Island of Con Dao district, Vietnam
8°41′35″N
106°36′34″E
/
8.69306°N 106.60944°E
/
8.69306; 106.60944
Location of Con S?n Island
Con S?n
(
[koŋ??
??ːŋ??]
cong-suhng
), also known as
Con Lon
is the largest island of the
Con đ?o
archipelago, off the coast of southern
Vietnam
.
[1]
Other names
[
edit
]
Its
French
variant
Grande-Condore
was well-known during the times of
French Indochina
.
Marco Polo
mentioned the island in the description of his 1292 voyage from China to India under the name
Sondur
and
Condur
.
[2]
In
Ptolemy
's
Geography
, they are referred to as the
Isles of the Satyrs
.
[3]
The medieval Arabic/Persian name for Pulo Condor was Sundar Fulat (
???? ?????
,
?undar F?l?t
):
[4]
[5]
History
[
edit
]
English East India Company period
[
edit
]
In 1702, the
English East India Company
founded a settlement on this island (the
English
called it '
Pulo Condore
' after its
Malay name
, Pulau Kundur ????? ??????) off the south coast of southern Vietnam, and in 1705 the garrison and settlement were destroyed.
Tay Son period
[
edit
]
In 1787, through the
Treaty of Versailles
, Nguy?n Anh (the future Emperor
Gia Long
) promised to cede Poulo Condor to the French. In exchange
Louis XVI
promised to help Nguy?n Anh to regain the throne, by supplying 1,650 troops (1,200
Kaffir
troops, 200 artillery men and 250 black soldiers) on four
frigates
.
[6]
[7]
French colonial period
[
edit
]
In 1861, the French colonial government established
Con đ?o Prison
on the island to house
political prisoners
. In 1954, it was turned over to the
South Vietnamese
government, who continued to use it for the same purpose. Notable prisoners held at Con S?n in the 1930s included
Ph?m V?n đ?ng
,
Nguy?n An Ninh
and
Le đ?c Th?
.
[1]
Not far from the prison is
Hang D??ng Cemetery
, where some of the prisoners were buried.
Republic of Vietnam
[
edit
]
Prison
[
edit
]
During the
Vietnam War
the prison was used to hold political prisoners and captured
Vietcong
and
People's Army of Vietnam
soldiers.
The prison on Con S?n Island was closed in 1975 after the
Fall of Saigon
. The facilities were reopened with improved conditions some years later however, to temporarily incarcerate
boat people
captured by local coast guards until the late 1980s.
[
citation needed
]
Loran-C Station Con Son
[
edit
]
At the request of
Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara
, the
U.S. Coast Guard
started pre-construction plans for a chain of
Loran-C
radio stations to serve Southeast Asia 15 January 1966 in support of
Operation Tight Reign
during the Vietnam War.
[8]
[9]
The actual construction of Station Con Son began during April with the delivery of construction materials by
USCGC
Nettle
(WAK-169)
and award of construction contracts to
Morrison-Knudsen Corp.
and
Brown and Root
Company.
[10]
Station Con Son was one of five stations in the Southeast Asia chain and was designated SH-3 Yankee. It consisted of a 625 foot (191 m) tower, transmitter equipment buildings, fuel tanks, generators and barracks for personnel located on the north end of Con Son Island.
[1]
[9]
The personnel complement for the station was two officers and 23 enlisted men. After commissioning on 2 September 1966 the station began the testing phase of operations and the five station chain was fully operational by 04:00 on 28 October,
[11]
just nine months after the initial request from the Department of Defense.
[12]
[13]
The station provided, along with its sister stations in the chain, signals that allowed aircraft and ships to receive accurate all-weather positioning data for navigation purposes. During January 1973 the operation of the station was turned over to civilian contractors who were responsible to the United States Coast Guard for all functions of the station. The Coast Guard continued to supply logistical and technical support on an as needed basis.
[14]
When the fall of the South Vietnamese government was imminent, Station Con Son was directed to stay on the air until the last possible minute to provide navigation signals to aircraft and ships fleeing South Vietnam. Station Con Son stayed on the air until 1246 local time on 29 April 1975, after which the crew over-speeded the generators and damaged critical pieces of electronic gear.
[15]
Climate
[
edit
]
Climate data for Con S?n Island
|
Month
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Year
|
Record high °C (°F)
|
31.6
(88.9)
|
31.8
(89.2)
|
32.6
(90.7)
|
35.1
(95.2)
|
35.5
(95.9)
|
34.5
(94.1)
|
34.0
(93.2)
|
33.5
(92.3)
|
32.9
(91.2)
|
32.5
(90.5)
|
32.0
(89.6)
|
31.0
(87.8)
|
35.5
(95.9)
|
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)
|
27.8
(82.0)
|
28.6
(83.5)
|
30.2
(86.4)
|
31.7
(89.1)
|
31.9
(89.4)
|
30.9
(87.6)
|
30.5
(86.9)
|
30.3
(86.5)
|
30.2
(86.4)
|
29.9
(85.8)
|
29.1
(84.4)
|
27.9
(82.2)
|
29.9
(85.8)
|
Daily mean °C (°F)
|
25.2
(77.4)
|
25.6
(78.1)
|
26.7
(80.1)
|
28.0
(82.4)
|
28.3
(82.9)
|
27.9
(82.2)
|
27.7
(81.9)
|
27.6
(81.7)
|
27.3
(81.1)
|
26.9
(80.4)
|
26.7
(80.1)
|
25.7
(78.3)
|
27.0
(80.6)
|
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)
|
24.0
(75.2)
|
23.9
(75.0)
|
24.4
(75.9)
|
25.2
(77.4)
|
25.2
(77.4)
|
25.0
(77.0)
|
25.0
(77.0)
|
25.0
(77.0)
|
24.7
(76.5)
|
24.5
(76.1)
|
25.0
(77.0)
|
24.4
(75.9)
|
24.7
(76.5)
|
Record low °C (°F)
|
17.9
(64.2)
|
17.7
(63.9)
|
19.0
(66.2)
|
19.2
(66.6)
|
21.3
(70.3)
|
21.5
(70.7)
|
20.6
(69.1)
|
21.0
(69.8)
|
21.4
(70.5)
|
21.1
(70.0)
|
19.0
(66.2)
|
19.7
(67.5)
|
17.7
(63.9)
|
Average
precipitation
mm (inches)
|
8
(0.3)
|
5
(0.2)
|
7
(0.3)
|
36
(1.4)
|
196
(7.7)
|
301
(11.9)
|
278
(10.9)
|
314
(12.4)
|
317
(12.5)
|
373
(14.7)
|
177
(7.0)
|
57
(2.2)
|
2,069
(81.5)
|
Average precipitation days
|
1.1
|
0.4
|
1.2
|
4.8
|
13.2
|
19.0
|
17.9
|
19.1
|
19.1
|
19.3
|
11.2
|
4.3
|
130.6
|
Average
relative humidity
(%)
|
77.8
|
79.6
|
79.8
|
79.1
|
80.4
|
81.0
|
80.8
|
80.4
|
82.2
|
84.4
|
81.9
|
79.5
|
80.6
|
Mean monthly
sunshine hours
|
211
|
222
|
268
|
270
|
219
|
169
|
181
|
174
|
159
|
156
|
156
|
168
|
2,351
|
Source: Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology
[16]
|
Notes
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Kelley, p 116
- ^
Sir Henry Yule (ed.),
The Book of Ser Marco Polo
(London, Murray, 1921), Volume 2, 280?283.
- ^
Albert Herrmann
, "Der Magnus Sinus und Cattigara nach Ptolemaeus" (The
Sinus Magnus
and
Cattigara
according to Ptolemy), International Geographical Congress,
Comptes Rendus du Congres International de Geographie, Amsterdam, 1938,
Leiden, Brill, 1938, tome II, section IV, p.127.
- ^
Soleyman, ????? ???????? /
Silsilat at-Tawarikh / Chaine des Chroniques,
p. 21; in Ab? Zayd ?asan ibn Yaz?d S?r?f?,
Relation des Voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l'Inde et a la Chine dans le IXe siecle de l'ere chretienne: Texte arabe… traduction francaise et d'eclaircissements par M. [Joseph Toussaint] Reinaud,
Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1845, Tome II.
- ^
Robert J. King, "Pulo Condor, Isles of the Satyrs",
Mapping in Action,
Canberra, September 2019
- ^
Chapuis, p 175
- ^
Kamm, p 86
- ^
Larzelere, p 193
- ^
a
b
Scotti, p 91
- ^
Larzelere, p 200
- ^
Scotti, p 94
- ^
Johnson, p 337
- ^
Larzelere, p 203
- ^
Larzelere, p 270
- ^
Larzelere, p 278
- ^
"Vietnam Building Code Natural Physical & Climatic Data for Construction"
(PDF)
(in Vietnamese). Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 22 July 2018
. Retrieved
22 July
2018
.
References cited
[
edit
]
- Chapuis, Oscar M. (1995).
History of Vietnam:From Hong Bang to Tu Duc
. Greenwood Press.
ISBN
978-0-313-29622-2
.
- Johnson, Robert Erwin (1987).
Guardians of the Sea: History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present
. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis.
ISBN
978-0-87021-720-3
.
- Kamm, Henry (2002).
Dragon Ascending
. Arcade Books.
ISBN
978-1-61145-078-1
.
- Kelley, Michael P. (2002).
Where We Were in Vietnam
. Hellgate Press, Central Point, OR.
ISBN
978-1-55571-625-7
.
- Larzelere, Alex (1997).
The Coast Guard at War, Vietnam, 1965?1975
. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis.
ISBN
978-1-55750-529-3
.
- Perlstein, Rick (2010).
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
. New York: Simon and Schuster.
ISBN
978-1-4516-0626-3
.
- Scotti, Paul C. (2000).
Coast Guard Action in Vietnam:Stories of Those Who Served
. Hellgate Press, Central Point, Oregon.
ISBN
978-1-55571-528-1
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Brown, Holmes and Don Luce (1973).
Hostages of War; Saigon's Political Prisoners
. Indochina Mobile Education Project.
- Valentine, Douglas (2000).
The Phoenix Program
. Backinprint.com.
ISBN
978-0-595-00738-7
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Antarctica and the South Atlantic
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- 23. Since 2009 part of
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
; Ascension Island (1922?) and Tristan da Cunha (1938?) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena.
- 24. Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under the
Antarctic Treaty
.
- 25. Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1985
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