Gold Turtle ship

│ Description │
No record is found that indicates when the Geobukseon was built.
Head of Cholla Left navy, Yi Sun Shin and his subordinate generals, including officers who had to fight against the enemy with a few ships, needed desperately a powerful navy ship in order to defeat the enemy firmly in naval battles, blocking the rain of arrows and frustrating the boarding tactics of enemy, and from this necessity, officer Nah, Dae-Yong and others improved wood-plated ship, and added iron-clad, dragon head, sails and cannons, and in this way, our proud Geobukseon was invented.

│ Fire power │

• The Geobukseon had great fire power and was equipped with long range cannons named such as Sky, Land, Black, Yellow, Cannon, etc.
• The Sky cannon (Cheonjapo) fired round iron rings measuring 11.7cm and the range of this cannon was over 500m(1300 bo).
• The Land cannon(J Japo) fired cannon balls which were a little smaller than the ones fired from Cheonjapo, and it had a long range over 350m. Geobukseon was capable of firing the cannonballs from Jjapo and Cheonjapo without any difficulty way far from the range of enemy fire.
• The range of Black cannon(Hyeonjapo) and Yellow cannon (Hwangjapo) that fired Daejanggunjeon, Hwajeon, had a range of approximately 300m.
• Seungjapo : Seungjapo which fires arrows loaded with gunpowder was used when the enemy has to be fought at close distance. It was light
• weighted and portable. It has a range of over 200m.
  ☞Enemy ship hit by Cheon, Ji, Hyeon Cannon were either completely destroyed or submerged after being burst to flames.

│ Boarding and battle personnel │

• Captain
• Navigator
• Booms Man
• Personnel who manipulates the sail
• Anchor Man
• Gunpowder and cannonball loaders
• Cannonball firing personnel
• Archers who shot arrows such as fire arrows and janggoon arrows
• Rowers
• The First Officer who maintains order on the deck

│ Battle capability │

• Number of battle personnel on board of Geobukseon : battle personnel : 45 persons
• Rowing personnel : 80 persons
• Number of Oars : 16 units
• Number of gun holes : 36~72

│ Battle strategy │
The Battle personnel fired fire-arrow loaded with gunpowder in the tips, not to mention the cannonball (for the most part, the crew incessantly-fired cannonballs and fire-arrows made the enemy ship burst to flame and sink.) Battle personnel fired through the firing apertures on all sides, depending on the direction that Geobukseon is headed and the location of the enemy ship.

│ Weapons │
Dragon's head
The dragon’s head was placed on the top of the ship at the bow. Several different versions of the dragon head were used on the turtle ships. The dragon head was first placed as an early form of psychological warfare to scare Japanese soldiers. One version carried a projector that could release a dense toxic smoke that was generated to obscure vision and interfere with the Japanese ability to maneuver and coordinate properly.

Yi's own diary explains that a cannon could be fitted in the mouth of the dragon to be fired at enemy ships. This type of cannon was usually a hwangja-chongtong.

Spikes
Metal spikes were used to cover the top of the turtle ship to deter boarding tactics used by the Japanese. According to historical records, the spikes were covered with empty rice sacks or rice mats to lure the Japanese into trying to board, since the boarding would appear safe. However, modern authors have found this to be unlikely since such an arrangement would have invited enemy fire arrows.

Cannon
The turtle ship was equipped with Chŏnja (Heaven), Jija (Earth), Hyŏnja (Black), and Hwangja (Yellow) type cannons. There was also an arquebus known as Sŭngja (Victory). The Sŭngja cannon ranged 200 metres, while the Hwangja was the lightest but with a range of 1200 metres. One Japanese record of the Battle at Angolpo records the experience of two Japanese commanders on July 9, 1592 in their battle against turtle ships, "their (turtle ships') attack continued until about 6 o'clock in the afternoon, by firing large fire-arrows through repeated alternate approaches, even as close as 18-30 feet. As a result almost every part of our ships - the turret, the passages and the side shielding - were totally destroyed...“

│ Dragon turtle │
A dragon turtle is a legendary Chinese creature that combines two of the four celestial animals of Chinese mythology: the body of a turtle with a dragonlike head. It is promoted as a positive ornament in Feng Shui, symbolizing courage, determination, fertility, longevity, power, success, and support. Decorative carvings or statuettes of the creature are traditionally placed facing the window.

│ Turtle ships today │
A Turtle ship has been reconstructed by Choong Mu Gong Sa. We have done extensive research on the original design of the turtle ship, and made several miniaturized reconstructions of them for commercial use. These were deployed in a Korea drama, “The Immortal Admiral YI Sun-shin.
Several museums host turtle ships on display.

│ Function │
Ornament, decoration, gift, interior piece

│ Feature │

• All products are handcrafted.
• Manufactured by patented particular process.
• Size is available(big large, VIP, large, medium, small) whatever you want.
• Material is available(pure gold, plated with gold) whatever you want.

│ Specification │

• Material: bronze, gold(pure gold or plated with gold 99.9%)
• Size
  - Big large size: 59cm x 31cm x 52cm
  - VIP size: 32cm x 19cm x 24cm
  - Large size: 25cm x 16cm x 20cm
  - Medium size: 20cm x 13cm x 17.5cm
  - Small size: 16cm x 11.5cm x 13.5cm