Jjok-baris village (lit. a village of Japanese) (2)

The Exit of Hell: Dasado Island

We reached our destination without any trouble on the way.
As noon had already passed, we sat under the shade of a tree and ate lunch, consisting of rice balls or dumplings, which we had prepared in the morning at home.

After the meal, we rested for about an hour, and then started walking.
We walked in a long line with luggage in both hands.
To help my mother who was holding my younger brother's hand, father was carrying one more piece of luggage.

The local Korean people looked at us curiously, just like the time, a year ago, when we had been made to walk from the company house to what looked like a pigsty. However, this time they never said Jjok-bari.

Manabu who had taken the same truck as I had, was dragging his injured foot.
I asked him if he was all right, to which he vigorously replied that I neednt worry.

We took more than one and half hours to get to Dasado Islands port where we met the first group. By then, it was nearly evening.

As I had been there before to fish, I knew the town to some degree.
The port was very busy and indescribably dirty.
We looked for the ship that we would be taking.
Though there were some fishing boats and freighters in the harbor, we couldnt see any larger ship that would be able to sail in the open seas.

While we waiting for such a ship, two Koreans came up to us and led us to our embarkation place.

After a discussion with some other Koreans, it was decided to divide us into 2 again so that we could use 2 small freighters, which we had seen before.
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These were stocky wooden boats of 30 meters in length and 15 meters in width. They were motor-powered sailing barges, equipped with a mast in the forward, a single deck hold. Their maximum weight seemed to be about 300 tons.
These were commonly called Daruma-sen: (lit. a tumbler-like stocky-shaped ship), which could sail by themselves in their home waters, but usually needed a tow from tugboats to get into the harbor.
In short, our ships were basically glorified barges.

The center of the lid of the hold was high and there were some wooden boards, 50cm in width covering the hatch. However, when we boarded the boat, one third of it was open, which meant going in and out was convenient as it was covered with sheeting.

Of course, we never expected it to be luxurious, but we worried about whether or not such small ships would be able to withstand rough seas.
Even if we had been ready for death once, we now felt quite uneasy as though we might easily die if a typhoon happened to come along while we were sailing. However, there was no other way to get home again and therefore, it was merely a matter of chance.

Our leader told us that we had to board one by one according to family members up a gangplank.

According to instructions, at this time the second group would board the first ship. Therefore, we queued up in the middle of the line with father as our head.
After we boarded, we climbed down a 3-meter ladder and found places for ourselves in the center of the hold.

There was enough space for 90 people with luggage to lie down in the hold. So we put down two thin blankets there and marked out our territory as it were.

By the time, all the 2 groups had come aboard, it was quite dark.


Further Toward Hell.

Two ships were moored with a rope, about ten centimeters thick, and they seemed to be towed by a tugboat of about 30 tons.
There was a crew in pairs in each ship, whereas the tugboat had three crew members: one for the wheel house, another for the deck and the third for the engine room.
Therefore, all the boats seemed to be operated by seven crews.
It was about midnight when we cast off.

Anyway, our travel was still unofficially, that is to say what we did was a kind of running away en masse. Therefore, we needed to behave inconspicuously, so that our activities would not be noticed by the people around us.
For this reason, we started out quietly without any unnecessary sound.

As we had already been told:

1. It would take about four days to get to Incheon and that our journey was basically unofficial. Though we would sail carefully, we still needed to act in a normal way, for instance we should stay in the hold as much as possible.

2. As these ships were not big enough to sail in the offing, we had to go along the coast at night and in the open seas during the day, to avoid being detected.

3. Though the local coastguard patrol was aware of our activities, if we passed a place, which it did not control, we would be likely to be regarded as a suspicious ship and so be inspected.

Though we understood the itinerary, when we heard this, we recognized that we were escaping, and so realized that we should be more careful as we would always be at risk.
Though we were still in port, we could do nothing but hold our breath and huddle ourselves together in the dimly-lit hold, which had only several naked light bulbs.
All we could hear were the engines from the tugboat and creaky sounds from the barges.

After we finished our midnight snack, which was also prepared at home that morning, we became very sleepy, due to the hard travel during the day.

The shuddering of our ship and the surrounding noise kept me awake, as well the light in the hold.
The morning came safely.
As I felt the call of nature, I went onto the deck.
There were already several people there, who had already made a queue and were waiting their turn.

As our ship had only one permanent toilet, which was for the crew at the stern of the ship, two temporary ones were set up, though these were mainly used by men.

While I was waiting my turn, I looked around. Though I didnt understand my whereabouts, I could see two or three islands and even land beyond them.

After a while my turn came, I relieved myself carefully by gripping the handrail with one hand, because there was a wind blowing and hence the ship was rocking.

On deck, there were several pails of fresh and sea water.
Of course, the former was for drinking, while I washed my face and hands with the latter and then returned to the hold.
By that time, most people had already got up, apart from those who had become seasick or generally ill.
They seemed to be at ease, talking and smiling to one another. That was because they were able to set sail safely the day before.

Compared to the silence of last night, they were quite lively that morning.
For instance, I heard a small child crying out loudly from the corner of the hold, as it wanted to go to the toilet.

My younger brother who was still a first grader also wanted to go and so father took him.

My mother and elder sister went up on to the deck to prepare breakfast.
It was not very difficult work.
There were some leftovers from our meal the night before: dumplings or rice balls, and corn that had been boiled beforehand, which didnt need any extra preparation.
Cooked or dried rice could be kept for a long time, so we didnt eat that right away.

For breakfast, we boiled some water, which we had got from the pail, on a small portable charcoal stove (Jpn. shichirin) which everyone could use.
Mother and sister had to wait 30 or 40 minutes for their turn to boil water because there were so many people wanting to use the stove.

After breakfast, as we had nothing else to do, we went up on deck and looked at the scenery which was basically the same all the time.

According to the itinerary, after leaving, we would:

1. At first, pass through the northern part of the Yellow Sea.

2. Next, we would go south to Sochosoman Bay which is extended as if it is to push the Korean peninsula to east side.

3. Then, we would sail to the east toward the islands of Kado, Taehwado and Sinmido.

4. After that, we would go toward Sinanju, and move southward, after which we would pass the offing of Hanchon, Nampo and Sukto Island.

5. We would then pass Changsango and then head toward the east, passing Taendogman Bay, and the islands of Sunwido and TaeYonpyongdo.

6. Finally, we would arrive in Kyonggiman Bay and the port of Inchon.

Distance wise, it was more than 400 kilometers, and the ships had to thread their way among many islands and capes.

When we reached the offing of Sinanju, it was cloudy and nearly evening.
Anyway it had been smooth sailing.

On the way, there were some fishing boats, but they didnt pay much attention to us, as to them perhaps our ships looked normal. Of course, as we had been acting inconspicuously, our first day of our travel finished safely.