⑥ The Battle of Myeongnyang — How Was It Won?

The Battle of Hansan Island and the Battle of Myeongnyang

If the Battle of Hansan Island was the victory that turned around Joseon's early defeats in the Imjin War, the Battle of Myeongnyang was what turned the tide of the second invasion, the Jeongyu War, from looming defeat into victory. Both were great battles, without question — but to me, personally, Myeongnyang is the greater of the two. Hansan Island was won with fifty-two panokseon and three turtle ships, and troops whose morale was riding high. Myeongnyang moves me more, because it was won in isolation and despair, against an overwhelming enemy.

The Eve of Myeongnyang

Bae Seol, the naval commissioner who had hidden away the twelve ships, had already deserted on September 2. The Joseon navy was still shaken by the memory of its catastrophe at Chilcheollyang, while Japan's forces, flush with that same victory, were at the height of their confidence and overwhelming in number.

The day before the Battle of Myeongnyang, Admiral Yi moved his fleet's position to the waters in front of Usuyeong. With so few ships, he could not afford to face the enemy with Uldolmok — the Myeongnyang Strait — at his back. The Nanjung Ilgi records him addressing his commanders that day with these words:

"The art of war says: 'Seek to die, and you will live; seek to live, and you will die.' It also says: 'One man guarding a narrow passage can make a thousand men afraid.' These words describe us today. Let none of you think of saving your own life. The slightest breach of orders will be dealt with by military law, without the smallest mercy."

Trapping the Japanese Fleet Off Imhado

Dawn broke on the day of the Battle of Myeongnyang — September 16, 1597, by the lunar calendar. As one hundred and thirty-three enemy ships bore down, the place that held them off was not, I believe, the Uldolmok strait beneath today's Jindo Bridge. I am convinced the actual battle was not fought there. That stretch of open water, some three hundred meters wide with a brutally fast current, would have been too much for thirteen oar-driven ships to manage.

Imhado. Where the bridge now stands, Admiral Yi blocked the sea with seven panokseon warships.

Imhado — near present-day Munnae-myeon, Haenam County — is a spot where the sea between the island and the mainland narrows to about fifty meters, narrow enough to be sealed off by lining up seven panokseon. Admiral Yi blocked the waters in front of Imhado with these ships, then used the remaining six to swing around behind the island, trapping the Japanese fleet in the waters before it and fighting them there. If you look closely at the Nanjung Ilgi's own account of the battle that day, only six ships are recorded as actually engaging the enemy.

(The six ships recorded in the Nanjung Ilgi as fighting at Myeongnyang: Admiral Yi's own flagship; the ship of Kim Eok-chu, naval commissioner of Jeolla; and the ships of Kim Eung-ham, An Wi, Song Yeo-jong, and Jeong Eung-du.)

For the first two or three hours of the battle, Admiral Yi's flagship fought entirely alone. The other five ships hung back well behind it, hesitant and afraid. It was only because the flagship refused to retreat that the other five finally found the courage to join the fight.

To help make sense of how the battle unfolded at Imhado, I've included a diagram below. Just as the Admiral trapped the Japanese fleet with his crane-wing formation at the Battle of Hansan Island, at Myeongnyang too he sealed the enemy in and won a decisive victory using cannon fire and the strait's fierce currents.

Diagram of the Battle of Myeongnyang fought off Imhado

Thinking of Admiral Yi at Imhado

I once went to Imhado myself and stood looking out at that sea. That day, too, I asked myself: however great my own sense of injustice, my own loneliness, my own hardship, how could it possibly compare to what Admiral Yi endured? Looking back now, it seems almost absurd to compare myself to him — but that comparison is, without question, what picked me back up.

The Nanjung Ilgi entry for the day the Battle of Myeongnyang was won closes with this line:

"This was truly Heaven's own doing."

Having saved the nation in a battle that should have been impossible, and closing his diary with such a plain, brief line — what do you make of Admiral Yi?

👉 Next post: ⑦ Wailing — The Death of a Beloved Son

— Momcheolhak