Maritime Museum

At our location in Hoi An we are creating a small & simple "living" maritime museum in which traditional Vietnamese boat models and designs are on display and where the enthused visitor can see & go on board traditional vessels!   

Today one of the great joys of any sea loving person living or visiting Vietnam is the almost total lack of steel, fiberglass or other "modern" materials used in the construction of coastal & inland vessels! from wooden boats still in daily use we can still clearly see the ancient lineage and influences of the great nations of India & China. Each Province, down to each port or water area, has its own unique design and construction of vessel. 

The Vietnamese often go swimming in the early morning for exercise - otherwise they have little interest or need to go on a boat - boats are considered to be purely functional.  There is almost no recreational boating in Vietnam - there is only commercial use. 

Today very little information is available on Vietnamese maritime history - which is sad considering the long seafaring history of the people of Vietnam.  In close similarity to what was recorded of Chinese sailing junks only a few Western sources provide photos, sketches or descriptions that in the West are considered to be "reliable" sources: 

• Louis Audemar in his classic 1920's book "Juncos Chineses" sketched a number of craft from Indochina, many with hull shapes similar to vessels seen today but with sails and rigging closer to Arab or Indian lateen sails than to the Chinese balanced lug sail.  Audemar drew on the works of Lord Macartney (1790's), and Comandante Hennique (1880's).  In some instances there are significant differences between his work and the later work of Pietri - which could indicate changes in design & construction

• The walls of Karma Waters have framed sketches by J.B. Pietri's in his famous 1949 work published in Saigon "Voiliers d'Indochine".  Pietri's works are more detailed and descriptive than previous works - and because they only just predated the age of fossil fuel and diesel inboard engines then he was clearly at the end of the era of Vietnamese sailing vessels.  Pietri describes Hoi An (Faifoo) cargo vessels of being up to 120 tons (see lower left sketch below) which indicates a vessel of at least 30 metres length overall.  Today few sails are seen on Vietnamese boats - most are for auxiliary use on fishing boats when trawling

• During the "Vietnam War" as the Americans called it (or the "American War" as it is known in Vietnam) the Americans researched and cataloged most coastal vessels found in South and Central Vietnam into two "Junk Blue Books" published in 1962 (the better publication for traditional craft!) and 1968. Their purpose was to identify vessels being used by the Viet Cong.  These books are excellent and contain many photos!

The eyes decorated on the bow are different for each province and port in Vietnam.  Some historians suggest the eyes are those of a fish, while others suggest they are the ancient Egyptian eye of Horus influenced by vessels used by Arab traders.  In general eyes appear on traditional boats from South Vietnam more often than on boats from North Vietnam.

The cunard design of an adjustable centreboard at the bow is a unique characteristic of Central Vietnamese sailing boats - and still seen on some diesel powered craft to track straight (the original use was to track as close as possible to windward).  Interestingly today some racing yachts are using cunard design centreboards. 

The Vietnamese (like the Chinese) used adjustable rudders of considerable depth and which acted to both steer the vessel and as a centreboard to counterbalance the leeward drift when close hauled.  In the age of diesel engines the adjustable rudder is replaced with a small fixed rudder.  Rudder shapes vary between different provinces.

Bamboo leaves were the traditional sail material - inexpensive they normally lasted less than one season.  This was later replaced with cotton sail material (which had a tendency to rot when wet - which is why expensive synthetic materials from petroleum were developed and are now extensively used in sails).

Traditional woven bamboo with caulking of tar and cows manure is still widely used as a hull material - even on ocean going vessels of 20 metres in length - this provides a lightweight & flexible hull for ease of beaching.  As a hull material woven bamboo lasts upto 5 years. 

In Central Vietnam the Lin Yi people were great seafarers who since 200 B.C.. owned ships & traded.  Lin Yi were people from Borneo who first settled in Sa Huynh, Central Vietnam.  The Lin Yi kingdom was replaced by the Champa Kingdom who's ships had similar lines to vessels still used today. 

Early sea trade with China was on the "Nanhai Trade" route.  Nanhai (today called Panyu) was a port south of Canton (Guangzhou), China at the narrows of the Pearl River.  Hanoi was the major Southern port on this route which fed the Chinese with luxury foreign goods.  The Cham Islands (Cu Lao Cham) was often used for shelter, anchorage, fresh water, provisioning & trade.  Later, the Chinese built massive ocean going sailing junks (some suggest upto 150 metres) for trade & exploration - but the earliest sea trade with China appears to have been on foreign owned vessels.

Earliest foreign traders to Hoi An were Indians, Arabs & Parsees (non-Muslim Persians), followed by the Chinese, Japanese, and 16th Century onwards the Europeans lead by the Portuguese (Henry the Navigator), Dutch & British.  In the 4th Century Hindu & Buddhist religions came to Vietnam thru Hoi An - and later in the 7th Century Islam came with the Muslim Arabs. 

In sailing vessels we can clearly see the Indian & Chinese influences in Vietnam: 

• North Vietnam had extensive maritime & land trading with China - so traditional Vietnamese boats in Ha Long Bay use the Chinese balanced lug sail.  Perhaps the best all round sailing vessel in Vietnam was the smugglers junk from Tra Co close to the border with China (see upper right sketch below) - this design was copied by the Americans and made into a 55 foot wooden patrol boat

• In Central Vietnam a modified version of the Indian lateen sail is most commonly used.  This is a square sail set with the foot against the mast - a very effective traditional rig married to a flat bottom hull making this vessel ideal for river & coastal sailing

• In South Vietnam Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) became a major regional trading centre with its sea port and links to the Mekong - only to be artificially surpassed by Bangkok under American influence.  Vessels here used similar rigs to those of Central Vietnam

Although the Chinese effectively ruled Vietnam for nearly 1,000 years and gave strict guidelines on what was permitted the Vietnamese still invented and perfected their own unique vessels & rigs - as demonstrated by the round bamboo "cockershell", the sewn planking of the 5 woods junk of Hue and the Gunter style rig of the fishing boats of Qui Nhon.

Today most Vietnamese boats are made by local shipwrights in wood who work from experience and without any drawings or plans.  Hoi An has a long history of shipwrights dating back to the Lin Yi and still today there are whole villages who specialize in boat building of traditional craft.  Most Vietnamese shipwrights use "kien kien" wood (Hopea Pierrel) planking and "cho" wood (Dipterocarpus Tonkinensis) for frames; kien kien is a local wood from this region and like teak is an excellent long life wood for ship building, does not rot easily and can be used below the waterline.