A study of the territorial dispute between Japan and Korea over Liancourt Rocks, a small cluster of barren, rocky islets in the Sea of Japan that Japanese call Takeshima and Koreans call Dokdo.
The following are pages from the 1886 Japanese sea lanes directory, 寰瀛水路誌 第二巻第二版 韓露沿岸. Can someone please tell me if the pages look like they are direct translations of the 1864 British Publication, "China Pilot"?
I translated the first two pages of the 6 page document you uploaded:
… our ship Amagi reached this place, making several voyages between 徳源 bay of Busan and the place. We will show here what we experienced or saw and let you know the overview of the east coast of Chosun. The nature of the east coast of Chosun is different from one of the west coast, the sea is going to be deep at the point not far from the beach. The seabed is steep, the beach looks like all the same but it depends on the nature of the soil. There are mountains and rocks, and then flat places with a beach with lots of sand, and then rocky beach again. Islets or rocks (in the sea) are fewer than the west or south coast. The largest one is only Ulleungdo, others are all small and are scattered along the coast. No clustered islets.
Japan Sea
Japan Sea lies from north-northeast to south-southwest with its length 900-ri. The width at the widest point, from east to west, is 600-ri. Various Japanese islands make the east and south boundaries. The coast from Chosun to 黒龍 coastal area make the west and northwest boundaries. So the four sides are surrounded by lands, whilst there is Korean Channel at south that is connecting to Chinese Sea, and there are Soya (or La Perouse) Channel and Tsugaru Channel at east which are connecting to Pacific Ocean. There is 韃靼 sea-bay at north which is connecting to 黒龍江（the Heilongjiang or the Amur） and the Sea of Okhotsk. There are no dangerous reefs in Japan Sea except the following.
Liancourt rocks
These rocks were discovered at first by French ship Liancourt in 1849 and were named as Liancourt rocks after the ship name. Then in 1854 Russian frigate Pallas called the rocks as Menalai and Olivutsa islands. In 1855, British ship Hornet investigated these rocks and named Hornet islands. According to the captain of the ship Forsyth, these rocks locate at N 37°14 min, E 131°55 min, and these are not-productive two rock islets and tops are always full of bird droppings, making them white. The length from slightly west than northwest to slightly east than northeast is about one-ri, while there is a distance of a quarter ri between the islets. We suspect a non-visible reef connects them. The west islet is 410-shaku high above the sea level. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It seems that the author wrote the document with mixing the information they experienced and learned from British publications.
Gerry,
ReplyDeleteI translated the first two pages of the 6 page document you uploaded:
… our ship Amagi reached this place, making several voyages between 徳源 bay of Busan and the place. We will show here what we experienced or saw and let you know the overview of the east coast of Chosun.
The nature of the east coast of Chosun is different from one of the west coast, the sea is going to be deep at the point not far from the beach. The seabed is steep, the beach looks like all the same but it depends on the nature of the soil. There are mountains and rocks, and then flat places with a beach with lots of sand, and then rocky beach again.
Islets or rocks (in the sea) are fewer than the west or south coast. The largest one is only Ulleungdo, others are all small and are scattered along the coast. No clustered islets.
Japan Sea
Japan Sea lies from north-northeast to south-southwest with its length 900-ri. The width at the widest point, from east to west, is 600-ri. Various Japanese islands make the east and south boundaries. The coast from Chosun to 黒龍 coastal area make the west and northwest boundaries. So the four sides are surrounded by lands, whilst there is Korean Channel at south that is connecting to Chinese Sea, and there are Soya (or La Perouse) Channel and Tsugaru Channel at east which are connecting to Pacific Ocean. There is 韃靼 sea-bay at north which is connecting to 黒龍江（the Heilongjiang or the Amur） and the Sea of Okhotsk. There are no dangerous reefs in Japan Sea except the following.
Liancourt rocks
These rocks were discovered at first by French ship Liancourt in 1849 and were named as Liancourt rocks after the ship name. Then in 1854 Russian frigate Pallas called the rocks as Menalai and Olivutsa islands. In 1855, British ship Hornet investigated these rocks and named Hornet islands. According to the captain of the ship Forsyth, these rocks locate at N 37°14 min, E 131°55 min, and these are not-productive two rock islets and tops are always full of bird droppings, making them white. The length from slightly west than northwest to slightly east than northeast is about one-ri, while there is a distance of a quarter ri between the islets. We suspect a non-visible reef connects them. The west islet is 410-shaku high above the sea level.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It seems that the author wrote the document with mixing the information they experienced and learned from British publications.