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In early 1885, tension between the British and Russian governments had risen to such a level that war was feared. The British were concerned that Russian forces might obtain a port in Korea and threaten their shipping in the Far East. So, on April 15, three British warships sailed into Port Hamilton — an island group off the southern coast known as Geomun Island in Korea — and began a two-year “preventive occupation.”
Naturally enough the Korean government protested, but was too weak to expel the British forces either through force or diplomacy. The Korean islanders, however, apparently were pleased with their occupiers. The British garrison hired nearly 300 Korean laborers to help construct barracks and fortifications and paid them at first in rice and corn and later with money. The fishermen were also provided with compensation for the loss of their livelihood — they claimed that the British warships and their subsequent gunnery practice drove away the fish. The once poor islanders soon became fairly affluent and sought to avoid paying Korean taxes. However, they were promptly informed that the islands were still Korean territory and they would be subject to Korean taxes.
With the British occupation came the introduction of pheasants and sheep. The raising of sheep was abandoned as they were unable to digest the tough bamboo grass but the pheasants — imported from China — thrived and a club was formed to hunt them as sport.
Other than hunting, the garrison also entertained itself by building tennis courts and a library. There were also vices. The British sailors probably had rum and beer while the Koreans had their own native drinks. Only a decade earlier a British officer wrote, “It is a lamentable fact that by sunset the majority of the islanders are drunk with saki, mirthfully or otherwise.”
Tobacco was quite popular, not only with the adults, both British and Korean, but also children. A dozen or so Korean boys pestered the sailors and Marines in broken English for tobacco. When they were refused the boys assaulted the men with “volleys of British oaths.”
For the most part, the garrison commanders tried to enforce a “strict non-intercourse system” between the sailors and Marines and the islanders. It wasn’t only to help prevent the spread of diseases between the two groups but also to prevent incidents from occurring between the British men and the Korean women. But they had little to fear.
One officer noted that “at the approach of a European, the [Korean] women all hide themselves, whether fearing the evil eye or from being maltreated by the Europeans in the past is not known.”
An enterprising Japanese fisherman brought a number of Japanese prostitutes to a fishing camp on one of the islands and set up shop. Obviously, he didn’t openly advertise but it soon became common knowledge amongst the lower ranks of the garrison that companionship could be hired. Hearing of the fisherman’s arrival, the garrison commander banned his men from partaking of the services he offered. But some Marines — starved of female companionship — tried to sail over to the fishing camp in the middle of the night. Their boat overturned and one of them, Private Ward, who was unable to swim and hampered further by a “considerable weight of silver dollars in his pockets” drowned.
The Japanese fisherman and his women were removed from the island shortly afterwards.
In February 1887, the British garrison was removed from Port Hamilton. The British removed and sold everything they could. The only things they left were the abundant pheasants, some 700 bricks and the graves of nine of their sailors.
Robert Neff is a contributing writer for The Korea Times.
