The watercraft depict on this stamp is a traditional fishing boat from Cua-Lo in Vietnam and the type is now not more sailing but is motorized. The only description I could find on this craft is given in the book Sailboats of Indochina by J,B. Piétri. The stamp gives Cua-Lo bamboo Junk, the correct name is “ghe manh of Cua Lo).
The zone of navigation of this ghe manh with balanced sails, starts from the small fishing port of Cua Lo, near cap Ste Anne in the Nghe-An, and ends at cap Falaise at the northern end of the Brandon Bay, a landmark 170 meters high and 1500 meters long, remarkable, when observed from the North, with its huge white stain obliquely splitting it in two from the top to the base. It’s on these banks, yearly tormented by typhoons, that we find the most experienced Annamese sailors, fiercest and indifferent to pain. We see their wet fishing bamboos at incredible distances, and everyday of the season, during high tide, we can see true flotillas coming and going to fish 15 or 20 miles off the coast.
At the end of summer season, a lot of the boats go up the Day estuary up to Namdinh for a cargo of rice, and return with the winter monsoon.
The nearer we get to the ethnic borders of China, the more similarities are found in the Chinese methods of constructing huge sea-boats from North Annam and Tonkin. The ghe manh of Cua Lo fits into that category.
The bow, very fine, is low on water and the back is gradually raised by a sheer accentuated at the stern. The main beam is aft of amidships, and the planking is fastened with iron boat spikes driven from outside the interior surface of one plank through triangular holes into a drilled hole in the edge of the plank below.
The stem is just a curved plank or pseudo-stem, sharp where the fore-foot should be in the keel construction. The run aft, designed according to the Chinese plan, is passed on each side by planks and strengthened transversely by a transom frame, as well as a narrow board forming the sternpost.
The sternpost, or what seems like it, is a plank bent by flame, just like the stem. The rudder passes through a narrow watertight box, which forms a rudder trunk fitted to the sternpost. It is in this trunk that the rudder is housed, held in place without the aid of fittings, simply by bearing on one side of the trunk and by a guy rope or rudder pendant. A lashing on the rudder stock prevents it from escaping out the bottom.
The triple chine hull is built up of successive planks. This pattern of hull is the principal
characteristic of construction in North Annam, although they can already be observed as far south as the Col des Nuages. They end up North with the lai-tan of Moncay. The frames and the bulkheads are fitted to the chines.
A gunwale forming a rubrail or guardrail surrounds the ship and rises on the back to form the taffrail.
Above the rubrail and tumbling home, bulwarks are installed, raised further by washboards from the bow to the main mast. From that point, the deck house closes the back, while the bow is decked with panels of woven bamboo.
Two catwalks enable movement from one end of the ship to the other.
Transverse strength is assured by a series of beams projecting through the hull below the rubrail.
The foremast rakes sharply forward to “butt” the wind, just like on Chinese junks. The main rakes slightly aft, while the jigger is a light and small mast stepped inside the taffrail. The stepping of the foremast is stepped on a beam, while the main mast pivots on a pin, a little above the deck. Its step is held in a notch cut in a floor timber. It is always topped with a wind vane.
The sails, the main originality of this vessel, are shaped much like an ear. They are made with a series of curved bamboo battens, very closely spaced, sown on a sail mat of rushes.
The leading edge of the mainsail is very short, while the foresail is longer (Ed. Note: an apparent typo in the original text “AR” (aft) instead of AV (fore) makes this passage very confusing).
A series of seams running transversely across the bamboo battens form earrings at the top of the sail where it is fastened to a very short yard, attached to the main halyard and a sort of gaff rather than a yard.
Having closely studied the characteristics of this rigging, we have noticed that the handling of the sheet is incredibly easy. Extremely heavy and at the same time very flexible despite its rigidity, this sail hangs much like a pendulum with part of the sail extending ahead of the mast making the sail extremely easy to handle on the wind. Lacking a lower point or weather clew, but possessing a vang running from the forward end of the sail and secured at the feet of the helmsman, the secret resides in the shape of the sail, working in the wind like a balanced rudder. Despite the annoyance of the swell, the ship guides itself at steady pace, remaining entire days on course without needing to adjust the helm.
Vietnam 1999 400d sg2234 scott?