Paknam incident

Paknam Incident
	Part of the Siam, Chao Phraya River13°32′17″N 100°35′01″E / 13.537941°N 100.583600°E
Result	French victory, signing of Franco-Siamese Treaty 1893.

Belligerents

French Republic

Kingdom of Siam

Commanders and leaders

Captain Borey

Andreas du Plessis de RichelieuStrength 1 aviso
1 gunboat
1 steamer Land:
10

forts

Sea:
2 gunboats
2 gun flats
1 barqueCasualties and losses 3 killed
3 wounded 16 killed
20 wounded

The Paknam Incident was a military engagement fought during the

fort and a force of gunboats fired warning shots. In the ensuing battle, France won and blockaded Bangkok

, which ended the war.

Background

Conflict arose when the

Rear Admiral Edgar Humann in Saigon rather than Pavie's counsel.^[2]

^{: 115–117}

The French in Bangkok believed that the Siamese were well-prepared for battle.

noble title of Phraya Chonlayutyothin. Further upriver at Paknam Island, the smaller Phi Seua Samut fortress had also been fitted with three of the same guns. The Siamese had also sunk mines, barrels of gas,^{[clarification needed]} and dynamite in the river, from below the fort to the center of the river. Above this, two chain and stake barrages plus several sunken vessels off both banks left only a narrow passage available to the French.^[2]

^{: 115–117}

Reports are contradictory about the strength of Siamese naval forces that day. Contemporary French accounts suggest that five gunboats were anchored just beyond the sunken vessels, almost the entire Siamese fleet. Herbert Warington Smyth who visited Paknam that day disputes this, reporting that only the Siamese gunboats Makut Ratchakuman and Coronation were present, together with "two very old-fashioned gun flats with a big gun each, and the training barque,[a] lying farther up river, armed with six brass carronades for saluting purposes".^[1]^: 263

Incident

The French chose to cross the bar with the high tide just after sunset on July 13. The weather was overcast and raining. By this time the Siamese were on high alert and at battle stations. The French ships were led by the small mail steamer Jean Baptiste Say. At 18:15 the rain stopped and the Siamese gunners observed the French ships passing the nearby lighthouse. A few minutes later, the French were off Black Buoy when they entered the range of the fort's guns. Siamese gunners were ordered to fire three warning shots; if they were ignored, then a fourth shot would signal their gunboats to open fire.

At 18:30, the Phra Chulachomklao Fort opened fire with two blank rounds but the French continued on, so a third, live, warning shot was fired and hit the water in front of the Jean Baptiste Say. When this warning was ignored, a fourth shot was fired so the gunboats Makhut Ratchakuman and Coronation opened up at 18:50. Inconstant returned fire on the fort while the Comete engaged the gunboats. At least two shots from fortress hit the Inconstant, but more effective action was prevented by a lack of training at the fort. Under Richelieu's direct command at the fort were three other Danes. Two of them were recent arrivals who spoke no Siamese. By Warington-Smyth's account "these officers were running breathlessly to their guns in turn up and down half-finished steps and gun-platforms, avoiding pitfalls as best they might, and communicating their orders in languages which none of the astonished gunners understood." It was a similar situation aboard the Siamese gunboats where the Siamese crews lacked any training, so their Danish commanders ran back-and-forth to lay and fire the guns, then back to the bridge to steer the ship and instruct the engine room. After firing two shots the carriage of the 70-pound gun aboard the Coronation broke through the deck and could no longer be fired. In the ensuing confusion the Coronation was nearly rammed by the Inconstant which fired two shells into the Coronation. The Jean Baptiste Say was hit several times by cannon fire and the captain was forced to ground her on Laem Lamphu Rai. No shells hit the Phra Chulachomklao Fort. Within 25 minutes the Inconstant and the Comete had broken through the line of Siamese defences at a cost of fifteen Siamese and two French lives. A short time later the ships passed the Phi Seua fortress at Paknam. By this time night had fallen and after "five minutes' desultory firing of the wildest kind" the gunboats passed unhindered. Warington-Smyth reports that a civilian woman in Paknam was struck and killed by a stray bullet from this skirmish.^[1]^{: 263–265}

Aftermath

The following morning, Jean Baptiste Say's crew was still aboard their grounded vessel so the Siamese sent a boat and captured the steamer. They then attempted to sink her, but failed. The prisoners were treated badly according to French reports but again this is refuted by Warington Smyth.^[1]^{: 267–268} A day later, the French gunboat Forfait arrived at Paknam and sent a boatload of sailors to recapture the mail steamer, but when they boarded the Siamese defenders repelled their attack.

Captain Borey had anchored off the French Embassy in Bangkok around 22:00 on July 13. His ships' guns were targeted on the royal palace to put pressure on the Siamese to resolve multiple territorial disputes that had arisen with France. The Siamese were widely seen as having overplayed their hand in the dispute. By attempting to prevent the French from entering the Chao Phraya River, the Siamese had contravened the 1856 Franco-Siamese Treaty, giving the French a pretext for their subsequent actions. The French gunboats, together with Pavie, departed Bangkok on July 24 prior to the French imposing a blockade of the river from July 29 until August 3.

Chanthaburi). Finally, the Siamese were forced to pay three million French francs indemnity to the French. The final agreement was signed on October 3, 1893.^[2]

^: 127