② Admiral Yi's Closest Fellow Commander: Yi Eok-gi

In the last post, I told the story of General Jeong Un, who was killed at the Battle of Busanpo.

This time I introduce General Yi Eok-gi (李億祺, 1561–1597), Right Jeolla Naval Commander.

I would like to call General Yi Eok-gi the fellow commander who was closest to Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the commander who saved Joseon at sea during the Imjin War.

From the start of the war in 1592 (the imjin year) until his death at Chilcheollyang in 1597 (the jeongyu year), General Yi Eok-gi was the only man who guarded the sea with Admiral Yi as Right Jeolla Naval Commander for more than five years without being moved from his post even once.

General Yi Eok-gi

By coincidence, the day I am writing this is August 27. Converted to the solar calendar, the date of General Yi Eok-gi's death is August 27, 1597 — the same date as today. On this day 429 years ago, General Yi Eok-gi died in the waters of Chilcheollyang.

Admiral Yi's Fellow Commanders of the Same Rank

Admiral Yi's official title was Left Jeolla Naval Commander (全羅左水使).

Until he rose to Naval Commander of the Three Provinces on the 12th day of the 9th month of 1593, there were four fellow naval commanders of the same rank as Admiral Yi (provincial naval commander), including General Yi Eok-gi: the Right Jeolla, Right Gyeongsang, Left Gyeongsang, and Chungcheong naval commanders.

If you look at the circumstances of these four one by one, you can see why General Yi Eok-gi's place was special to Admiral Yi.

The Left Gyeongsang naval commander practically did not exist. On the very day the war began, Bak Hong (朴泓), right after the fall of Busanjin, burned his headquarters and retreated, and the Left Gyeongsang navy itself was destroyed. Afterward, Yi Yu-ui (李由義) was appointed in the 11th month of 1592 but could not take up his post because the navy had scattered, and only in the 4th month of 1593 did Yi Su-il (李守一) take up the post and begin rebuilding. In this period there is no record of the Left Gyeongsang naval commander conducting operations with Admiral Yi.

The Chungcheong naval commander's post changed hands most often. Jeong Geol took up the post in the 2nd month of 1593 (the gyesa year); the following year, 1594 (the gabo year), Gu Sa-jik succeeded him and was then dismissed; after that several men, including Yi Sun-sin (李純信, a different man who shared the Admiral's name) and Seon Geo-i, passed through the post; and during the second Japanese invasion Choe Ho took it over and was killed at Chilcheollyang.

And then there was the Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander, Won Gyun (元均). He took up his post just before the war and at first was a comrade who fought alongside Admiral Yi, but as time went on, distrust of and anger toward him appear again and again in the Nanjung Ilgi, Admiral Yi's war diary — in expressions such as "that vile business" and "his wicked heart and treacherous deceit."

Unlike these three, General Yi Eok-gi alone never once changed posts from the outbreak of the war until his death.

His Bond with Admiral Yi

General Yi Eok-gi belonged to the Jeonju Yi clan, and his courtesy name was Gyeongsu (景受). He was born in 1561, sixteen years younger than Admiral Yi, who was born in 1545. His father was Lord Simju, Yi Yeon-son (李連孫), a descendant of Prince Deokcheon (德泉君), son of Jeongjong (定宗), the second king of Joseon. In other words, he was born into a family of distant royal relatives.

It is said that he excelled at the martial arts from childhood. At seventeen he became a naeseung (an officer in charge of royal horses) at the Saboksi, the royal stables office; later he passed the military examination, and at twenty-one he was appointed magistrate of Gyeongheung (a junior third-rank post), where he distinguished himself in driving back the Jurchens. At twenty-six he was magistrate of Onseong, and in 1591, at thirty-two, after serving as magistrate of Suncheon, he rose to Right Jeolla Naval Commander, a senior third-rank high-ranking post. This was just one year before the Imjin War broke out.

It is said that the bond between General Yi Eok-gi and Admiral Yi began even earlier. In 1587, when Admiral Yi was garrison commander of Josanbo in Hamgyeong Province, he faced the danger of execution over a surprise attack by the Jurchens. It is said that at that time General Yi Eok-gi spoke in Admiral Yi's defense. This means the two knew each other before the Imjin War broke out.

1592 (the Imjin Year): Sortie After Sortie

In 1592, Admiral Yi went out to sea four times in all.

But the Right Jeolla Naval Command fleet led by General Yi Eok-gi was not with him from the very beginning.

The first sortie in early 5th month (the battles of Okpo, Happo, and Jeokjinpo) was fought by Admiral Yi's Left Jeolla Naval Command fleet alone. When the second sortie began at the end of the 5th month, General Yi Eok-gi still could not join.

"Since the Right Naval Commander (Yi Eok-gi) did not come, I alone led the commanders and set sail at dawn and went straight to Noryang, where Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander Won Gyun (元均) came to meet me at the place agreed in advance, and I consulted with him." (Nanjung Ilgi, 29th day of the 5th month, 1592)

That day's sailing led to the Battle of Sacheon, and two days later, at the Battle of Dangpo on the 2nd day of the 6th month, General Yi Eok-gi had still not arrived. Admiral Yi seems to have been anxious. The diary entry for the 4th day of the 6th month contains this passage:

"I was waiting with my neck stretched out for the Right Naval Commander (Yi Eok-gi) to come, watching the situation and unable to settle on a plan, when at noon the Right Naval Commander came with his commanders under full sail. There was not a man in the camp who did not leap for joy." (Nanjung Ilgi, 4th day of the 6th month, 1592)

In the passage saying that the whole camp cheered when the fleet they had waited for "with necks stretched out" at last appeared, you can feel how desperately General Yi Eok-gi's arrival was needed. Having joined in this way, General Yi Eok-gi fought together with Admiral Yi the next day, the 5th day of the 6th month, at the Battle of Danghangpo, and on the 7th day of the 6th month at the Battle of Yulpo.

From the third sortie (the 7th month: the Battle of Hansan Island and the Battle of Angolpo), they were together from the start.

In fact, the Battle of Hansan Island on the 8th day of the 7th month, in which most of the Japanese ships were destroyed with the crane-wing formation, would not have been possible without General Yi Eok-gi's Right Jeolla Naval Command fleet. The Japanese ships faced that day numbered 73 in all: 36 large, 24 medium, and 13 small ships. The Joseon navy facing them consisted of 24 panokseon (the standard Joseon warships) of the Left Jeolla Naval Command (Yi Sun-sin), 25 panokseon of the Right Jeolla Naval Command (Yi Eok-gi), and 7 ships of the Right Gyeongsang Naval Command (Won Gyun). Admiral Yi's Left Jeolla fleet of 24 ships alone would have struggled to face 73 Japanese ships, and even adding Won Gyun's 7 ships came to only 31. Only with General Yi Eok-gi's 25 ships added did the fleet reach about 55 — a size large enough to spread out the crane-wing formation. In other words, the victory at Hansan Island was not Admiral Yi's alone; it was a victory made possible because General Yi Eok-gi brought nearly half the fleet.

On the fourth sortie, at the Battle of Busanpo on the 1st day of the 9th month, General Yi Eok-gi was again with Admiral Yi from beginning to end.

In 1592, the year the war broke out, General Yi Eok-gi was always with Admiral Yi from the second through the fourth sortie — all except the first — and was Admiral Yi's dependable fellow commander.

1593 (the Gyesa Year): Eating and Shooting Arrows Together

General Yi Eok-gi appears 78 times in the Nanjung Ilgi. Following the diary for the single year of 1593 (the gyesa year) in particular reveals how often the two saw each other face to face.

On the 24th day of the 2nd month, when the rain stopped, Admiral Yi talked quietly with several commanders, including General Yi Eok-gi.

"With the venerable Right Naval Commander Yi Eok-gi (李億祺), the magistrate of Suncheon, the garrison commander of Garipo, and Jindo Magistrate Seong Eon-gil (成彦吉), leaving out the entertainers, we talked quietly." (Nanjung Ilgi, 24th day of the 2nd month, 1593)

From this short sentence — that they did not call for gisaeng (female entertainers) but talked quietly — one can guess that the war situation at the time was by no means a mood for a light drinking party. After this, records continue almost daily: "talked with Right Naval Commander Yi Eok-gi" (27th day of the 2nd month), "Right Naval Commander Yi Eok-gi came to see me" (29th day of the 2nd month), "the venerable Right Naval Commander Yi Eok-gi came and talked all day" (4th day of the 3rd month). On the 8th day of the 3rd month, the day he returned to Hansan Island, the garrison commander of Bangdap and the magistrate of Gwangyang brought drink and food, and General Yi Eok-gi joined them to share the meal.

On the 7th day of the 5th month they ate breakfast together and moved to Jinhaeru Pavilion to attend to official business, and the diary entry for the 9th day of the 8th month even writes "Right Naval Commander Gyeongsu (景受) Yi Eok-gi," adding his courtesy name — so informal was their relationship. There is also a record that on the 15th day of the 8th month of the same year, the Chuseok harvest festival, many commanders — including General Yi Eok-gi, Chungcheong Naval Commander Jeong Geol, Suncheon Magistrate Kwon Jun, Gwangyang Magistrate Eo Yeong-dam, Nagan Magistrate Sin Ho, and Heungyang Magistrate Bae Heung-rip — gathered in one place and spent the holiday together.

Worrying About the Nation Together

The relationship between General Yi Eok-gi and Admiral Yi did not stop at the personal closeness of eating together and shooting arrows. They also worried together about the course of the war and shared their troubles.

On the 17th day of the 6th month of 1593, when news came that the commanders who had been defending Haman had withdrawn to Jinju, Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander Won Gyun, Right Jeolla Naval Commander Yi Eok-gi, and Chungcheong Naval Commander Jeong Geol came together to see Admiral Yi and discuss what to do.

"Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander Won Gyun (元均), Right Jeolla Naval Commander Yi Eok-gi (李億祺), Chungcheong Naval Commander Jeong Geol (丁傑), and others came and we discussed matters; the report that 'the commanders who were at Haman have withdrawn to defend Jinju' was indeed true." (Nanjung Ilgi, 17th day of the 6th month, 1593)

Such strategy meetings were repeated almost every day all that summer. On the 28th day of the 7th month, the three met again and agreed on the next operation, and at that very meeting Admiral Yi wrote briefly in his diary of his distrust of Won Gyun.

"The Right Gyeongsang Naval Commander (Won Gyun), the Chungcheong Naval Commander (Jeong Geol), and the Right Naval Commander of this province (Yi Eok-gi) came together and we made an agreement. But Naval Commander Won Gyun's (元均) wicked heart and treacherous deceit are utterly beyond words." (Nanjung Ilgi, 28th day of the 7th month, 1593)

General Yi Eok-gi was not only always present at such meetings; sometimes he was the one who first brought news to Admiral Yi. On the 6th day of the 9th month of that year, Admiral Yi went to General Yi Eok-gi's ship and talked with him all day.

"After the meal I went to the Right Naval Commander's (Yi Eok-gi's) ship and talked all day, and there I heard of Won Gyun's (元均) vile business." (Nanjung Ilgi, 6th day of the 9th month, 1593)

Admiral Yi was able to share with General Yi Eok-gi his worries about Won Gyun, who was at once a comrade he had to fight beside and a source of trouble.

Even after Admiral Yi became Naval Commander of the Three Provinces on the 12th day of the 9th month of 1593 and so became General Yi Eok-gi's superior in the chain of command, the two still guarded the sea together in the field.

For Admiral Yi in Prison

In early 1597, Admiral Yi was taken to Hanyang (Seoul) under arrest on the charge of disobeying the king's orders and was imprisoned at the State Tribunal. It was a moment when his life was in danger. At that time, General Yi Eok-gi stepped forward.

"When Yi Sun-sin was arrested and investigated on the charge of not following the court's orders, he sent letters to court ministers such as Yi Hang-bok (李恒福) and Kim Myeong-won (金命元), actively arguing his innocence." (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, "Yi Eok-gi")

Considering that he came from a royal-relative family and held the post of Right Jeolla Naval Commander, he might well have been cautious. But General Yi Eok-gi, as a naval commander on the battlefield outside the court, sent letters himself arguing for Admiral Yi's innocence.

Chilcheollyang: General Yi Eok-gi's End

The post from which Admiral Yi had been dismissed was taken over by Won Gyun. And on the 16th day of the 7th month of 1597, the Joseon navy under Won Gyun's command suffered a crushing defeat at Chilcheollyang.

It is said that in this battle General Yi Eok-gi threw himself into the sea and took his own life. His body could not be recovered, so he had to be buried with only his clothes and hat. After the war he was enrolled as a Meritorious Subject of the Second Class (Seonmu Gongsin), posthumously named Minister of War, enfeoffed as Lord Wanheung (完興君), and given the posthumous title Uimin (毅愍).

Remembering General Yi Eok-gi Today

Today, few places remain where we can remember General Yi Eok-gi.

According to a record from the 20th year of King Jeongjo's reign (1796) in the Seungjeongwon Ilgi (the Diaries of the Royal Secretariat), his cenotaph (a tomb without a body) was on Achasan Mountain in Yangju (around today's Acheon-dong, Guri City). But later, when the Walkerhill Hotel was built on that spot, the tomb disappeared, and today its exact location cannot be confirmed.

The only related monument remaining in the Seoul and Gyeonggi area today is the "Stele of Sungjeong Daebu Lord Wanheung" erected in Baealmi-dong, Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province.

Fortunately, General Yi Eok-gi's name lives on in a Jang Bogo-class submarine of the Republic of Korea Navy.

The ninth and last ship of the Jang Bogo class (SS-071), deployed for active service in November 2001, was named the Yi Eokgi.

I end this post thinking how glad General Yi Eok-gi — who threw himself into the sea at Chilcheollyang and whose body was never found — would be to know that a submarine bearing his name guards the southern seas.

👉 Next post: ③ Admiral Yi's Mentor: Jeong Geol

— Momcheolhak