reasons that remain unclear, two of the vessels fled in the midst of the battle against the Tây Sơn, while angry Vietnamese soldiers killed the third crew. In 1789, Pigneau returned to Vietnam from Pondicherry with two vessels, which stayed in the Nguyễn service long-term. Over time, Vietnamese sailors replaced the original French and Indian crew under the command of French officers. These vessels became the foundation for an expanded military and merchant Nguyen naval force, with Nguyễn Ánh chartering and purchasing more European vessels to reinforce Vietnamese-built ships. However, traditional Vietnamese-style galleys and small sailing ships remained the mainstay of the fleet. By 1794, two European vessels were operating together with 200 Vietnamese boats against the Tây Sơn near Qui Nhơn. In 1799, a British trader by the name of Berry reported that the Nguyễn fleet had departed Saigon along the Saigon River with 100 galleys, 40 junks, 200 smaller boats, and 800 carriers, accompanied by three European sloops. In 1801, one naval division was reported to have included nine European vessels armed with 60 guns, five vessels with 50 guns, 40 with 16 guns, 100 junks, 119 galleys, and 365 smaller boats. Most of the European-style vessels were built in the shipyard that Nguyễn Ánh had commissioned in Saigon. He took a deep personal interest in the naval program, directly supervising the work and spending several hours a day at the dockside. One witness noted "One principal tendency of his ambition is to naval science, as a proof of this he has been heard to say he would build ships of the line on the European plan." By 1792, fifteen frigates were under construction, with a design that mixed Chinese and European specifications, equipped with 14 guns. The Vietnamese learned European naval architecture by dismantling an old European vessel into its components, so that Vietnamese shipbuilders could understand the separate facets of European shipbuilding, before reassembling it. They then applied their newfound knowledge to create replicas of the boats. Nguyễn Ánh studied naval carpentry techniques and was said to be adept at it, and learned navigational theory from the French books that Pigneau translated, particularly Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie. The Saigon shipyard was widely praised by European travelers. Despite his extensive reliance on French officers in matters of military technology, Nguyễn Ánh limited his inner military circle to loyal Vietnamese. The Frenchmen decried his