Admiral Yi located the 13 warships and rallied the 200 surviving sailors. Together with his flagship, Admiral Yi's entire fleet totaled 13 ships, none of which were turtle ships. In the belief that the Joseon fleet would never be restorable, King Seonjo, sent an edict to Admiral Yi to abandon the warships and take his men to join the ground forces under General Gwon Yul. Admiral Yi responded with a letter written ""...your servant still doth have twelve warships under his command and he is still alive, that the enemy shall never be safe in the West Sea" (the Yellow Sea being the closest body of water to Hanseong)."