The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    BTS' V and BLACKPINK's Jennie break up: sources

  • 3

    Italy withdraws from China's Belt and Road project

  • 5

    Uncertainty lingers despite BLACKPINK's contract renewal

  • 7

    YG Entertainment's stock price soars over renewed contract with BLACKPINK

  • 9

    TvN's upcoming music drama 'Maestra' weaves suspenseful love story with twists

  • 11

    KAI boosts partnerships with Egypt at defense fair

  • 13

    Rising Thai politician seeks to tackle growing challenges between Seoul, Bangkok

  • 15

    Twitch plans to shut down in Korea over high network costs

  • 17

    Hotels grapple with chronic staff shortages

  • 19

    Naver takes on YouTube, AfreecaTV in game streaming

  • 2

    Korea could disappear from map if it doesn't welcome more immigrants: justice minister

  • 4

    Late K-pop star Moonbin's memorial space shut down after fans complain

  • 6

    Korean students rank among top performers among OECD nations in educational performance: report

  • 8

    Senior citizens take up half of new job posts in 2022: data

  • 10

    Boeing eyes more Chinook helicopter exports to S. Korea

  • 12

    Yoon expected to replace foreign minister soon

  • 14

    INTERVIEWKorea has great opportunity to lead green transition

  • 16

    INTERVIEWNamseoul University leads adoption of innovative IB education programs

  • 18

    Apple ordered to pay 70,000 won each to 7 iPhone users for device slowdown

  • 20

    Real estate project financing poses biggest risk to Korean economy in 2024: S&P, NICE

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • About the past
  • Korea: deConstructed
  • Parchment Made of Sheepskins
  • Workable Words
  • Dialogues with Adoptees
  • Imbricated Chaos
Fri, December 8, 2023 | 12:41
Traveling on the Han River in the 19th Century: Part 2
Posted : 2022-08-14 13:24
Updated : 2022-08-14 13:24
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
A hand-colored postcard of the port of Jemulpo. Circa 1910-1920s.  Robert Neff Collection
A hand-colored postcard of the port of Jemulpo. Circa 1910-1920s. Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

After the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), the fairly lucrative Han River steamboat business between Jemulpo (modern Incheon) and Seoul remained firmly and uncontested in the hands of Japanese enterprises, the primary one being the Shoji River Steamer Company.

Like its predecessors and competitors, Shoji River Steamer Company faced frequent groundings and increased displeasure from its customers. Complaints were frequent and occasionally were printed in the regional newspapers. An example of this is an article that appeared in The Independent in May 1896:

"Some gentlemen started last Saturday at noon from [Jemulpo] and came up the river on a Japanese steamer arriving in Seoul at 7 o'clock Sunday morning. It will be a glad day when a man can go by rail between these points instead of being at the mercy of these poor crafts."

A hand-colored postcard of the port of Jemulpo. Circa 1910-1920s.  Robert Neff Collection
A small steamship at Jemulpo circa 1911. Robert Neff Collection

Travel on the river was considered so haphazard that many people were wary of using it to transport expensive property. When Muriel Armstrong Jaisohn (the wife of Philip Jaisohn) had her Steck piano transported from Jemulpo to Seoul, she requested the movers use a steamboat but her request was ignored by the forwarding agent and instead sent overland. According to her, "[T]wenty-one coolies brought the Piano to my house by oxcart, ropes and poles, making short cuts over frozen rice fields to save time and expenditure of energy." She was amazed that despite receiving "such rough treatment" her piano arrived in perfect tune.

It should be noted that this was during the winter and the river was often frozen over making steamboat travel impossible and this may have been the real reason the forwarding agent sent it overland.

In August 1897, a resident of Jemulpo wrote a letter to the editor of The Independent in which he waxed of the "old days when streamers first began to ply between this port [Jemulpo] and the Capital."

According to him, "It was very much of a lottery if you caught the steamer at all, and then the odds were even as to reaching your destination. The steamers generally walked the distance, feeling their way along with poles on each side and making it in anywhere from twelve to thirty-six hours. The channel was a mystery and you always counted on resting on a mud bank to eat your lunch. There is not a mud bank between [Jemulpo] and Seoul I have not eaten lunch on, at some time or other."

A hand-colored postcard of the port of Jemulpo. Circa 1910-1920s.  Robert Neff Collection
Fishing boats on the river circa 1900s. Robert Neff Collection

But, he declared, those days were no more as faster and more impressive steamboats had been introduced to the river and were guided by "a race of pilots … who know the old river like a book."

Somewhat poetically he concludes: "The trip on the Han has become a pleasure trip through [Arcadian] scenery instead of a plunge into the unknown."

Traveling on the Han River in the 19th Century: Part 1
Traveling on the Han River in the 19th Century: Part 1
2022-08-13 11:00  |  About the past

An early firsthand account of this enlightened travel on the river was by Esther Lucas Shields, an American missionary, who arrived in Jemulpo on October 13, 1897, with a small group of missionaries. She wrote:

"We [stayed] for dinner and supper [at Steward's Hotel], and went on the river steamer about ten o'clock. It was not to start until three a.m., but we thought it wisest to get on early. The cabin was about five feet high, seven feet broad and ten feet long. It had eight or ten small windows, two or three chairs, a spring-seat for two, and a little bench. The floor was carpeted, so we took our pillows and blankets, and all had 'lower berths.' We consisted of Dr. Field and self, Mr. and Mrs. Moore and children and a Frenchman. The floor was pretty well covered, and there was no room for Japanese passengers, so they kindly left us to have it."

A hand-colored postcard of the port of Jemulpo. Circa 1910-1920s.  Robert Neff Collection
A boat on the Han River in 2015. Robert Neff Collection

Although they did not sleep very well, they were, nonetheless, far more comfortable on the small steamboat than they were the previous night on the larger coastal steamer from Fusan (modern Busan). The thirty-six-hour passage was made in rough seas and most of the passengers became violently seasick.

Despite not sleeping well on the small riverboat, they did manage to work up an appetite and the ship's fare was much better than it was just a couple of years earlier:

"The next morning our breakfast was a regular picnic. We took some lunch at midnight, but had not put it up ourselves, and used a pocket knife to carve the chicken, and had to tear the bread apart, the crust was so tough. At breakfast, we borrowed some Japanese spoons and dishes, and in their tiny cups ate our soft-boiled eggs and stirred chocolate and condensed milk. It was very funny, and we laughed over it a good deal. You cannot half imagine it all."

After eating, many of the Americans went up to the upper deck where they conversed with some of the Korean passengers or admired the scenery. Shields wrote:

"The morning on the Han River was perfect. The water smooth as glass, sometimes, the hills and sharp little mountain-like peaks with the villages by the shores, the blue sky, fine air and sunshine, and the fact that we were only a few miles from Seoul, all well, safe and happy were things enough for gratitude."

In conclusion of her description, she wrote, "That sail up the river was so smooth that there was no possibility of sea sickness."

A hand-colored postcard of the port of Jemulpo. Circa 1910-1920s.  Robert Neff Collection
Sunset on the Han River in 2015. Robert Neff Collection

Although it is only speculation, it is probably safe to assume she was somewhat alarmed when she read an article appearing in The Independent. According to the newspaper, on October 18, the river steamer Yasuki, bound for Seoul from Jemulpo, had an accident with her boiler. "Some plate on the boiler bulged out and would have burst, but fortunately the engineer noticed this and immediately drew out the fire." The steamer and its passengers had been saved by the attentiveness of the crew ― but this wasn't always the case.

In December 1898, one of the Shoji River Steamer Company's newest steamboats was involved in a fatal accident:

"The new river steamer 'Sebi Muru' recently put on the run between Chemulpo and Seoul foundered on the evening of the 14th at a place some 15 miles below Yongsan and is now quite covered up by sand. Out of some 23 people on board, 17 were lost. The cargo is a total loss."

The accident may have played some role in the eventual demise of the company but the railroad probably played the greater part. In the fall of 1899, the S.C.R.R. (Seoul & Chemulpo Railroad) began operations and river travel waned as passengers eagerly patronized the quicker and safer mode of transportation.


I would like to express my appreciation to Diane Nars for her invaluable assistance.


Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.




Emailrobertneff04@gmail.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
wooribank
LG group
Top 10 Stories
1'Moon gov't neglected, concealed North's killing of S. Korean official' 'Moon gov't neglected, concealed North's killing of S. Korean official'
2Photo of Samsung chief's playful pose goes viral Photo of Samsung chief's playful pose goes viral
3Major hospitals struggle to recruit pediatricians Major hospitals struggle to recruit pediatricians
4SK reshuffles top management focusing on generational shift SK reshuffles top management focusing on generational shift
5'Soundtrack #2' tells classic yet realistic love story 'Soundtrack #2' tells classic yet realistic love story
6Pro-Palestine protests in Seoul concern Israeli ambassador Pro-Palestine protests in Seoul concern Israeli ambassador
7K-dramas, beauty, food to maintain popularity on TikTok in 2024 K-dramas, beauty, food to maintain popularity on TikTok in 2024
8Auction house Phillips appoints new regional director of Korea Auction house Phillips appoints new regional director of Korea
9Lawyer of Korean descent selected as chair of Dentons Global Board Lawyer of Korean descent selected as chair of Dentons Global Board
10Ruling party's innovation committee wraps up early Ruling party's innovation committee wraps up early
Top 5 Entertainment News
1[INTERVIEW] Meet the man behind giant rubber ducks that once took over Seoul INTERVIEWMeet the man behind giant rubber ducks that once took over Seoul
2'Soundtrack #2' tells classic yet realistic love story 'Soundtrack #2' tells classic yet realistic love story
3Auction house Phillips appoints new regional director of Korea Auction house Phillips appoints new regional director of Korea
4[REVIEW] Musical 'Monte Cristo' returns with riveting tale of vengeance, love REVIEWMusical 'Monte Cristo' returns with riveting tale of vengeance, love
5Late K-pop star Moonbin's memorial space shut down after fans complain Late K-pop star Moonbin's memorial space shut down after fans complain
DARKROOM
  • It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

    It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

  • 2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

    2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

  • Appreciation of autumn colors

    Appreciation of autumn colors

  • Our children deserve better

    Our children deserve better

  • Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

    Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel: 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844
Date of registration: 2020.02.05
Masthead: The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group