Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
send shipbuilders to build and equip a number of twoor three-mast brigs. By the latter
half of the century the Siamese shipbuilding industry was flourishing, helped by the easy
availability of timber, and both Western-style ships and Chinese junks were being built,
along with oar-driven barges. Siam therefore had a good capability for building ships, and
the vessels that Taksin constructed in the dockyards at Chantaburi in a very short period
of time to fight the Burmese invader shows the degree of expertise there must have been.
He was able, late in 1767, to move 5,000 men on a fleet of commandeered and new ves-
sels along the Gulf coast, stopping on the way to quell unrest at Chonburi and then sailing
up the Chao Phraya to Thonburi, which he took by force, executing the governor, Chao
Thong-in, who had been placed in command by the Burmese. The fleet then travelled on
to Ayutthaya and Taksin's army attacked the Burmese at Pho Sam Ton, driving them back
across the border. Thus the naval fleet played an important role in regaining Siam's inde-
pendence. In 1769, with Taksin now king and attempting to win back errant provinces,
he led a fleet of 10,000 men with another 10,000 oarsmen to Nakhon Si Thammarat, in
the south, where the governor had been unwilling to comply. The fleet passed through the
mouth of the Samut Songkhram River, and was almost destroyed by a great storm, but the
province was taken. Taksin ordered the building of another hundred warships for future
battles.
A sailor image marks the jetty for those visiting the Bangkok Naval Hospital.
During the reigns of Rama
II
and Rama
III
, with China trade fuel-ling Siam's growth,
junks were the most widely built vessels in Siam. The reign of Rama
IV
saw the new era of
steamships, and the beginning of Western trade. The first steamship was built in Bangkok
in 1865, 22.8 metres (75 ft) long and 9.14 metres (30 ft) wide, with a 15 horsepower
engine. Warships in the reign of Rama
IV
also started using steam propulsion, first with
side paddle wheels then with rear propellers. Eventually, the hulls were also changed from
wood to iron. As the nineteenth century progressed, and the volume of Western shipping
increased, shipbuilding and repair was undertaken on both sides of the river. During this
period the Siamese military forces were regrouped along British lines. Before, there had
