usually short and narrow and
require shallow-craft boats for travel. Other natural obstacles included
unpredictable sandbanks and shoals, especially in the Huong River’s
estuary. The region 100 kilometers to the south of Hue, however, offers
many of the country’s best seaports and deep gulfs in Da Nang, Quy
Nhon, Phu Yen, and Khanh Hoa. The Tayson were able to utilize these
geographical advantages at an early stage thanks to local navigators and
Chinese merchants. Their fleets anchored at strategic naval bases in Thi
Nai (Quy Nhon), to isolate Hue from supplies. Since Hue “does not
produce anything”, this tactic succeeded by starving the Nguyen army
and led to the collapse of Cochinchina.^29 By the late 1780s, the Tayson
expanded their domain into a vast territory from the Red River to the
Mekong Delta. The three brothers divided the area into three regional
courts. From a military point of view, however, the Tayson fell into the
same logistical trap as those they defeated. Their fleets had less space to
operate, being cut off from supply and shipbuilding areas in the Mekong
Delta. Around this time, Nguyen Phuc Anh saw an important oppor-
tunity. Transforming the Mekong Delta into a strong military base, he
was able to dispatch fleets for annual campaigns aimed at the Tayson’s
strongholds from Quy Nhon to Hue until the enemy was brought to their
knees.
ShipbuildingIn the late eighteenth century, Vietnam witnessed an unprecedented
burgeoning of shipbuilding. The Nguyen Veritable Records (Dai Nam
- DNTL, vol. 1, quyen 3, 48; Hoang Anh Tuan, Silk for Silver (Brill: Leiden, 2007):
77–81. - A letter from Cochinchina by the Spanish father Lorenzo Pérez in 1774, in Phu
Lang Truong Ba Phat (trans.), “Cuoc khoi day va chien tranh cua Tay son” (Tayson’s
Rebellion and Wars), Su Dia 21 (1971): 56.