Battle of Danghangpo

FROM THE ARCHIVES OF THE WANGSIL HAEGUN WAR MUSEUM

Transcript of interview with veterans

KIM CHANG-SEOK: My name is Kim Chang-seok. I am from a village in Yeongdong Province. My father was a farmer and I was the fourth son. We were poor. When the war started, I joined the Wangsil Haegun and was trained as a sailor. I was assigned to the cruiser *Tae-joon the Great* as a lookout. I was wounded in the battle of Danghangpo and have lived on the Injury Pension since then.

INTERVIEWER: What can you tell us about your duties?

KIM CHANG-SEOK: I was a lookout aboard the *Tae-joon the Great*. It was the flagship for Admiral Baek Yoon-sik. I was stationed in the forward fighting top. I was assigned to call out the location of the Aukustian fleet during the battle.

INTERVIEWER: Tell us about your experiences during the battle?

KIM CHANG-SEOK: Admiral Baek led us to the island of Danghangpo, and we arrived shortly before dawn. The *Tae-joon the Great* led out battle-line, followed by the *Park Do-young* and our small ships. The Aukustians in their anchorage looked completely surprised. I could see them from the fighting top, with many men running around on decks. They were completely surprised.

INTERVIEWER: You were able to see them clearly?

KIM CHANG-SEOK: Yes. We closed the range to two miles before any gun fired. The visibility was excellent. I used the telephone to describe the enemy ships.

INTERVIEWER: What happened then?

KIM CHANG-SEOK: Shortly before we fired, Admiral Baek ordered a signal flag hosted. It said "Amram 25:2" - as it goes, "*Set your face against the east and prophesy against them.*" When the flag was raised, everyone who saw it cheered loudly.

INTERVIEWER: If you were in the fighting top of the *Tae-joon the Great*, you had a good view of the battle?

KIM CHANG-SEOK: Yes, at first. The flagship left our older ironclads behind and charged into the bay, completely alone. For a few minutes, every gun focused was focused on us. We drove directly at the largest Aukustian ironclad. I thought for sure that Admiral Baek intended to ram them. We fired at first only with our six-inch guns. When we were only a few hundred yards from the Aukustian ironclad, the captain turned the ship and the gunners let fly with both of our ten-inch guns. The roar was amazing, and the ironclad reeled with the hit. I was told afterward that our shells caused a boiler explosion, and many Aukustians were cooked by their own steam. I hate the Aukustians, but if that's true I feel a bit bad for those sailors. I saw a man killed once by live steam and I can't forget it. It's worse than anything.

INTERVIEWER: You were wounded in the battle, correct?

KIM CHANG-SEOK: Yes. Shortly after the events I described, the fighting top was hit by a shell from a quick-firing gun. I don't know who fired it. I was knocked down and severely injured. I survived, but I lost my right arm from the elbow down, and am also blind in my right eye. The doctors originally thought I would also lose my legs due to infection, but they were able to prevent that. I still have difficulty walking, which is why I live in the military invalid hospital.

### Lee Ju-hwan

INTERVIEWER: Would you start by telling me a bit about yourself?

LEE JU-HWAN: I'm Lee Ju-hwan. I grew up in Kangwon Province and my father was a silk merchant. I had one brother who survived to adulthood, and three sisters.

INTERVIEWER: Were you in Kangwon Province when the Aukustians invaded?

LEE JU-HWAN: Yes. I was seventeen. It was very bad. Because we lived in Miryang, the Aukustian troops surrounded the town very quickly after defeating our army at the border. They sacked the city. At first, the soldiers just looted our house. But when they'd taken everything, they got very angry that we didn't have any more. Two of them beat me and my father and left us for dead. They made my sisters watch, and then they dragged them off. So far as I know, they were all killed later.

INTERVIEWER: The soldiers left you for dead?

LEE JU-HWAN: Yes, both my father and I. I woke up after a few hours and decided to escape from the city. I helped my father as much as I could, but it was too much, and he died on the second day. I hid in the forest during the day and walked during the night until I reached our army. My older brother was in the army. I was going to join the army as well, but I went into the wrong place and ended up joining the Wangsil Haegun instead. I think that was fated, because my brother died during the land battles, and so I was the only one who survived from my entire family.

INTERVIEWER: What did you do in the navy?

LEE JU-HWAN: Because I can read and write, they immediately made me a *hasa* (petty officer). But since I was very young and inexperienced, I made a very bad job and got demoted to Seaman. They assigned me to a gunboat, one of the "flatiron" kind, that was like a steam-powered raft with a giant gun. I did several different duties aboard ship, including working in the gun crew. The gunner was an old man who we all called 'Uncle Ho' - everyone except the captain. Uncle Ho was a very good petty officer and taught me how to be a good one, too. About a year later, I was promoted again back to hasa.

INTERVIEWER: You remained with the gunboats?

LEE JU-HWAN: Until 1889, yes. Our gunboat was involved in the bombardment of Aukustian troops advancing along the coast in the Kangwon and Chungbuk provinces. I believe we were somewhere near Samsa-Ri, when our boat was hit by barbarian shore artillery. I was lightly wounded at the time. Uncle Ho and many other men were killed, including our captain. The first lieutenant took command and we beached the gunboat on an island, I believe it was Hyojado; and we were picked up several days later.

...

I was the one who went to tell Uncle Ho's wife about his death. That was very distressing. You will remember the Widow's Pension had run dry during the second year of the war, so she would likely lose her home without an income. I married the oldest daughter, Hye-sun, so that Uncle Ho's family wouldn't become homeless.

...

After that, the Wangsil Haegun assigned me as the quartermaster of a torpedo boat named the *Janggodo*. It was even smaller than our flatirons, but we saw a lot more action. During battle, I was charged with steering.

INTERVIEWER: The *Janggodo* was commanded by Tak Hyo-sup, correct?

LEE JU-HWAN: Yes, he took command shortly before I arrived and remained until 1891, when he was promoted to a larger vessel. The Tiger of Danghangpo. Not at all like he was portrayed after the war, you know. Very quiet. But he knew what he was doing, and never showed any fear.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us about the battle itself?

LEE JU-HWAN: It was very chaotic. We were third in the line of torpedo boats. There was very little wind, and so the coal smoke and the gun smoke pooled over the bay and made everything very difficult to see. Janggodo was assigned to attack one of the three big Aukustian ironclads using our self-propelled torpedoes. But it was very difficult to see where they were. Of course, it was also very difficult for the Aukustian barbarians to see us. That is the only reason I can attribute to our survival. We passed one of their spar torpedo boats going the other direction, and we traded shots at them with our small guns. The captain said we sank her.

...

All of a sudden, this huge ironclad looms up in front of us! It was massive. The guns spit fire. We were too close for the torpedo, so Captain Tak ordered me to go past and then turn around for the attack. I put the helm hard over and we circled away, then came back in a second time. That time, we released our torpedo, and turned away. A few moments later, we heard an explosion, and the captain said we'd hit the ironclad. A few seconds later, there was an even bigger explosion. Our torpedo boat was rocked as debris fell on us. The captain shouted in surprise and then told us that our target had completely exploded.

### Go Tae-hee

INTERVIEWER: Please tell us about yourself.

GO TAE-HEE: My name is Go Tae-hee. I was born on Meoseumnal in the first year of the reign of King Ryu Ji-chang, or Year 42 of the Cheonsun Era. My mother was Go So-hee, a kisaeng from the capital of Wonson. I was also trained as a kisaeng until I was seventeen, learning dance, song, as well as pansori (a sort of poetry). When I turned seventeen, I was to be assigned to the Boryeong Province, which would have been second in prestige only to the Imperial Palace. However, in that year, the Aukustians invaded, and there was great upheaval. This was the occasion that caused King Ji-chang to officially disband the kisaeng. People these days say it was because he was very pious and convicted, but in fact it cost the government quite a lot to maintain kisaeng in the traditional fashion, and Ji-chang needed the money for the war.

INTERVIEWER: What happened to you once the kisaeng were disbanded?

GO TAE-HEE: We were never fully disbanded so much as repurposed. After the first defeats by the Aukustians, King Ji-chang reportedly said "I could train our courtesans to be better warriors than my our current generals!" Although he of course said this in jest, some of the senior kisaeng appealed to be permitted the right to train as warriors. We were permitted to organize some units for training. I believe the intention was that we might take roles in the army and navy to allow men to fight, but our manpower situation soon became very critical. We were tested for apptitude and many of us volunteered. You must understand that with the kisaeng being disbanded, many of us would have nowhere to go. Therefore, I volunteered and was accepted to continue in service. I was among the first one hundred women to volunteer, and I was assigned to the Wangsil Haegun.

INTERVIEWER: What happened after that?
GO TAE-HEE: I was sent to a school where they trained me in basic engineering, navigation, and gunnery. My scores in engineering were very poor, but I did very well in navigation and gunnery. Because I was good at gunnery, they promoted me immediately to daewi (lieutenant) and I was assigned to coastal artillery from Year 60 of the Cheonsun Era until Year 62. I commanded two old guns guarding the entrance to the port of Deokjeokdo.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us more about that? Did you see any action there?

GO TAE-HEE: Yes, several times. On three occasions, Aukustian gunboats, of the Flatiron model, came to bombard Deokjeokdo. These were very small gunboats with large disappearing guns, usually of the eight-inch or ten-inch type. They maneuvered to try to bombard the port.

...

I commanded several other girls recruited from the kisaeng, and a number of old men from the reserves. We called them 'grandfathers' because they were old. They couldn't fight in the war but they helped us with our guns. They said we would run away the first time we got shot at, but we didn't. We fired seven rounds at the Aukustian gunboats from each gun. I had to aim the guns myself. I am very certain I hit one of them, and the gunboats steamed away. After that, the grandfathers never said we would run away and they respected us a lot more.

...

The Aukustians came back a second time, and fired several shots at my batteries. Once again, I figure back. We fired more rounds in the second battle, but we didn't hit any of the Aukustians. A ten-inch shell fell near one of my guns. My second in command, Yu-mi, was killed. The Aukustians left after about two hours. I believe each of the flatirons fired about twenty rounds at us, and we fired about thirty rounds back.

...

On the third occasion, the Aukustian gunboats came back with a small cruiser. However, the Haegun had three torpedo boats waiting offshore. One of them was commanded by Joo Da-young, another kisaeng. While the Aukustians bombarded my guns and tried to silence us, Joo's torpedo boat attacked the cruiser and hit it with a fifteen inch torpedo. The cruiser steamed away and the gunboats followed. The cruiser eventually beached on Jebudo because they were flooding. That was a great victory, particularly for those of us recruited from the kisaeng, since it showed we could be aggressive and truly useful in battle.

INTERVIEWER: You said you served with the coastal artillery for three years?

GO TAE-HEE: Just two. From Year 60 to Year 62 of the Cheonsun Era.

INTERVIEWER: Where did you go after that?

GO TAE-HEE: The Haegun commanders gave me a medal for commanding the coastal guns. I was offered the opportunity to stay with the coastal artillery or go to a ship. I was tired of sitting on an island being shelled, and accepted being assigned to a ship. I was promoted to soryeong (lieutenant-commander) and sent to serve as the first lieutenant for jungyeong (commander) Jung Yoo-jin. We became very good friends and remain so to this day... Yoo-jin was assigned to take command of an armed steam yacht, named *Balkili*, purchased from abroad.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us more about the ship and the crew?

GO TAE-HEE: It was not a real warship, but no one could sell us real warships due to neutrality. She weighed about eight hundred tons. I don't remember who built her, but she extremely beautiful inside and out. *Balkili* was very fast and we so we carried messages for Admiral Baek. We eventually carried four three-inch guns. All of the officers were volunteers from the kisaeng, so I knew many of them. The only man aboard was the chief engineer, who was a foreigner and knew how to work the steam engines better than any of us. He usually minded his own business.

INTERVIEWER: This was about a year before the Battle of Danghangpo, correct?

GO TAE-HEE: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: What did you do in the time leading up to the battle?

GO TAE-HEE: *Balkili* usually carried messages for Admiral Baek. He constantly tried to bring the Aukustians to battle on favorable terms. The war on land was not going well. We lost most of Kangwon Province. We held onto Chungbuk Province but just barely. Both sides did a lot of raiding to provoke the other into action. Several times, even though we were mostly a message ship, we took *Balkili* to attack enemy-held ports like Nangdo, Yeosu, or Dolsan. That was very tricky because we had to navigate in the dark through very dangerous waters in order to reach our objective. We set up a shrine in the wardroom and on every occasion one of the officers was assigned to pray there so God and our ancestors would watch over us. I was never there, because of course I was one of the main navigators, and besides I was assigned to stay with the guns.

INTERVIEWER: So this was the case up to the battle, correct?

GO TAE-HEE: Yes... when we learned that the Aukustians had landed troops on Danghangpo, Admiral Baek immediately gathered all the ships he could find. There was of course the flagship *Tae-joon the Great*, and the old ironclads *Noryang* and *Sacheon*. We also had four torpedo boats, and twelve of our own flatiron gunboats to match the Aukustian ones. *Balkili* stayed near the flagship so we could repeat orders to the other vessels, but we were also to help protect her from torpedo boat attack.

...

We arrived off Danghangpo right as the sun rose. I don't think they were very surprised to see us, but they were very poorly deployed, and took their time clearing for action. Admiral Baek gave them no time to finish and immediately attacked, charging in with the *Tae-joon the Great* and leaving the two bigger ironclads behind. The flagship attacked their largest ironclad, and took a great deal of damage; but eventually our two ironclads came up and helped carry the day. There was a terrible melee between our flatirons and theirs, and between our torpedo boats, which successfully torpedoed and sank both their flagship and a loaded troop ship.

INTERVIEWER: What did the *Balkili* do?

GO TAE-HEE: We followed the flagship as far as we could, but the fire got very hot. Yoo-jin then saw one of their torpedo boats building up steam to get underway, and she turned us to engage them. We shot them up and sank them after about fifteen minutes. One of the Aukustian gunboats hit us with an eight-inch shell. It went straight through the ship and didn't explode, but it beheaded my friend Eun-jin and killed three other girls. Of course I didn't learn about that until later. We turned around and attacked them. About at that time, the Aukustian flagship blew up, which very much finished the battle.