Thanks to the fact that nowadays more and more books and magazines are
digitized we are able to read books that are some times for decades no longer
available for the public for several reasons. That’s quite a pity while these
books contains useful information while the archives are destroyed, incomplete
or nor accessible.
P. 161: “From the level nature of the country there is nothing remarkable
about the aspect of Saigon and its suburbs. The town is situated on the main
stream of the Dong-nai, with a small anabranch or blind creek on its southern
boundary. Here the shipping at
p. 162: anchor have ample room to swing with the tide and current, while
there is depth of water sufficient to float a ship of the line, and space in
what might be termed a great natural dock, for the construction of every
appliance for repair of ships. As a naval station, perhaps there is no harbour
in the East superior to that of Saigon, and the French are converting it into
an important arsenal. It is on the water, therefore, that the observant
traveller sees the chief life and bustle of the settlement, and its importance
to a great nation like France. As the reach, on which the town is situated,
opens up to view, he is surprised to see a line-of-battle ship, an old
three-decker, at anchor; two large hulks as hospital and engineer ships, a
frigate, a corvette, several gunboats, and one or two despatch steamers or
tenders. These, surrounded with native canoes and ships' boats, plying to and
fro, while the shrill pipe of the boatswain’s whistle is heard above the song
of the sailors hoisting supplies on board, give a life and animation to the
scene that is unexpected and full of interest. On the river bank, also, the
chief works that meet the eye are of a naval character. Here is a ship-building
yard, with a gunboat, perhaps, of native timber on the stocks; or men busy
hammering the rivets of a small iron steamer which has been brought out in pieces.
Piles of shot and shell are heaped up under sheds with guns and mortars ready
for shipment. The sound of blows on the anvil leads the visitor to a range of
workshops, where repairs to machinery are going on. The yard is strewed with
boilers, boiler-plates, and duplicate shafts, wheels, and cranks of every kind,
suitable for engines of small or great horsepower ; and the pieces of an iron
floating dock are being put together, beside a dry dock for gun-boats already
completed. Everywhere there is evidence that no expense is spared in making
this a Cherbourg of the East; so that in a few years the French will have
better means and appliances for refitting and repairing their ships of war at
Saigon than we have at Hong-Kong. In addition to the navy yard and docks, the
Messageries Impériales Steam Navigation Company have erected workshops for the
repair of their machinery, and stores for supplies to their Indo-China line of
steamers, which call at this port on their route to China. The vessels of this
service are magnificent iron boats, supplied with officers from the Imperial
navy, who may at any time be recalled. Thus naval officers are trained up to a
practical knowledge of the Eastern seas and harbours, that will be of immense
value to the fleets in India and China, which hitherto have depended greatly on
foreign assistance to pilot the vessels in these dangerous waters; while the
Company's boats will is times of emergency become available is transports, and
from their strength and build would be serviceable as an armed flotilla.
Adjoining the navy-yard stand the artillery-barracks, the next important arm
of this warlike colony. These are extensive, and form the dépôt of eight
batteries, with abundant store of shot and shell. A contingent of Annamese have
been drilled as auxiliary gunners and ordinary artillerymen, and have shown
great aptitude for the service. The infantry of the line have inferior barracks
to the artillery, and it is easily observable that they hold a subordinate
position compared to that of their naval cosfrères. For one soldier you meet
many sailors, and the sentries at all the government offices are blue-jackets.
These buildings are grouped in the most central part of Saigon, formed of
timber, and tastefully surrounded with gardens. Here is a telegraph-station
with a clock-tower, from which electric wires radiate to every point of the
compass, reaching to My-tho in the south, to Bien-hoa in the north, and the
intermediate stations westward and on the frontier. Excellent roads have also
been constructed leading to these points, which converge towards this station
and the governor's residence, so that if any outbreak is reported among the
natives, reinforcements can be sent without delay. Happily, eighteen months of
peace have rendered these means of intelligence and transport comparatively
idle. Still they are maintained in the most efficient state, for the day may
come when they will be wanted on an emergency. On this head the Minister of War
and Marine reports to the Chambers as follows:— ' We must not dissemble the
circumstance, that our conquest and our pacification are of too recent date to
allow us to consider our domination as definitively accepted by the former
possessors of those rich countries. It is, then, essential to keep in Cochin-China
forces sufficiently large to convince the Annamese who have submitted to the
government of Hue of their impotence as respects ourselves.' With this view,
the war establishment at Saigon is kept up to the strength of ten thousand men
of all arms: eight batteries of artillery ; one ship of the line, one frigate,
two corvettes, and fourteen gunboats.”
Source
“Cochin-China and Camboadia,” in: The London quarterly review,
volumes 115-116, October 1864.
