In the past, Lord Nguyen ordered soldiers to recruit fishermen from An Hai village (now Binh Chau commune, Binh Son district) and An Vinh village (now Tinh Ky commune, Quang Ngai city) to establish Hoang Sa and Bac Hai teams to patrol and search for marine resources in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos. In the early period, Sa Ky was the place where Hoang Sa team held the departure ceremony and offered a vow-fulfilling ceremony when returning. Later, when the people of Hoang Sa teams were mainly from An Vinh ward and An Hai ward of Re island (Ly Son), these ceremonies were held on the island.
Ships anchored at Sa Ky estuary
The relics of the Hoang Sa team on the mainland are the Don garden, where the team set up camp. An Vinh communal house is the place where the team departed and also returned. Ong Hoang Sa temple is where the soldiers of the Hoang Sa team performed rituals before leaving for their missions.
The reason it is called "Hoang Sa Temple" is because this temple worships the skeleton of a whale in the Hoang Sa archipelago. Local fishermen say that: In the past, An Vinh people used fishing boats to go to Hoang Sa archipelago to fish. During one such trip, the fishermen encountered the whale on a deserted island. The whale was big but the fishing boat was small, so the fishermen prayed and asked him to let them bring his head back to the mainland to prepare for the funeral. The return trip from Hoang Sa that year encountered rough seas, full of storms, but strangely, wherever the boat carrying the whale went, the sky was calm and the sea was calm. After bringing the whale back to the shore, the people of An Vinh village held a funeral for him in the Don garden, then contributed labor and money to build a temple, and exhumed his remains to worship. Over the years, An Vinh communal house was damaged, and the Don garden relic no longer exists.
Dai Nam Thuc Luc Chinh Bien woodblock (2nd period) records about Hoang Sa
Source: QG4 Archive Center
Adjacent to the south of Sa Ky estuary is Thach Ky rocky reef located on the coast of An Vinh village, Tinh Ky commune, Quang Ngai city. The process of volcanic activity, lava eruptions and then pouring into the sea millions of years ago created natural rocky reefs with round and hexagonal rocks stacked on top of each other, some hidden, some undulating, some emerging above the sea water, creating a wild and majestic landscape.
About 20 meters from the shore, there was a rock jutting out from the waves, resembling an old man sitting fishing. Nearby was a rock with two giant footprints. Next to it was a cave with open ends, at the same level as the tide. Every time the waves hit one end of the cave, water would splash out from the other end....
Ong Cau Rock in Sa Ky
The people of Sa Ky estuary still tell each other the legend of a giant who once carried rocks to fill the estuary. When it was almost finished, the carrying pole broke, causing rocks and soil to fall on both sides of An Hai and An Vinh capes, and the path he took from the sea to Sa Ky estuary became a channel. The ancients praised the scenic spot "Thach Ky Dieu Tau", one of the 12 beautiful landscapes of Quang Ngai province, which is this place.
Le Quy Don (1726-1784), in the book Phu bien tap luc compiled in 1776 (Culture - Information Publishing House - 2007) described the geography, resources and exploitation situation of Lord Nguyen for the two archipelagos Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, related to Sa Ky port, as follows:
"Quang Ngai Prefecture, Binh Son District, has An Vinh Commune near the sea. In the northeast of the sea, there are many islands and other miscellaneous mountains, more than 130 peaks, separated by the sea. From one island to another, it takes either a day or a few hours to reach [...]
Seaweed exploitation in Sa Ky
Before, the Nguyen family established a Hoang Sa team of 70 members, recruited from An Vinh commune, assigned to shifts every year in February to receive a dispatch letter, bringing enough food for 6 months, traveling by 5 small fishing boats, going out to sea for 3 days and 3 nights to reach that island. There, you can freely catch birds and fish to eat […]
Get the ship's goods, such as swords, horses, silver flowers, money, silver balls, bronze objects, tin blocks, lead blocks, ivory guns, beeswax, porcelain, fried food, and collect a lot of tortoise shells, sea turtle shells, sea cucumbers, and conch seeds. When the eighth month comes, return, enter Eo port, go to Phu Xuan citadel to pay, weigh and classify, then sell the conch, sea turtle, and sea cucumbers separately, then receive a certificate to return. The amount of goods collected is not certain, sometimes returning empty-handed.
Today, Sa Ky port has been cleared, its waterways expanded, ancillary works invested in and it has become the largest and busiest seaport in Quang Ngai province, the gateway to Ly Son island district and a transit point for goods to Laos.
The Sa Ky - Ly Son tourist route has gradually formed and developed, attracting hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists to visit Ly Son Island every year. (continued)
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cua-sa-ky-noi-xuat-phat-cua-hai-doi-hoang-sa-185250312223501387.htm
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