The Age of the Sea Falconssources, the Nguyen army managed to produce their own firearms. A
number of military factories capable of both casting cannon and making
gunpowder were located inside the Gia Dinh citadel built in 1790. “The
Gun Camp” (Trai sung) consisted of a 15-room warehouse storing big
iron and bronze cannon (Dong thiet dai phao) and guns on wheels (Hoa
xa tru sung), another 12-room storehouse for gunpowder (Hoa duoc
kho), and a gunpowder factory located two miles from the citadel.^58 A
saltpeter factory was also established in 1792-93 under the guidance of
French Bishop Adran (Pierre Pigneau).^59
These new arms were either introduced to warships or transported
to garrisons along the central coast. Nguyen fleets comprised of a va-
riety of vessels including local ships, indigenous vessels with western
technical influence, and a few western warships. An observation in 1819
confirmed that among their 200 warships, many were perforated for the
use of 14 guns; 50 others were schooner-rigged, and constructed partly
in the European style. Their sterns were European while their bows
were mixed with Vietnamese elements.^60 Records of combat between
Nguyen Anh and the Tayson since 1794 show the increasing role of can-
non and handguns in naval fighting, landing operations, and besieging
fortifications. The Nguyen army finally could close the technological
gap and started gaining some of their first victories, particularly with the
seizure of Dien Khanh (1793).
The dramatic renovation of cannon and naval weaponry changed the
structure of warfare and the way armies were organized. The extensive
use of cannon on warships and intensified sea-land cooperation im-
proved the speed, scale, and strategy of warfare. Naval combat increas-
ingly involved the exchange of artillery fire. In 1656, Nguyen fleets
reportedly opened fire against the Trinh causing “smoke to fill the sky”.^61
A painting by Samuel Barron shows the appearance of big cannon on
those war-vessels (Figure 4.2), while a report in 1787 claims that some
- GDTTC, quyen 6, 3a.
- Barrow, A Voyage to Cochinchina, 273; John Crawfurd, Journal of an Embassy to the
Courts of Siam and Cochinchina. (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1967):
504–05. - White, A Voyage to Cochinchina, 264–5.
- DNTL, vol. 1, quyen 4, 60.