Sa Ky Gate, the departure point of the Hoang Sa Fleet

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 products in the 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 garden of the Don, 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 skull of a Mr. Luy fish 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 Mr. Luy on a deserted island. The fish was big but the fishing boat was small, so the fishermen prayed and asked him to let them bring the fish's 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 Mr. Luy went, the sky and sea were calm. After bringing Mr. Luy 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 relics no longer exist.

The 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, and rocks and soil fell to 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 exactly 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 estuary, 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 70-member Hoang Sa team, recruited people from An Vinh commune, assigned to shifts every year in February, receiving 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 rank, then sell the conch, sea turtle, and sea cucumbers separately, then receive a certificate to return. The amount of goods collected is uncertain, sometimes returning empty-handed.

Today, Sa Ky port has been opened, the waterway has been expanded, ancillary works have been invested in and it has become the largest and busiest seaport in Quang Ngai province, the gateway to Ly Son island district and the transit point for goods to Laos.

The Sa Ky - Ly Son tourist route has gradually taken shape and developed, attracting hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists to visit Ly Son Island each year. (continued)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cua-sa-ky-noi-xuat-phat-cua-hai-doi-hoang-sa-185250312223501387.htm