Comments on: Old Port Hamilton

By: robert neff

robert neff — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 09:07:42 +0000

Frogmouth,

Actually I did a couple of articles on Port Hamilton (the latest was an article with Morning Calm on my favorite place in Korea) and three talks/slide presentations on Port Hamilton. It was the first piece of Western/Korean history that got my attention so many years ago and led me to start researching the early Westerners in Korea.

The article I did in RAS Transactions a couple of years ago gives the names of all those buried in the Komundo cemetery and how they came to die. I believe there are also some photographs and also the story of the Port Hamilton Sportsman’s Club.

By: bulgasari

bulgasari — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:59:01 +0000

Nice photos; I’d always thought it would be an interesting place to visit. More than a year ago I posted about early (mostly British) expeditions to Korea (as scans of most of their published accounts can now be found online). If you look at this post, clicking on “Part 2″ gives links to scans of (and excerpts/illustrations from) Belcher’s ‘discovery’ Port Hamilton in 1845 (there are three different accounts of this voyage, which focused mostly on Jeju). ‘Part 3′ cut-and-pastes Cyprian Bridge’s account of an 1875 visit to Port Hamilton. He would later become admiral of Britain’s China squadron, retiring just after the start of the Russo-Japanese war.

Lots of good photos in that Ohmynews article - it was published after I researched those posts so I never came across it…

By: frogmouth

frogmouth — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:37:33 +0000

Actually, while doing my research for my Dokdo website. I found many Koreans came from Geomundo and nearby Chodo and sailed all the way to Ulleundo from there.

They sailed this route.

Korean Voyage Route

Here is a picture of Korean fishermen at Port Hamilton during the British occupation in the 1880s.

Koreans on Geomundo

Is there any way I can find the Mr Neff’s report on Geomundo? I’d really be interested in life on Geomundo during the British occupation.

By: sewing

sewing — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:00:05 +0000

I always wondered about this mysterious place called “Port Hamilton.” Thanks for the write-up.

By: Sodajonze

Sodajonze — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:43:49 +0000

I actually spent Christmas on Geomundo a few years ago. I was aboard one of our university’s training vessels and we docked there for a day of shore leave. Myself, the captain and the 30 or so crew had a delightful Christmas dinner of 삼치회, (sam-chi being a variety of mackerel) washed down with copious amounts of imported beer. Most delicious raw fish dinner I’ve had as well as most unusual Christmas dinner to date.

By: Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:21:06 +0000

Just a day. Not even that, really — the boat from Yeosu arrived at 10:30am, and left at 4:00pm. And I capped off the day with a six-hour train ride to Seoul.

By: Smee

Smee — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:14:57 +0000

Very nice write-up . . . thanks. How long did you spend there?