Hunt for the lost ships of Chilcheon

Joon Ang Daily ^ | June 04, 2009

[rdl6989]

A salvage team has just weeks left to find wrecked turtle ships deep in the mud

It was probably Korea’s greatest ever naval disaster.

Ten thousand Korean sailors were killed on July 16, 1597 in the seas around Chilcheon Island off the coast of South Gyeongsang when 500 Japanese warships launched a surprise attack.

Korea also lost five to seven geobukseon, or turtle ships, ironclad vessels shaped like a turtle, and 160 panokseon, another type of battleship.

It was Korea’s only recorded naval defeat during its seven-year-long war with the Japanese between 1592 and 1598.

No authentic examples of geobukseon or panokseon exist today on land. Examples in museums are all replicas. But wrecks exist underwater and explorers have undertaken expeditions to locate sunken boats from this period of history.

[rdl6989]

Ping.

[rdl6989]

[prisoner6]

WOW, those were amazing! I would bet they'd be pretty hard to maneuver though. Especially so in heavy seas and high winds.

Even so they were really cool. Hope they find them.

prisoner6

[LeoWindhorse]

overloaded with kimchee , they turned turtle .....

[C19fan]

Describing the ship as an ironclad is a bit misleading. The roof as you can see in the photo had a spiked metal top that was used to prevent boarders. The rest of the ship was wood. I saw some clips of Korean produced movies with these ships in action and pretty gruesome scenes of Japanese impaing themselves trying to board one of these ships. The Admiral who commanded the Korean fleet is the Nelson of Korea.

[rdl6989]

Thanks for that explanation. I wasn’t sure about the words “iron clad” because it makes me think Monitor vs. Merrimack/Virginia

[Fee]

During the Imjin War, the Koreans debated on warship design. Some opted for the v shape hull, similar to the Europeon ships, where speed and deep sea capabilities were favored by the design. The others opted for a flat bottom hull ship which was slower in speed but able to operate in shallow coastal waters and still able to venture out to the deep seas in good weather and calm conditions. When the Japanese made their surprise attack they seized most of the major deep water harbors in Korea. It meant the survivng Korean ships must be able to operate from hastily constructed bases on the beaches and coastlines. This operating requirement favored the flat bottom boats. That is why the Korean warships were flat bottom hulls.

[Claud]

There’s a fantastic Korean historical drama “The Immortal Yi Sun Shin” ...a few American PBS stations have run it with subtitles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKKp0tguDYY

Definitely give it a watch if you can find it anywhere...kicks the crap out of the junk that Hollywood puts out.

[SunkenCiv]

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[wildbill]

The Nelson of Korea? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Pardon my incivil mockery but who knew Korea had ever floated a turtle warship in harm’s way.

If these were the only warships they lost in battle against the Japanese, how many battles did their Nelson fight? Perhaps this was their first and last battle.