The Marmot’s Hole

Graves of British sailors, Geomun-do

Two weeks ago I visited Geomun-do, a historic and scenic island two-and-a-half hours off the coast of Yeosu.

In 1885, Great Britain — then in the midst of the Great Game — preemptively occupied the island (actually three islands), then called Port Hamilton, to block the Russians from making use of its splendid natural harbor. The Royal Navy set up a naval station, but left just a short time later in 1887; unlike, say, the Americans, the British tended to be smart, and saw no reason to waste money on a strategically useless Korean base once the Russian threat had receded.

Not much remains of their presence on the island besides a small cemetery and, apparently, pheasants (brought to the island from China by the British, who used them for sport hunting).

For more information on the British occupation of Geomundo, check out:

• Julian Coy’s MA dissertation on the occupation here. He even has a couple of photos from the 1998 rededication of cemetery;
• In May, Trivial Platitudes posted a good travelogue on the island;
• For those who enjoy, like, old NYT pieces, here’s an 1887 piece from the Grey Lady on a British flotilla at the port;
• Historian and occasional Marmot’s Hole blogger Robert Neff did a presentation on Port Hamilton for the RASK in 2004;
• Oh, and OhMyNews ran a short piece on the occupation last year, along with a couple of old photographs taken at the time.

You can see how Geomun-do’s harbor might have been of interest to imperial navies. I doubt the town has grown much since the days it was called Port Hamilton.

Geomun-do is a great place, but a tad on the rustic side. Rustic, like in “there ain’t much to do in town except hang out in dabang and chat with very tough dabang girls, who, coincidentally, are the only women under 50 on the entire island” rustic. This was apparently the case while the Royal Navy was in town, too:

Naval life on Komundo was also extremely dull. After the Afghan crisis was resolved in September 1885 the threat from Russia faded away, leaving the garrison to carry out a monotonous routine interspersed with occasional ship visits and shore leave to Nagasaki or Shanghai. Apart from a tennis court for the officers, there were few recreational facilities.15 One enterprising Japanese attempted to resolve this problem in June 1886 by bringing five prostitutes to Sodo, across the harbour from the garrison, and establishing a somewhat ramshackle brothel. He originally claimed to be “drying fish” but word quickly spread amongst the marines of his true purpose. Late at night on 18 June two boats stealthily set out to cross the harbour. However, one overturned and the marines’ cries quickly drew the garrison’s attention. Captain Gordon, commander of the marines, found eleven of the miscreants, but a twelfth, Private Peter Ward, remained missing. It turned out that the unfortunate Private could not swim and was carrying “a considerable weight of silver dollars in his pocket”. He was assumed to have drowned, and a five-dollar reward was offered for the Korean who found his body.

Judging from what I read at ROK Drop, this wouldn’t be the only military career sunk (in this case, literally) by camptown trim.

I break for galchi jorim — boiled largehead hairtail fish.

A nice walk from the port will bring you to the British Navy Cemetery, a small plot of land on a hillside overlooking the harbor. Here are buried nine British sailors and marines who died, were killed or otherwise made themselves dead on Geomun-do or in the waters around the island. Unfortunately, only two grave markers remain today, a beautiful granite headstone and a weathered old wooden cross.

They might be dead, and a long way from Tipperary for that matter, but they do get one of the nicest views in the house.

According to the information board, the granite headstone marks the final resting place of 28-year-old Thomas Oliver and 30-year-old Henry Green, who were killed in an accidental explosion aboard the corvette HMS Cleopatra on June 11, 1886. As you might be able to gather from the writing on the stone, however, it appears it actually marks the grave of 31-year-old William J. Murray and 17-year-old Charles Dale from the HMS Albatross, who were killed in March 1886 when a gun exploded. Rough break, but the Admiralty did spring for a rather nice headstone.

Not that anyone can read what’s written on the cross, but it does mark the grave of Alex Wood of the HMS Albion, who somehow managed to buy the farm in October 1905, long after the British had vacated the island.

If you’re on the island, and are willing to make the long hike to Geomun-do’s southernmost point, you’ll be rewarded with a) some fine views, and b) a chance to see Geomun-do Lighthouse, one of Korea’s earliest lighthouses. Aside from the fact that it was built in 1905, most likely at the request of our neighbors across the East Sea, I don’t have a whole lot of architectural info on the structure. It does look nice, though.