Coastal Vessels of Thailand - Free Book Download

Now available for free download is the Green Book of Coastal Vessels of Thailand, published in 1967 by a joint Thai-U.S. military research group as an identification guide and instruction manual for interdiction of boats engaged in weapons smuggling, sabotage, spying, and similar activities. It joins other books on our page of free downloads, including The Junk Blue Book: A Handbook of Junks of South Vietnam, which was written for much the same purpose.

The scan was made available by a generous enthusiast who wishes to remain anonymous.

Published in both English and Thai in a single volume, The Green Book was the result of a survey of thousands of coastal vessels. A typology of 14 categories was compiled, into which dozens of specific examples were placed. Each example is shown on two pages in photos and a profile silhouette, as shown below, plus a map of typical locations -- because boats not in their accustomed locations were considered suspicious. There is also information about shipboard activities, fishing methods, crewing, smuggling methods, and much more to help military personnel identify boats engaged in unauthorised activities.

Two pages of description and images of one boat type from Green Book of Coastal Vessels of Thailand.

Download Audemard's "History of the Junk" Free

A Chinese ship shaped like a dragon. From L. Audemard, Les Jonques Chinoises, vol. 1, plate 29. 

And the first shall be last.

Now available for free download is the first volume of L. Audemard's 10-volume series, Les Jonques Chinoises, Vol. 1: Histoire de la Jonque (1957). Volumes 2-10 are also available on this page.

With the exception of the photographic portrait of Capt. Audemard, below, all the illustrations are from historical Chinese sources, like the one at the top of this post. Like the other volumes in the series, the book is in French.

The series was published by the Museum Voor Land en Volkenkunde and Miritiem Museum "Prins Hendrik", which have given us permission to post them. Scans were made available by a generous enthusiast who wishes to remain anonymous.

Capitaine de Frégate L. Audemard. From volume 1 of his series Les Jonques Chinoises.

Boats of Vietnam and China's East Coast - free book downloads

Vietnamese "three plank canoe" (i.e., sampan) of stitched construction, used in shallow and rocky tributaries of the Mekong River. From Audemard, Les Jonques Chinoises, vol. 10, plate 42.

Now available for download are two more volumes of the series Les Jonques Chinoises, by L. Audemard:

Les Jonques Chinoises, Vol. 9: Côtes Est (east coasts), 1970. 

Les Jonques Chinoises, Vol. 10: Indochine (Indochina [i.e., Vietnam]), 1971

Both are in French and full of wonderful illustrations showing the vast range of traditional watercraft types of these regions. For non-French speakers, Google Translate makes it easy enough to make sense of the text concerning any boat that piques your curiosity. 

The volumes were published by the Museum Voor Land en Volkenkunde and Miritiem Museum "Prins Hendrik", which have given us permission to post them here. Scans were made available to us by an enthusiast who wishes to remain anonymous. Several other volumes in this series are available on the same page; all are free downloads.

A fisherman's raft from the island of Amoy, built of 5-6 bamboo stems about 2m long, tied with cords of bamboo fiber. From Audemard, Les Jonques Chinoises, vol. 9, plate 78.

Watercraft on Lower Yang Tse River and China's Coast - Free Downloads

A duck hatchery boat. From Audemard, L., Les Jonques Chinoises, Vol. 6, Plate 76. See main text for further desription.

Three more volumes of the series Les Jonques Chinoises, by L. Audemard are now available in two free downloads:

Vol. 6: Bas Yang Tse Kiang, 1965. Tremendous variety of boats and ships on the lower Yang Tse. One of my favorites is the duck hatchery vessel illustrated above. Here's Google Translate's version of part of the description:

"These boats must be ranked among the most original designs in the chosen industry. They are found on most rivers and streams, along the sheltered coasts, mainly in the province of Kouan-tung where duck breeding is practiced with prodigious intensity for the sale of eggs which China exports in considerable quantity in all parts of the world.

"These are wide and spacious boats where the ducks occupy a privileged place under a vast shelter covered with mats extending over the greater part of the deck, while the owner and his family skirt aft, in a small hut. A slanted board at the front serves as a walkway for the ducks to descend into the water."

Vols. 7 and 8: Côtes Nord et Sud de la Chine, 1969. Two volumes published in a single tome. Volume 7 is junks of the north coast of China; Volume 8 is junks of the south coast. As might be expected, most of the vessels illustrated and described are ships, but there are a fair number of small craft too.

The volumes were published by the Museum Voor Land en Volkenkunde and Miritiem Museum "Prins Hendrik", which have given us permission to post them here. Scans were made available to us by an enthusiast who wishes to remain anonymous. Like the other volumes in this series, the books are in French.

Hiking out on a small, two-masted coastal vessel. It's interesting to see that not all "junks" are junk-rigged. From Audemard, L., Les Jonques Chinoises, Vol. 8, Plate 26.