Port Hamilton (Geomundo Islands) circa 1910-1920. Robert Neff Collection

On February 24, 1893, the British warship, HMS Caroline, sailed along the coast of Korea near Geomundo Islands. On board was 32-year-old Sub-Lieutenant William Stanley Lambert – an officer who was definitely not happy. He had been temporarily assigned to this ship to replace a lieutenant who, "in an evil moment," had become too ill to go to sea.

For nearly a month, Lambert would sail with HMS Caroline as it traveled to Shanghai, Geomundo Islands, various ports in Japan and then return to Hong Kong. Lambert was no stranger to Korean waters. In fact, amongst the crew, he was probably the first to visit the kingdom – even before it opened to the West – when he was only 12 years old.

His is an interesting history, but Lambert is not the protagonist nor subject of this article, it is his Captain, Charles J. Norcock, and what he viewed on that night.

It was just after 10 p.m., When Captain Norcock witnessed a strange spectacle of lights in the sky about 30 kilometers off the coast of Jeju Island. According to Norcock:

"It was a windy, cold, moonlight night. My first impression was that they were either some fires on shore, apparently higher from the horizon than a ship's masthead, or some junk's ‘flare up' lights raised by a mirage. To the naked eye they sometimes appeared as a mass; at others, spread out in an irregular line, and, being globular in form, they resembled Chinese lanterns festooned between the masts of a lofty vessel. They bore north (magnetic), and remained on that bearing until lost sight of about midnight. As the ship was passing the land to the eastward at the rate of seven knots an hour it soon became obvious that the lights were not on the land, though observed with the mountain behind them."

A haunting scene in a small boat, circa 1920s. Robert Neff Collection

Undaunted, the warship continued with its voyage, but the following night, at just about the same time, the strange lights reappeared:

"The globes of fire altered in their formation as on the previous night, now in a massed group, with an outlying light away to the right, then the isolated one would disappear, and the others would take the form of a crescent or diamond, and hang festoon-fashion in a curved line. A clear reflection or glare could be seen on the horizon beneath the lights. Through a telescope, the globes appeared to be of a reddish color, and to emit a thin smoke."

Throughout the following day, the Caroline continued along Korea's southern coast without incident. As in the previous night, the strange lights once again appeared at about 10 p.m. Norcock carefully noted the night was clear, cold and lit by the moon, and there was no land in the direction of the lights when they were first detected.

The lights seemed to shadow the warship throughout the night, running parallel to it, and only disappeared with the morning's dawn. Norcock could not explain it. From the direction the lights had appeared, there was no land, so he probably ruled out fires on shore or the Bonghwadae (signal-fire sites) of Jeju Island.

I find his account interesting, especially when compared with Lambert's letter to his parents. Lambert's letter was filled with common sailor complaints and said nothing about these lights:

"Nearly all our sea work may be described as headwinds, rough sea and rain. We went from Shanghai to Port Hamilton [Geomundo] south of Korea where we stayed four hours. Thence to Kobe, where we stayed a day & got a run ashore."

Japanese fishing boats in the 1900s. Robert Neff Collection

Norcock, however, claimed that while in Kobe, he learned his ship was not the only one to have witnessed these strange lights. Captain William C. Castle, the commander of the HMS Leander, also confessed to seeing the lights. He initially thought they were a signal by a ship in distress but when they approached the lights, the lights altered their altitude. Unsure of what he was seeing, Castle surmised that it was volcanic activity on Mount Halla. Pressed for time, he resumed his course.

Actually, these were a well-known phenomenon in Japanese waters – especially when the weather was very cold, stormy and/or clear. Various writers, including a guide book for travelers, discussed the possible causes for these "sea fireworks" that sometimes sent up two to three feet tall "strange weird flames" that stretched for miles. But these usually lasted for only a few seconds before they reappeared elsewhere.

Norcock concluded his experience was "something in the nature of St. Elmo's fire," but one modern writer, Martin Shough, speculates the likely cause was Japanese squid fishing boats using fire as lures. Shough's book, "Redemption of the Damned, Vol. 1, Aerial Phenomena" (2019), examination of this incident is a wonderful read, however, like myself, he was unable to find HMC Caroline's logbook. I think it would be very interesting to see what the deck officer wrote. Was he impressed or startled by the lights, or was he like Lambert, who was so unimpressed that he didn't even bother to mention it.

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