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Fascinated by "Hamel's journal" and his description of 17th century Korea, I went

IN SEARCH OF TRACES

of the shipwreck of the "Sperwer", resulting in the captivity of 33
Dutchmen who lived in Korea during 13 years in the 17th century

by Jan Boonstra,

Let me start with a disclaimer of the above title: I did not intend to find real traces of the famous shipwreck of the 17th century merchant vessel "Sperwer", which resulted in the unvoluntary stay in Korea of 13 years for a number of survivors. One of them, Hendrik Hamel, wrote a journal about their stay and he described Korea; this is generally believed as being the first description of Korea by a westerner. An English translation of this journal is published on the WWW. On a different website by myself I describe the findings of my visit to Byeongyeong, in search of traces of 22 Dutch sailors when they lived for 7 years in this village in the Korean province of Jeolla Namdo. Hence the title of this story; it was a similar mission, this time to the island of Jeju-do, where their ship wrecked and where it all started.


A monument is erected near a possible location where the shipwreck occured

So, if not looking for nails of the "Sperwer", what was I looking for? I looked for possible locations where the shipwreck could have happened, back in 1653. A monument was erected near such a possible location. Please refer to the detailed map to see what I am talking about. Some believe it happened more west, near Moseulpo, others believe it was more east, as far as Seogwipo. But everyone must base his conclusions on the text of the journal itself, because that's (as far as I knew at that time, May 1998) the only source related to the incident. One year later, as by surprise, Korean newspapers came with a small article about the discovery of an ancient Korean record of the event. It made me modifie this account and alter it with the latest findings. Later on you will be informed completely. Let's first see what Hamel himself writes:

It had just stricken two glasses of the middle watch, when the lookout shouted: "land ashore." He added that we were just one musket shot away from it. The darkness and the rain were the reason we didn't notice the land earlier. We dropped anchors immediately after tacking, by means of the rudder. But because of the depth of the sea and the speed of the ship, which resulted from the storm, the anchors didn't catch and the ship stranded. In three jolts, the ship was dashed against the rocks. Of the ones who were below decks in their bunks, several had no chance to come up to save their skin. Of the ones on deck, several jumped overboard, others were swept away by the waves. With fifteen men we reached the coast where we crawled with much effort on the rocks. Some of us still wore their night gowns, and others were heavily wounded. In the beginning we thought we were the only survivors, but a little later we heard above the roaring of the storm, the moaning of the people in the wreck. Because it was that dark we couldn't distinguish anything and we couldn't undertake a rescue attempt.

On August 16th, at dawn, the ones who could still move reasonably walked along the beach to see if there were any survivors. Here and there a few of them appeared. It seemed that 36 men survived the shipwrecking, of which a number of them, as said before, were heavily wounded. We inspected the wreck, in which we found a man, who was jammed between two big barrels. After we freed him from this perilous position, he lived for another three hours after which he gave up his ghost. We were sad in our minds, because in less than 15 minutes a beautiful ship like this had changed into a wreck, while of the 64 crew members only 36 survived the disaster. Then we searched the beach to see if any corpses had been washed ashore. We found skipper Reijnier Egberse from Amsterdam at around 10 or 12 fathoms from the waterline, with his one arm under his head. We buried him immediately, as well as the seven sailors we found dead hither and thither. We also looked for food, which possibly had washed ashore.

I quoted this to let Hamel himself tell you what happened. In the meantime I collect facts:
1. The disaster happened on rocks, near a beach
2. The beach is predominantly sandy, they burried several mates on the spot

Let's see what happened next:

Since the last two or three days we had only eaten little, because the cook couldn't cook, as a result of the bad weather. We only found a bag with flour, a barrel which was filled with meat and a barrel with some bacon, further a small casket with sweet Spanish wine. The last thing coming in useful for the wounded. What we needed most, was fire. Because we saw no living soul, we thought we were on a deserted island. To protect ourselves for the rain, we made a tent from some pieces of sail. At August 17th we were not in a cheerful mood and looked around us to see if there were no people who could help us, since we saw no solution. Since the boat as well as the barge were splintered and beyond repair. It was still before noon, when we saw in the distance a human being. We hoped it was a Japanese, because they could bring us back to our country men. We beckoned him, but as soon as he saw us, he took to his heels. Shortly after noon another three people came. They approached us at a musket shot's distance. They didn't dare to come closer despite we beckoned them. They were dressed like Chinese, but had hats made of horsehair. We feared we ended up in a nest of pirates or amongst banned Chinese. But these people were very friendly. They even gave us fire, which made us very shy. At dusk suddenly about 100 armed people arrived at the tent. They counted us and kept watch during the night around the tent. In the morning of August 18, when we were putting up a bigger tent, 1000 or 2000 men appeared, partly horsemen, partly foot-soldiers. They surrounded our tent and took hold of the bookkeeper, the head coxwain, the petty officer and the cabin boy. They each got an iron chain around their neck, which had a bell attached to it, like we do in Holland with the sheep. They were forced to crawl on hands and knees onto the commander, where they were pushed with their faces against the ground. With that the warriors shouted so deafening, that the shivers ran us on our body. Our companions, who remained in the tent, feared that we, as officers, would be killed first and that they would follow.

The most important quote that indicates the location is still not very clear. That comes a few days later, on August 21 1653, when the journal reads: (See the relevant part of the original manuscript)

That afternoon we heard that we were to travel. They, who were still able to ride, rode on horseback, the wounded were transported in hammocks. During the journey we were well guarded by horsemen and foot-soldiers. At night we stopped at a little place called Tae Cheng. After we had eaten something, they brought us to a house to sleep. It looked more like a stable for horses than like an inn. We had traveled then for four miles.


 

A beach near the monument. For a long time, this place was believed to be the location where Hamel entered Korea

With the remark "we traveled then for four miles" (= 30 km) one would not immediately spot the location near the monument as the right location, because the distance to "Tae Cheng" (=Daejeong) is not more than 7 kilometres. However, we read in the journal that they left the site in the afternoon and arrived at Daejeong in the evening. Considering also that the wounded were carried in hammocks, they cannot have traveled very quickly and I conclude that the distance of 30 kilometres was either estimated well overdone or maybe Hamel had a different 'mile' in mind. With all the different units of distance measurement in that age, this is not unlikely.

Right beneath the Hyatt Regency Jeju hotel: another possible location

So far, this investigation could be carried out by consulting maps and a historical text only. But I wanted to see the area for myself and I traveled to the island of Jeju-do. On my bicycle I took all lanes that led to the coast and I took photographs of all beaches that could be the location of the historical shipwreck. Please refer to the detailed map.

The first beach east of Daejeong is near Sagye-ri, so we can narrow our search between Sagye-ri and Jungmun. If it happened near Jungmun, it could have been at the rock, right beneath the modern Hyatt Regency Jeju hotel (so if Hamel brought his credit card, it would all have been so easy!). West of Jungmun we find a rugged coast without beaches. It is between Hwasun and Sagye-ri, a strech of 4 kilometres, were we find six beaches, all boarded by rocky outcrops. In the middle of this stretch we find a very conspicuous mountain, the Sanbang mountain, rising up to 400 metres above the sea. Here we also find the Hamel monument. The location is 6 kilometres from Daejeong and it was very tempting to just follow others in the believe that the shipwreck was right here, at the most scenic spot of whole Jeju's coastline. North of Daejeong there are no significant beaches and although I continued the coast for my search, I wasn't really concentrating anymore on my mission and rather enjoyed my bicycle ride. I did not bother taking pictures anymore. With a beautiful backwind and clear skies I passed the hamlet of Hanjangdong, not knowing how important this place turned out, one year later. On May 9, 1999, Most Korean daily newspapers suddenly disclosed news about this subject (the following article is translated from the 'Gyeonghyang Sinmun'):

ANCIENT DOCUMENT FOUND REVEALING LOCATION OF HAMEL'S ARRIVAL

A record was discovered about the arrival of the 'Hamel' people, who, in the Joseon period, during the reign of King Hyojong, went back to their country The Netherlands, reporting for the first time about Korea to the western world.

On the 8th (May 1999) a document was found in academic circles, written by Lee Ik-tae, who was in service with the governor of Jeju in the period 1694 - 1696. It says: "In the fourth year of King Hyojong, 1653, 7th month 24th day, 64 people were found, among them Hendrik Yamse. 26 people died and 2 were ill. Only 36 people lived.

In this document, the place where the boat was wrecked is described as "Dae Ya Su Yeon Byeon" This is interpreted as possibly being in the area nowadays known as North Jeju district, Hangyeong county, Gosan village, Hanjangdong community. Because among the local inhabitants, this place is also known as "Daemul" and as "Kunmul", both meaning "big water" and that suits the above description.

This all proves that the arrival place is not in South Jeju district, Andeok county, at a place called "dragon's head" near the Sanbang mountain. Untill now people guessed this was the arrival place, from "Hamel's journal", written by Hamel. But the ancient record upsets this theory completely.

The head administrator of the Gosan middle school, mr. Ko Dong-hee, has done research of the local history for a long time and he points out that both on the map "Jeju Sam Eup Chong" and on the "Deung Go map", south of Gosan the name (in Chinese) "Dae Ya Su Po" exists. He believes that the ancient record now gives adequate support for the new findings.

Opposite is a small section of the 18th century map "Jeju Sam Eup Chong", showing the location of Gosan and "Dae Ya Su Po" (encircled).

The date of the shipwreck mentioned by Lee Ik-tae (1653, 7th month 24th day) does not match with Hamel's account, which puts the event on August 16th. But in the Korean document the lunar calendar applies. According to transformation tables, August 16th 1653 is in the lunar calendar the 24th day of the 7th month, after an intercalary month. The date matches exactly.

The forementioned document is called 'Jiyeongnok'. In a foreword, Lee Ik-tae describes the beauty and fame of Halla-san, meaning Jeju-do. He mentions three sources of history writing, adding that the quality of those writings was bad. Therefore, he decided in late spring 1696 to re-write the reports. The original text and the translation in Korean script are displayed on Henny Savenije's website. The translation from Chinese is done by Kim Ik-su, with personal comments. Apart from mentioning the location of the stranding, in this document there are some remarkable details that cannot be found in other documents. This became clear when I contacted dr. Gari K. Ledyard, specialist in Korean history and author of (among others) "The Dutch Come to Korea". Dr. Ledyard studied the document and made a translation into English, directly from the original manuscript (in Hanmun; Chinese script). About the stranding dr. Ledyard translates:

On the 24th day of Seventhmoon in the year Kyesa (16 August 1653), sixty-four men headed by Haendulk Yamsuin (Hendrik Janse), barbarians from a Western country and all together aboard the same ship, were wrecked along the coast near the Taeya River, just below the Ch'agwi Garrison in the district of Taejong (Daejeong).

The newspaper article translates Dae Ya su yon byon as 'big water' (Daemul, Geunmul), which is said to be corresponding with what local inhabitants identify with nowadays Hanjang-dong. Dr. Ledyard is referring to a river. A river cannot be found on maps, however. But the other reference, the Chagwi Garrison, may be of greater importance. Dr. Ledyard found in the Korean gazeteer of 1530 that it is 25 Korean li from Daejeong to Chagwi Garrison. It is at the foot of this place that Li Ik-tae says the wreck occurred. At 0.43 km to the Korean li, the garrison would have been between 10 and 11 kms from Daejeong. On a topographic map I measure 11 to 12 kms from Daejeong to Hanjang-dong by coastal road. Although it is interesting to do a further study on the 'big water' reference, for me the location of the shipwreck is beyond doubt.


beach at Hanjang-dong, Gosan-ri
photograph taken in 2003

I have gone back to Jeju in September 1999 and visited Hanjang-dong. The local people knew about the latest discovery. The press had given it some attention and it had woken up the sleeping fishing community for a short while. They held even a memorial service for my fellow countrymen, I am grateful to them. But then, peace returned to the rocky shores of Hanjan-dong. Shifting my feet through the typical black sand of the small beach beneath the steep cliff, I felt close to the castaways. It felt like hearing a voice: "What took you so long to find this place?"

Of the 36 that washed ashore alive, 22 lived in Korea for a considerable period, 7 of them for 15 years. In 1666, after 13 years, Hamel and 7 others escaped to Japan in a small fishing boat. What he contributed to history is an amazing story that tickles one's imagination; at least that did it to me.

Some publications about this subject and related links


More about Hamel and Korea:
visit:
my Korea and Hamel pages or
my Hamel links or
Henny Savenije's Korea links pages.