Part 18 (2/2)

It was the _Tsarevich_ which at length opened the ball, by bringing the 12-inch guns in her fore-turret to bear upon the _Mikasa_. There was a brilliant double flash, a big outburst of white smoke that for a moment partially veiled the great s.h.i.+p ere it drove away to leeward, a huge double splash as the ponderous sh.e.l.ls. .h.i.t the water about a mile away, and then came a cras.h.i.+ng _boom_ as the sound of the explosion reached us against the wind. The shots had fallen short. These two shots appeared to be regarded by the rest of the Russian battles.h.i.+ps as a signal to open fire, for they immediately did so, the flashes bursting out here and there all along the enemy's battle-line, first from one s.h.i.+p and then from another, as though each s.h.i.+p were striving which could first get off her shots, while projectiles seemed to be falling everywhere excepting aboard the j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps; true, two or three sh.e.l.ls flew, muttering loudly, high over our heads, but the rest fell either wide or very far short. Our antic.i.p.ations, it seemed, were proving correct, the roll and pitching of their s.h.i.+ps was playing the mischief with the aim of the Russian gunners. Then the big guns of the flags.h.i.+p and the _Asahi_ spoke, just four shots each, coolly and deliberately fired, one shot at a time, to test the range. This was found to be too great for effective practice, and the fire thereupon ceased.

But although not one of those eight ranging shots had actually touched a Russian s.h.i.+p, they all fell much closer to their mark than had the Russian projectiles, and close enough, at all events, to make Vitgeft nervous, for their immediate effect was to cause him to haul up to the northward, so that it looked as though he were seriously contemplating the advisability of doubling round Encounter Rock and retreating back to Port Arthur. It was a moment when everything seemed to be hanging in the balance, when a single false move would ruin everything, and the chance that we had been so long waiting for would be lost. Port Arthur was still close enough under the lee of the Russians to permit of their reaching the shelter of its batteries without very serious loss, should they elect to make the attempt. It was a moment demanding both boldness and astuteness of action, and, gambler-like, Togo resolved to risk everything upon a single throw. Instead of making the signal to close with the enemy and immediately bring him to battle, the Admiral signalled, ”Change course sixteen points east,” which meant that the whole fleet, now steaming in line ahead, parallel to the Russian's course, and heading in the same direction, must swerve round upon a port helm and go back over the ground which it had just traversed, that in fact it must turn tail and run away from the Russians! The manoeuvre was executed in splendid style, and two minutes later the j.a.panese fleet was heading south-west, while the Russian fleet, now some nine miles distant, bore about two points abaft our starboard beam.

The object of the manoeuvre was of course to impress the Russian Admiral with the conviction that we were as little anxious to put our fortunes to the touch as he was; and apparently the ruse was successful, for almost immediately the Russians s.h.i.+fted helm, heading about south-east and standing across our wake, with all their funnels belching great volumes of smoke, showing that a tremendous effort was going to be made to give us the slip.

For what seemed to us all an interminable half-hour, the astute little j.a.panese ”Nelson” permitted them to lay the flattering unction to their souls that they were going to succeed, for during that half-hour the j.a.panese fleet plugged steadily away to the south-west, every moment increasing the distance between themselves and the enemy. Then, at last, judging from the respective positions of the two fleets that our superior speed must certainly frustrate any further attempt at escape on the part of the enemy, up went the longed-for signal for us to swerve round and give chase.

This manoeuvre of ours was the signal for another s.h.i.+ft of helm on the part of the Russians. They had been heading about south-east, but now, seeing us coming straight for them, they swerved away until they were heading almost due east, as though even now anxious to defer the evil moment as long as possible. But they must speedily have recognised the impossibility of escape, for now, with carefully-cleaned furnace fires and a full head of steam, our s.h.i.+ps were racing along through the fast-rising sea at a speed which would enable us to rapidly overhaul the chase, notwithstanding that they were plunging until they were buried to the hawse-pipes, and their fore-decks were smothered with spray.

The two fleets were now running upon converging lines, the enemy, about a point before our port beam, steering east, while we were steering east-north-east, and visibly gaining as the minutes slipped by. At last it looked as though the fight could no longer be delayed, and a thrill of excitement pa.s.sed through me as I now began to fully realise that I was about to take part in a great naval battle, fought under modern conditions in s.h.i.+ps protected by ponderous plates of steel armour and furnished with all the most modern engines of destruction. What would such a battle look like, and how would it end? Meanwhile the day was pa.s.sing, and although the two fleets had been within sight of each other for more than two hours, nothing had thus far been done.

Both fleets were now steaming in single line ahead, the battles.h.i.+ps leading, and the cruisers following closely, the Russian fleet being slightly ahead and steaming surprisingly well, considering the condition of their s.h.i.+ps, though we were rapidly overhauling them.

Five bells (half-past two o'clock) in the afternoon watch pealed out, and at the same moment the _Asama_ and _Yak.u.mo_ received orders to haul out from the fleet and heave-to, holding ourselves ready to deal with any enemy s.h.i.+ps which might attempt to break back toward Port Arthur.

So we were not to be allowed to take part in the fight, after all! It was positively heart-breaking, and for a moment I felt inclined to imitate Nelson at Copenhagen and turn a blind eye to the signal, but the sight of the _Asama_ promptly sheering out from the line brought me to my senses. I knew that poor Yamada would be just as bitterly disappointed as myself; yet there he was, obeying the order with the same prompt.i.tude that he would have displayed had he been ordered to attack the enemy single-handed. I nodded--rather savagely, I am afraid--at Arisaka, the Commander, who was regarding me with eyebrows raised questioningly.

”All right,” I growled. ”Hard a-port, sir, and sheer out of the line.”

We swept right round in a wide semi-circle, finally stopping our engines when we arrived at a spot about midway between the rears of the two fleets. Our engines had just stopped, and I was on the point of opening a semaph.o.r.e conversation with the _Asama_, hove-to about half a mile distant, with the purpose of making some sort of arrangement for coping with certain possible eventualities, when a vivid flash and a great cloud of smoke burst from the _Mikasa_, and was immediately followed by similar outbursts from the rest of our battles.h.i.+ps, which were opening fire upon the Russian rear as the s.h.i.+ps came within range. To give them their due, the Russians were by no means slow to reply, and it was presently evident from the number of sh.e.l.ls falling round her, that they were concentrating their fire upon the _Mikasa_. The first hit was scored by one of our s.h.i.+ps--the _s.h.i.+kis.h.i.+ma_, we afterwards learned-- which landed a 12-inch sh.e.l.l under the _Askold's_ forward bridge. We saw the flash and smoke of the exploding sh.e.l.l, but could not, of course, tell what damage was done. The next second another sh.e.l.l hit the same craft about her waterline, and within a minute huge volumes of smoke were seen pouring from her, seeming to indicate that she was on fire. But with ourselves at a standstill and both fleets steaming away from us at high speed, they soon pa.s.sed beyond our range of vision, and all that we knew about the fight was that there was a terrific cannonading going on, while the eastern horizon bore a dense veil of smoke which came driving rapidly down upon us before the rising gale.

The cannonading continued with tremendous energy for about three-quarters of an hour, and then began to slacken, until by seven bells--half-past three in the afternoon--it had ceased altogether.

What had happened? Was the fight over? It might be so, although I could scarcely believe that the Russians had been utterly beaten in the short s.p.a.ce of an hour; for although their s.h.i.+ps were in anything but first-cla.s.s condition, the men were brave, and were scarcely likely to yield so long as the merest ghost of a chance of success remained to them. We were not doomed to remain very long in suspense, however, for just as eight bells was striking a wireless message arrived from the Admiral, ordering the _Asama_ and ourselves to rejoin forthwith, and giving us our course, east-south-east.

I believe our engines were the first to move, but the _Asama_ was now nearly a mile to the eastward of us, we standing higher out of the water than she, and therefore drifting to leeward faster, consequently she really had the best of the start. But I wasn't going to let her get into action before me, if I could help it, and I called down the voice-tube to Carmichael, our Engineer Commander, explaining the state of affairs, and begging him to do his best. Unfortunately for us, however, the _Asama's_ ”chief” was Scotch, too; it therefore at once became a race between the two s.h.i.+ps, all the keener because of the friendly rivalry between the two Scotchmen. It was generally conceded that _Asama_ had the advantage of _Yak.u.mo_ by about half a knot; but when at length, shortly before four bells in the first dog watch, we rejoined the line, the two craft were running neck and neck.

The battle recommenced about a quarter of an hour before we were able to resume our former position in the fighting line, the _Poltava_ opening fire with her 12-inch guns upon the _Mikasa_, against which s.h.i.+p, it appeared, the Russians had concentrated their efforts during the earlier phase of the fight. The _Poltava_ was the sternmost s.h.i.+p in the Russian battle-line; and as though her shots had been a signal, the fire instantly ran right along the Russian line from rear to van. The din was frightful, for our s.h.i.+ps at once returned the Russian fire, and in a moment, as it seemed, the sea all round about the _Mikasa_ on our side, and the _Tsarevich, Peresviet_, and _Retvisan_ on the side of the Russians, was lashed into innumerable great fountains of leaping spray which shone magnificently, like great showers of vari-coloured jewels, in the orange light of the declining sun. And presently, as the gunners got the range, there were added to the deafening explosions of the guns the sounds of the projectiles smiting like t.i.tan hammers upon the armoured sides and other protected parts of the s.h.i.+ps, and the crash of bursting sh.e.l.ls. Great clouds of powder smoke whirled about the s.h.i.+ps, hiding them for a second or two and then driving away to leeward upon the wings of the increasing gale. Splinters of wood and iron, and fragments of burst sh.e.l.ls swept over the s.h.i.+ps like hail, and prostrate forms here and there about the decks, weltering in their blood, proclaimed the growing deadly accuracy of the fire on either side. The pandemonium of sound was such that the human voice could no longer make itself heard, and the officers on the bridges were obliged to give their orders in dumb show. Even the shrieks of the wounded went unheard in that h.e.l.lish babel of sound. As the distance between the contending s.h.i.+ps decreased one began to realise the terrific character of the forces employed by man for the destruction of his fellow-man, for now it could be seen that the _Tsarevich_, ponderous as was her bulk, literally and visibly heeled and swayed under the tremendous impact of the enemy's projectiles. But we were by no means getting things all our own way, for when the fight had been raging for about half an hour, the _Mikasa_ was struck upon her fore barbette by a 12-inch sh.e.l.l which shook the s.h.i.+p from stem to stern as it exploded, and put the barbette, with its two 12-inch guns, out of action for a time through the jamming of its turning machinery. The damage, however, was speedily repaired, and meanwhile the fight went on with ever-increasing fierceness and determination.

At length the superiority of the j.a.panese fire began to make itself apparent. The speed of the Russian s.h.i.+ps steadily fell, and it could be seen that many of them, particularly the battles.h.i.+ps, were in great distress. Especially was this the case with Vitgeft's flags.h.i.+p, the _Tsarevich_, upon which much of the fire of our own battles.h.i.+ps had been concentrated. She had a great hole in her bows, about ten feet in diameter; her anchors were shot away; and her hawse-pipes had vanished-- to enumerate only her more apparent injuries. Then a 12-inch sh.e.l.l struck her fore-turret, wrecked its interior and, as we subsequently learned, glanced off, entered the conning tower, killed everybody in it except two, destroyed the compa.s.s, and killed the man at the wheel, who, as he fell, jammed the helm hard a-starboard, causing the s.h.i.+p to swerve sharply out of the line and wheel round in a wide circle, completely upsetting the formation and seriously imperilling many of her sister s.h.i.+ps. A few seconds later another sh.e.l.l fell aboard her, hitting the foot of her foremast and causing it to totter, though it did not actually fall. This same sh.e.l.l, we afterward learned, literally blew Admiral Vitgeft to atoms, also seriously wounding several of his staff, and throwing the s.h.i.+p into a perfect chaos of confusion.

This was the beginning of the end; sh.e.l.ls now literally rained upon her, doing frightful damage both on deck and below, while it was patent to all that she was completely out of control. Her erratic movements produced the utmost confusion in the Russian battle-line, which broke up and became a mere disorganised mob of s.h.i.+ps, upon which the j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps at once closed, determined to avail themselves to the utmost of the opportunity to bring the engagement to a speedy end.

And, indeed, the end appeared to be near; for serious as was the plight of the _Tsarevich_, that of some of her sister battles.h.i.+ps was even worse. The _Peresviet_, for example--the flags.h.i.+p of Prince Ukhtomsky, who, in consequence of the death of Admiral Vitgeft, was now in supreme command--was a perfect wreck, so far as her upper works were concerned; both masts were destroyed, her funnels were battered and pierced, and she was on fire; while the _Poltava_ had two of her 6-inch guns smashed and the containing turret jammed.

At the moment when the confusion created by the erratic movements of the _Tsarevich_ was at its height, the _Peresviet_ displayed a signal from her bridge and, sheering out of the melee, headed away back in the direction of Port Arthur, followed by the _Sevastopol_ and _Poltava_, while the _Askold_, Admiral Reitsenstein's flags.h.i.+p, followed by the cruisers _Diana, Pallada_, and _Novik_, broke away from the rest of the fleet and, under every ounce of steam that they could raise, headed away in a south-easterly direction, followed by the _Asama_ and six other cruisers. As for the _Pobieda_ and _Retvisan_, apparently animated by the same desperate resolve, they suddenly s.h.i.+fted their helms and steamed straight for our battle-line, as the mortally wounded lion will sometimes turn upon the hunter and, with the last remains of his fast-ebbing strength, slay his foe before peris.h.i.+ng himself. It looked as though both meant to use the ram, the successful employment of which might cost us the loss of at least two of our treasured battles.h.i.+ps; and they were accordingly received with a terrific fire from every j.a.panese s.h.i.+p present. The _Retvisan_, being slightly in advance of her companion, received the heaviest of our fire, and under it she seemed to crumple up into an almost shapeless ma.s.s of wreckage. It was not possible for mere mortals to continue to face such a devastating hail of sh.e.l.ls, and as suddenly as she had started toward us she now swerved away, instantly followed by the _Pobieda_, both steaming hard in the wake of Prince Ukhtomsky's division, which they rejoined just as the dusk of evening was turning to darkness.

With the flight of those two s.h.i.+ps the battle came to an end; because for some reason, known only to himself, Togo failed to follow up his advantage and complete the destruction of the Russian fleet. Some of us were of opinion that he felt himself handicapped by the stringent orders which he had received not to risk the loss of any of our precious battles.h.i.+ps, one or more of which might easily have been destroyed in the darkness by mines dropped by the flying enemy, or by torpedoes launched from the decks of daring and enterprising destroyers. And if he was influenced by such considerations as these who shall blame him, or say that he was wrong?

Yet people were not wanting who complained that the battle was an indecisive one, because no Russian s.h.i.+ps had been either captured or sunk in the course of the fight. But although this a.s.sertion was undeniable, the grumblers forgot a little group of very important facts, the chief of which was that the five Russian battles.h.i.+ps and the protected cruiser _Pallada_ which succeeded in regaining Port Arthur harbour were so desperately damaged that they were practically reduced to the condition of sc.r.a.p iron, inasmuch as that, despite all the efforts of the Russians to repair them, none of them was again able to leave Port Arthur until they fell into the hands of the j.a.panese when the fortress surrendered. As for the sixth Russian battles.h.i.+p, the _Tsarevich_, she took advantage of the darkness to separate from the rest of the fleet, and made for Kiaochau, where she arrived on the following day, and where she was of course interned. The same fate befell the cruisers _Askold_ and _Diana_, the former of which sought shelter at Shanghai, while the latter succeeded in escaping as far south as Saigon. The destroyer _Res.h.i.+telny_, which separated from the Russian fleet immediately after its departure from Port Arthur, escaped the j.a.panese destroyers and duly reached Chifu, whither she had been sent with dispatches from Admiral Vitgeft, requesting that the Vladivostock squadron might be dispatched to a.s.sist him in his proposed pa.s.sage through the Korean Strait. Her mission accomplished, her commander agreed to a.s.sent to the demand of Sah, the Chinese admiral on the station, that she should disarm and surrender certain vital parts of her machinery. The j.a.panese, however, had their doubts as to the power of the Chinese authorities to enforce this demand, and accordingly Commander Fujimoto took matters into his own hands and, late on the night of 11th October, entered Chifu harbour and, after an altercation with the commander of the Russian vessel, calmly took the _Res.h.i.+telny_ in tow and carried her off. This was of course a violation of neutral territory, and led to a little temporary friction, but it ended in the destroyer being added to the j.a.panese navy.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR.

I have said nothing as to the part played by the _Yak.u.mo_ in the battle of the Yellow Sea, for the simple reason that there is nothing particular to relate; but that we played a not altogether unimportant part in the fight is evidenced by the fact that only two of the j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps, namely, the _Mikasa_ and the _Niss.h.i.+n_, had a heavier list of killed than ourselves, although the _Kasuga_ scored one more in wounded than we did.

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