Nguyen Lord Navy Corps with the Protection of the Sovereignty and the Exploitation of Marine Resources in the Bien Dong (East Sea)

Abstract

For over two centuries (from the 17th Century to the early 19th Century), the Nguyen Lords in Cochinchina spent a lot of efforts to develop the navy forces to protect the sovereignty of sea & islands. The navy forces in Cochinchina rapidly grew in terms of troop strength, means and weapons. The Nguyen Lords were greatly concerned about this and frequently urged the recruiting of new troops to expand the fleet. Through trade, the Nguyen Lords established close relationship with Western merchants. With their help in weapon trading and manufacturing, Cochinchina was successfully equipped with fire arms for both infantry and navy forces. The Nguyen Lords were also interested in ship building and troops drilling. War ships in this time significant advanced in technical and combat abilities and capabilities. Therefore, Nguyen Lords’ Navy achieved a lot of notable victories, keeping up with the illustrious tradition of our nation's sea warfare. Typical of these feats included - To sink Japanese pirate ships in 1585; - To defeat the attack of the Dutch East India Company fleets (Vereenigde OostIndische Compagnie, VOC) in 1643; - To fight back the British troops, occupying Kunlun Islands in 1705; etc. In addition to powerful professional army, Nguyen Lords also built many military patrols, to protect and exploit marine resources in the East Sea. The military sea patrols named Hoang Sa, Bac Hai, Que Huong, Dai Mao Hai Ba, Que Huong Ham, etc. were born one by one. They came from fishermen who voluntarily joined military forces in the capacity of draftee (in the sense of military duty personnel); therefore, they were usually called by the name of “military personnel" or "military fishermen". In addition to collecting gold, silver, tools, etc.... of shipwreck to bring back to Nguyen Lords, they were also ready to fight every enemy who violated national sea sovereignty. They really were "war heroes" on the sea. The task of “the military fisherman troops” could be said to be extremely heavy, not just for economic life, but always associated with military tasks, such as going out on reconnaissance, spying, watching out and reporting on pirates, fighting pirates to protect the East sea. They face a lot of dangers to defend the sea-land sovereignty for the nation’s welfare. In this light, “the military fisherman troops” existed throughout the reign of the Nguyen Lords and the later Nguyen dynasty. Recent new findings have reflected a lot of interesting facts about the activities of “the military fisherman troops” as well as their living on the sea during the time of their mission. With all their achievements, “the then military fisherman troops” built up beautiful images shining with patriotism and the spirit of sacrificing their life for the country. The Nguyen Lords set up the Shipping Department in charge of registering, supervising and dealing with boats and ships from abroad to supervise and control the security at the sea.