CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
THE BATTLE OF THE YELLOW SEA.
It was still quite early--half-past six o'clock in the morning, to beexact--when a gun from the _Mikasa_ and a string of flags, drooping fromthe end of her signal yard in the breathless calm of a hot Augustmorning, gave the signal for the Japanese fleet to go forth to battle.
In accordance with the Admiral's instructions, the _Yakumo_ was to leadthe way to sea, and it was a proud moment for me when, standing upon thecruiser's navigating bridge, I personally rang down the order to theengine-room, "Ahead, half-speed, both engines!" And I considered--andstill consider--that I had every reason to be proud; for here was I, alad not yet quite nineteen years of age, captain of one of the finestand most formidable cruisers in the Japanese navy. And I had attainedto that position--I may say it now, I think, without laying myself opento the charge of being unduly vain--solely by my own exertions andwithout a particle of favour shown me, excepting that, when my owncountry contemptuously dispensed with my services, the aliens whom I wasnow serving received me with the utmost courtesy and kindness. Ah,well! thank God, that bitter period in my life is past now, and I canbear to look back upon it with equanimity, but the memory of it oftenswept down upon me like a black cloud in the days of which I am nowwriting.
But there was no thought of my unmerited disgrace and ruined career inmy own country to interfere with my happiness or humble my pride uponthat glorious morning; I enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing that myinnocence had been made clear, that the stain of guilt had been removedfrom my name, and I was as happy just then as I suppose it is everpossible for mortal to be.
And indeed, quite apart from matters of a purely personal nature, itwould have been very difficult for any normal-minded individual to havebeen otherwise than buoyant upon that particular morning, for everythingconspired to make one so. The weather was glorious; the sky, a clear,rich sapphire blue, was, for a wonder, without a cloud, the air was sostill that until we got under way and made a wind for ourselves thesignal flags drooped in motionless folds, and their interpretation waslargely a matter of guesswork. Then there was all the pomp andcircumstance of modern war, the ships already cleared for action, andeach of them decorated with at least two enormous battle-flags--wroughtby the dainty fingers of Japan's fairest daughters--flaunting defiantlyfrom her mast-heads. It must have been a magnificent sight to beholdthat proud fleet steaming out to sea, ship after ship falling into linewith machine-like precision and keeping distance perfectly, first thesquadron of cruisers, led by the _Yakumo_; then the other five armouredcruisers, with the _Asama_ in the van; then the four battleships--accompanied by the _Nisshin_ and _Kasuga_, which were powerful enough totake their place in the line of battle--and, finally, the swarm ofheterogeneous craft composed of the older and less important cruisersand other vessels, and those wasps of the sea, the destroyers.
The _Yakumo_ had scarcely begun to gather way when the flagshipsignalled "Course South-West by South; speed twelve knots."
As our signalman ran up the answering pennant, I entered the chart-roomand, approaching the table, upon which a chart of the Yellow Sea layspread out, requested Mr Shiraishi, the navigating lieutenant, to laydown a South-West by South course upon the chart, that we might seewhere it would take us. He did so, and I saw with satisfaction that itwould take us some twenty-five miles to the eastward of Encounter Rock,that unfortunate spot near which the Japanese fleet had too prematurelyrevealed its presence upon the occasion of its previous encounter withthe Russians. Twenty-five miles! That was excellent. If we held onupon that course we should cross the bows of the Russians at such adistance as would enable us to pass unseen, and then come up from thesouthward in the enemy's rear, so cutting him off from Port Arthur andrendering it impossible for him to avoid a fight.
Shortly after clearing the harbour, the _Asama_ and her attendantcruisers parted company with us, striking off to the westward, with theobject of working round in the rear of the Russians, and again Imentally complimented Togo upon his astuteness.
Nine o'clock came, and a few minutes later there arrived a wirelessmessage from the Admiral for our squadron to change course thirty-fourdegrees to the westward. I wondered what this might portend, for we hadbeen receiving almost continuous wireless messages from the squadron offPort Arthur, the latest of which told us that the Russians, althoughundoubtedly intending a sortie, had not yet started. I again visitedthe chart-room, and with Shiraishi's assistance discovered that our newcourse would bring us within about seven miles south-east of EncounterRock about noon.
"Four bells" had just gone tinkling along the line of the Japaneseships, informing those whom it might concern that the hour was teno'clock in the morning, when a fresh wireless message came from ourblockading squadron, informing us that at last the Russian fleet wasactually steaming out of Port Arthur harbour, with battle-flags flying,bands playing, and the ship's companies singing the Russian NationalAnthem, with the battleship _Tsarevich_, Vitgeft's flagship, leading.As the message was decoded and the news spread throughout the Japanesefleet, an almost audible sigh of relief escaped the breasts of officersand men; the Russians were not only coming out, but actually meant tofight; and the fateful hour which had been so long and so eagerlyawaited was now at last at hand. A great cheer arose, passing along theline from ship to ship, and officers who had already assured themselvesthat all preparations for meeting the enemy were complete once more wentthe rounds, to make assurance doubly sure.
The Japanese blockading fleet gradually closed in behind the Russianships, compelling Vitgeft to send back his gunboats, mining craft, andreserve destroyers, as our boats were threatening to cut them off; andabout eleven o'clock we got a message informing us that the fleet whichwe should have to meet consisted of six battleships, four cruisers, andseven destroyers, an eighth destroyer, believed to be the _Reshitelny_,having contrived, by her superior speed, to give our boats the slip, andsteam away in the direction of Chifu. Meanwhile, the glass was falling,great masses of cloud came driving up from the eastward, and a littlebreeze from the same quarter sprang up, rapidly freshening and knockingup a sea which soon set even our battleships rolling and pitchingponderously. "Well, so much the better for us," we told each other.Our gunners were by this time quite accustomed to shoot from a rollingand pitching platform, while the Russians had had no such profitableexperience; and the heavier the sea, the greater would probably be thesuperiority of our shooting.
It was nearing noon when at length, broad on our starboard bow, a greatcloud of black smoke began to show on the south-eastern horizon; andshortly afterward a forest of masts, from the truck of each of whichflaunted a great white flag bearing a blue Saint Andrew's cross, beganto rise above the sea-line, followed by numerous funnels belchingimmense volumes of black smoke. The two fleets were nearing each otherfast, it was therefore not long before the ponderous bulk of the_Tsarevich_ topped the horizon, with the _Retvisan, Pobieda, Peresviet_(flying Rear-Admiral Prince Ukhtomsky's flag), _Sevastopol_, and_Poltava_ following. Then came our old friend of the five funnels, the_Askold_, followed by the _Pallada_ and _Diana_, with a hospital ship,flying a Red Cross flag, bringing up the rear but well astern. On theport beam, but well to the rear of the line of battleships, was thecruiser _Novik_--easily distinguished by her three funnels with a singlemast stepped between the second and third funnel--and seven destroyers.
Up fluttered a signal aboard the _Mikasa_, and scarcely had the flagsbroke out when away went our destroyers at top speed, like houndsreleased from the leash, to attack the enemy. And a stirring sight itwas to witness their dash, for it was now blowing quite fresh and anasty, choppy sea had arisen, through which the plucky little boatsraced, like a school of dolphin chasing flying-fish, now throwing athird of their length clean out of the water, and anon plunging into anoncoming wave until the water foamed and hissed over turtle-back andbridge and poured in torrents down upon the main deck and overboard.But the Russian Admiral was not going to tamely submit
to a torpedoattack in broad daylight; he allowed the boats to get well within rangeof his guns, and then opened a brisk fire upon them, driving them offfor the moment. Nevertheless, although the boats never actually scoreda hit that day, they were of the utmost assistance, hovering on theenemy's flanks and rear, dashing in upon him from time to time, anddistracting his attention at many a critical moment.
Encounter Rock now bore north-west from us, seven miles distant, and wasbroad upon the port beam of the Russians, at about the same distance;and had both fleets held on as they were then going the Russians mustvery soon have cut through our line--provided, of course, that we hadpermitted them to do so. But the attempt evidently did not appeal toVitgeft, for the _Tsarevich_ suddenly starboarded her helm and led awayfrom us in a north-westerly direction, while Togo, perhaps afraid thatthis was the preliminary to a retreat on the part of the Russian fleet,feigned a nervousness that he certainly did not feel, and shifted hishelm, heading South-South-West, at the same time forming his battleshipsin line abreast. The result was that, for a time, the two fleets wereactually steaming away from each other, the Russians being upon ourstarboard quarter. After steaming a short distance in this direction,our formation was altered back to line ahead, and the course was changedto South-West, apparently with the object of getting the ships well inhand.
It was close upon one o'clock in the afternoon when our Admiral, havingput us through one or two further manoeuvres and apparently satisfiedhimself that he had strung us up to the necessary pitch of alertness,finally formed line ahead and changed course to East-North-East, at thesame time hoisting the signal, "Engage!" The signal was greeted with aterrific outburst of cheering from every ship, and faces that had begunto look gloomy as the distance between the two fleets increased, oncemore became wreathed in smiles. Speed was increased, and we began torapidly overhaul the enemy, the spray flying high over our bows as wepushed our way irresistibly through the rising sea. And now the horizonall round from north, west, and south showed dark with smoke as theJapanese cruisers began to close in from those points upon the Russians.
It was the _Tsarevich_ which at length opened the ball, by bringing the12-inch guns in her fore-turret to bear upon the _Mikasa_. There was abrilliant double flash, a big outburst of white smoke that for a momentpartially veiled the great ship ere it drove away to leeward, a hugedouble splash as the ponderous shells hit the water about a mile away,and then came a crashing _boom_ as the sound of the explosion reached usagainst the wind. The shots had fallen short. These two shots appearedto be regarded by the rest of the Russian battleships as a signal toopen fire, for they immediately did so, the flashes bursting out hereand there all along the enemy's battle-line, first from one ship andthen from another, as though each ship were striving which could firstget off her shots, while projectiles seemed to be falling everywhereexcepting aboard the Japanese ships; true, two or three shells flew,muttering loudly, high over our heads, but the rest fell either wide orvery far short. Our anticipations, it seemed, were proving correct, theroll and pitching of their ships was playing the mischief with the aimof the Russian gunners. Then the big guns of the flagship and the_Asahi_ spoke, just four shots each, coolly and deliberately fired, oneshot at a time, to test the range. This was found to be too great foreffective practice, and the fire thereupon ceased.
But although not one of those eight ranging shots had actually touched aRussian ship, they all fell much closer to their mark than had theRussian projectiles, and close enough, at all events, to make Vitgeftnervous, for their immediate effect was to cause him to haul up to thenorthward, so that it looked as though he were seriously contemplatingthe advisability of doubling round Encounter Rock and retreating back toPort Arthur. It was a moment when everything seemed to be hanging inthe balance, when a single false move would ruin everything, and thechance that we had been so long waiting for would be lost. Port Arthurwas still close enough under the lee of the Russians to permit of theirreaching the shelter of its batteries without very serious loss, shouldthey elect to make the attempt. It was a moment demanding both boldnessand astuteness of action, and, gambler-like, Togo resolved to riskeverything upon a single throw. Instead of making the signal to closewith the enemy and immediately bring him to battle, the Admiralsignalled, "Change course sixteen points east," which meant that thewhole fleet, now steaming in line ahead, parallel to the Russian'scourse, and heading in the same direction, must swerve round upon a porthelm and go back over the ground which it had just traversed, that infact it must turn tail and run away from the Russians! The manoeuvrewas executed in splendid style, and two minutes later the Japanese fleetwas heading south-west, while the Russian fleet, now some nine milesdistant, bore about two points abaft our starboard beam.
The object of the manoeuvre was of course to impress the Russian Admiralwith the conviction that we were as little anxious to put our fortunesto the touch as he was; and apparently the ruse was successful, foralmost immediately the Russians shifted helm, heading about south-eastand standing across our wake, with all their funnels belching greatvolumes of smoke, showing that a tremendous effort was going to be madeto give us the slip.
For what seemed to us all an interminable half-hour, the astute littleJapanese "Nelson" permitted them to lay the flattering unction to theirsouls that they were going to succeed, for during that half-hour theJapanese fleet plugged steadily away to the south-west, every momentincreasing the distance between themselves and the enemy. Then, atlast, judging from the respective positions of the two fleets that oursuperior speed must certainly frustrate any further attempt at escape onthe part of the enemy, up went the longed-for signal for us to swerveround and give chase.
This manoeuvre of ours was the signal for another shift of helm on thepart of the Russians. They had been heading about south-east, but now,seeing us coming straight for them, they swerved away until they wereheading almost due east, as though even now anxious to defer the evilmoment as long as possible. But they must speedily have recognised theimpossibility of escape, for now, with carefully-cleaned furnace firesand a full head of steam, our ships were racing along through thefast-rising sea at a speed which would enable us to rapidly overhaul thechase, notwithstanding that they were plunging until they were buried tothe hawse-pipes, and their fore-decks were smothered with spray.
The two fleets were now running upon converging lines, the enemy, abouta point before our port beam, steering east, while we were steeringeast-north-east, and visibly gaining as the minutes slipped by. At lastit looked as though the fight could no longer be delayed, and a thrillof excitement passed through me as I now began to fully realise that Iwas about to take part in a great naval battle, fought under modernconditions in ships protected by ponderous plates of steel armour andfurnished with all the most modern engines of destruction. What wouldsuch a battle look like, and how would it end? Meanwhile the day waspassing, and although the two fleets had been within sight of each otherfor more than two hours, nothing had thus far been done.
Both fleets were now steaming in single line ahead, the battleshipsleading, and the cruisers following closely, the Russian fleet beingslightly ahead and steaming surprisingly well, considering the conditionof their ships, 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 _Yakumo_ received orders to haulout from the fleet and heave-to, holding ourselves ready to deal withany enemy ships which might attempt to break back toward Port Arthur.So we were not to be allowed to take part in the fight, after all! Itwas positively heart-breaking, and for a moment I felt inclined toimitate Nelson at Copenhagen and turn a blind eye to the signal, but thesight of the _Asama_ promptly sheering out from the line brought me tomy senses. I knew that poor Yamada would be just as bitterlydisappointed as myself; yet there he was, obeying the order with thesame promptitude that he would have displayed had he been ordered toattack the enemy single-handed. I nodded--rather savagely, I am
afraid--at Arisaka, the Commander, who was regarding me with eyebrowsraised 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 engineswhen we arrived at a spot about midway between the rears of the twofleets. Our engines had just stopped, and I was on the point of openinga semaphore conversation with the _Asama_, hove-to about half a miledistant, with the purpose of making some sort of arrangement for copingwith certain possible eventualities, when a vivid flash and a greatcloud of smoke burst from the _Mikasa_, and was immediately followed bysimilar outbursts from the rest of our battleships, which were openingfire upon the Russian rear as the ships came within range. To give themtheir due, the Russians were by no means slow to reply, and it waspresently evident from the number of shells falling round her, that theywere concentrating their fire upon the _Mikasa_. The first hit wasscored by one of our ships--the _Shikishima_, we afterwards learned--which landed a 12-inch shell under the _Askold's_ forward bridge. Wesaw the flash and smoke of the exploding shell, but could not, ofcourse, tell what damage was done. The next second another shell hitthe same craft about her waterline, and within a minute huge volumes ofsmoke were seen pouring from her, seeming to indicate that she was onfire. But with ourselves at a standstill and both fleets steaming awayfrom us at high speed, they soon passed beyond our range of vision, andall that we knew about the fight was that there was a terrificcannonading going on, while the eastern horizon bore a dense veil ofsmoke which came driving rapidly down upon us before the rising gale.The cannonading continued with tremendous energy for aboutthree-quarters of an hour, and then began to slacken, until by sevenbells--half-past three in the afternoon--it had ceased altogether.
What had happened? Was the fight over? It might be so, although Icould scarcely believe that the Russians had been utterly beaten in theshort space of an hour; for although their ships were in anything butfirst-class condition, the men were brave, and were scarcely likely toyield so long as the merest ghost of a chance of success remained tothem. We were not doomed to remain very long in suspense, however, forjust as eight bells was striking a wireless message arrived from theAdmiral, ordering the _Asama_ and ourselves to rejoin forthwith, andgiving us our course, east-south-east.
I believe our engines were the first to move, but the _Asama_ was nownearly a mile to the eastward of us, we standing higher out of the waterthan she, and therefore drifting to leeward faster, consequently shereally had the best of the start. But I wasn't going to let her getinto action before me, if I could help it, and I called down thevoice-tube to Carmichael, our Engineer Commander, explaining the stateof affairs, and begging him to do his best. Unfortunately for us,however, the _Asama's_ "chief" was Scotch, too; it therefore at oncebecame a race between the two ships, all the keener because of thefriendly rivalry between the two Scotchmen. It was generally concededthat _Asama_ had the advantage of _Yakumo_ by about half a knot; butwhen at length, shortly before four bells in the first dog watch, werejoined the line, the two craft were running neck and neck.
The battle recommenced about a quarter of an hour before we were able toresume our former position in the fighting line, the _Poltava_ openingfire with her 12-inch guns upon the _Mikasa_, against which ship, itappeared, the Russians had concentrated their efforts during the earlierphase of the fight. The _Poltava_ was the sternmost ship in the Russianbattle-line; and as though her shots had been a signal, the fireinstantly ran right along the Russian line from rear to van. The dinwas frightful, for our ships at once returned the Russian fire, and in amoment, as it seemed, the sea all round about the _Mikasa_ on our side,and the _Tsarevich, Peresviet_, and _Retvisan_ on the side of theRussians, was lashed into innumerable great fountains of leaping spraywhich shone magnificently, like great showers of vari-coloured jewels,in the orange light of the declining sun. And presently, as the gunnersgot the range, there were added to the deafening explosions of the gunsthe sounds of the projectiles smiting like Titan hammers upon thearmoured sides and other protected parts of the ships, and the crash ofbursting shells. Great clouds of powder smoke whirled about the ships,hiding them for a second or two and then driving away to leeward uponthe wings of the increasing gale. Splinters of wood and iron, andfragments of burst shells swept over the ships like hail, and prostrateforms here and there about the decks, weltering in their blood,proclaimed the growing deadly accuracy of the fire on either side. Thepandemonium of sound was such that the human voice could no longer makeitself heard, and the officers on the bridges were obliged to give theirorders in dumb show. Even the shrieks of the wounded went unheard inthat hellish babel of sound. As the distance between the contendingships decreased one began to realise the terrific character of theforces employed by man for the destruction of his fellow-man, for now itcould be seen that the _Tsarevich_, ponderous as was her bulk, literallyand visibly heeled and swayed under the tremendous impact of the enemy'sprojectiles. 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 shell which shook theship from stem to stern as it exploded, and put the barbette, with itstwo 12-inch guns, out of action for a time through the jamming of itsturning machinery. The damage, however, was speedily repaired, andmeanwhile the fight went on with ever-increasing fierceness anddetermination.
At length the superiority of the Japanese fire began to make itselfapparent. The speed of the Russian ships steadily fell, and it could beseen that many of them, particularly the battleships, were in greatdistress. Especially was this the case with Vitgeft's flagship, the_Tsarevich_, upon which much of the fire of our own battleships had beenconcentrated. She had a great hole in her bows, about ten feet indiameter; her anchors were shot away; and her hawse-pipes had vanished--to enumerate only her more apparent injuries. Then a 12-inch shellstruck her fore-turret, wrecked its interior and, as we subsequentlylearned, glanced off, entered the conning tower, killed everybody in itexcept two, destroyed the compass, and killed the man at the wheel, who,as he fell, jammed the helm hard a-starboard, causing the ship to swervesharply out of the line and wheel round in a wide circle, completelyupsetting the formation and seriously imperilling many of her sisterships. A few seconds later another shell fell aboard her, hitting thefoot of her foremast and causing it to totter, though it did notactually fall. This same shell, we afterward learned, literally blewAdmiral Vitgeft to atoms, also seriously wounding several of his staff,and throwing the ship into a perfect chaos of confusion.
This was the beginning of the end; shells now literally rained upon her,doing frightful damage both on deck and below, while it was patent toall that she was completely out of control. Her erratic movementsproduced the utmost confusion in the Russian battle-line, which broke upand became a mere disorganised mob of ships, upon which the Japaneseships at once closed, determined to avail themselves to the utmost ofthe opportunity to bring the engagement to a speedy end.
And, indeed, the end appeared to be near; for serious as was the plightof the _Tsarevich_, that of some of her sister battleships was evenworse. The _Peresviet_, for example--the flagship of Prince Ukhtomsky,who, in consequence of the death of Admiral Vitgeft, was now in supremecommand--was a perfect wreck, so far as her upper works were concerned;both masts were destroyed, her funnels were battered and pierced, andshe was on fire; while the _Poltava_ had two of her 6-inch guns smashedand 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 fromher bridge and, sheering out of the melee, headed away back in thedirection of Port Arthur, followed by the _Sevastopol_ and _Poltava_,while the _Askold_, Admiral Reitsenstein's flagship, followed by thecruisers _Diana, Pallada_, and _Novik_, broke away from the rest of thefleet and, under every ounce of steam that they could raise, headed awayin a south-easterly direction, followed by the _As
ama_ and six othercruisers. As for the _Pobieda_ and _Retvisan_, apparently animated bythe same desperate resolve, they suddenly shifted their helms andsteamed straight for our battle-line, as the mortally wounded lion willsometimes turn upon the hunter and, with the last remains of hisfast-ebbing strength, slay his foe before perishing himself. It lookedas though both meant to use the ram, the successful employment of whichmight cost us the loss of at least two of our treasured battleships; andthey were accordingly received with a terrific fire from every Japaneseship present. The _Retvisan_, being slightly in advance of hercompanion, received the heaviest of our fire, and under it she seemed tocrumple up into an almost shapeless mass of wreckage. It was notpossible for mere mortals to continue to face such a devastating hail ofshells, and as suddenly as she had started toward us she now swervedaway, instantly followed by the _Pobieda_, both steaming hard in thewake of Prince Ukhtomsky's division, which they rejoined just as thedusk of evening was turning to darkness.
With the flight of those two ships the battle came to an end; becausefor some reason, known only to himself, Togo failed to follow up hisadvantage and complete the destruction of the Russian fleet. Some of uswere of opinion that he felt himself handicapped by the stringent orderswhich he had received not to risk the loss of any of our preciousbattleships, one or more of which might easily have been destroyed inthe darkness by mines dropped by the flying enemy, or by torpedoeslaunched from the decks of daring and enterprising destroyers. And ifhe 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 anindecisive one, because no Russian ships had been either captured orsunk in the course of the fight. But although this assertion wasundeniable, the grumblers forgot a little group of very important facts,the chief of which was that the five Russian battleships and theprotected cruiser _Pallada_ which succeeded in regaining Port Arthurharbour were so desperately damaged that they were practically reducedto the condition of scrap iron, inasmuch as that, despite all theefforts of the Russians to repair them, none of them was again able toleave Port Arthur until they fell into the hands of the Japanese whenthe fortress surrendered. As for the sixth Russian battleship, the_Tsarevich_, she took advantage of the darkness to separate from therest of the fleet, and made for Kiaochau, where she arrived on thefollowing day, and where she was of course interned. The same fatebefell the cruisers _Askold_ and _Diana_, the former of which soughtshelter at Shanghai, while the latter succeeded in escaping as far southas Saigon. The destroyer _Reshitelny_, which separated from the Russianfleet immediately after its departure from Port Arthur, escaped theJapanese destroyers and duly reached Chifu, whither she had been sentwith dispatches from Admiral Vitgeft, requesting that the Vladivostocksquadron might be dispatched to assist him in his proposed passagethrough the Korean Strait. Her mission accomplished, her commanderagreed to assent to the demand of Sah, the Chinese admiral on thestation, that she should disarm and surrender certain vital parts of hermachinery. The Japanese, however, had their doubts as to the power ofthe Chinese authorities to enforce this demand, and accordinglyCommander Fujimoto took matters into his own hands and, late on thenight of 11th October, entered Chifu harbour and, after an altercationwith the commander of the Russian vessel, calmly took the _Reshitelny_in tow and carried her off. This was of course a violation of neutralterritory, and led to a little temporary friction, but it ended in thedestroyer being added to the Japanese navy.