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On Oct. 27, 1880, a Siamese barge, the Kim Yuen Tae, departed the Chinese northeastern port of Newchwang (modern Yingkou) bound for Hong Kong.
The ship, under the command of Captain Koford, had a crew of some fourteen Thais, one Hawaiian and at least 12 Chinese sailors.
In addition to the crew, there were two Thai women and one child.
For the first couple of days things went well. The weather was good but cold, and the ship made relatively good, if not slow, progress until late on Nov. 1, the ship encountered a strong gale and sprung a leak. Captain Koford set a course for the coast of Korea, hoping to make shore before his ship sank. Through the valiant efforts of the crew, the ship finally sank just off the coast of Korea on Nov. 3.
The captain and his first mate refused to leave the ship until after the passengers and crew were safely set ashore on a small island.
For the mate it came too late. Having bailed water for several days he was too weak to make the final effort needed to save his own life and went down, along with another sailor, with the ship.
Nothing was saved from the vessel.The shipwreck survivors were in a desperate situation until they were discovered by a group of Koreans who took them back to their village and treated them with “the greatest of kindness.” The survivors were provided with warm food, shelter, and clothing.
For nearly a month the victims of the shipwreck remained with their Korean hosts. The Korean government offered to send them back to Newchwang, which they readily accepted.
It isn’t quite clear how this was communicated. The Thai sailors were allegedly “unable to understand Chinese, either written or spoken.” Perhaps Koford and a Chinese sailor worked together to communicate with the Korean authorities and the Thais.
The survivors then began a long 52-day journey from their Korean refuge back to Newchwang.
It was a miserable march through extreme cold and harsh conditions. One member died from exhaustion and other challenging elements just a couple of days from the city while another man had severe frost bite which most likely resulted in amputation. Koford, an elderly man, suffered severely from his ordeal but nonetheless survived.
An English language newspaper in China praised the survivors for the utmost care they took in safeguarding the two women and the small child. It claimed that “even under the most distressing conditions” the women and child “appear to have been well cared for.”
Oddly enough, the newspaper then stated, “such unselfish conduct in favor of the weaker sex makes the community the more ready to welcome the poor shipwrecked people.”
According to a memorial presented to the Chinese government, the Thais and Hawaiian were to be examined by military authorities and would then be sent home.
Whether this happened or not is unknown. As had been “the invariable custom” of the Chinese court, Korean officials who escorted the survivors were issued a small sum of money.
In closing its article the newspaper noted that “we must not forget to remark upon the humanity evinced by the Coreans.”
This is sort of ironic considering Korea had long been wrongly maligned as being unusually cruel to those unfortunate enough to be cast upon its shore.
Robert Neff is a contributing writer for The Korea Times.
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