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...