CHAPTER FIVE.
MY "BAPTISM OF FIRE."
The weather had cleared somewhat during the afternoon, but when, at afew minutes before five o'clock, the _Mikasa_ made the signal for thedestroyer flotilla to weigh and proceed, the clouds had gathered afresh,and it was looking as wild as ever. It was exactly five o'clock whenthe _Asashio_, followed by the _Kasanumi_, led the way out to sea; andas we began to move, the Admiral signalled us: "Go in and sink theenemy's fleet. I pray for your success."
The Elliot group of islands, from which we started upon our greatadventure, is situated some sixty miles north-east of Port Arthur, andwithin some seven or eight miles of the mainland. Our nearest and bestway, therefore, under ordinary circumstances, would have been to creepdown the coast close inshore. But this would have involved our passingDalny on the way, and there were the Russian destroyers, which were saidto patrol as far as that place every night, to be reckoned with. We didnot desire to encounter them on the way, and so afford them a chance toslip back to Port Arthur and give the alarm; our object was to get inbetween them and Port Arthur, and so cut off their retreat. Also, wehad decided to approach Port Arthur from the south-west, so as to givethe idea that we were the Russian boats returning after a scoutingexcursion in the offing; we therefore headed due south at the start, ourspeed being fifteen knots, which was later increased to twenty-two, asthe course which we had decided upon took us far out of our way andnearly doubled the distance to be run.
The sun disappeared beneath the horizon in a heavy squall of rain, thewind breezed up fiercely, and it was piercingly cold. The night shutdown upon us dark as a wolf's mouth, the only relief to the intenseblackness being the phosphorescence of the bow wave as it swept, roaringand scintillating away to port and starboard, and the faint gleam of ashrouded lamp which each vessel bore at her taffrail as a guide to thecraft next astern of her. Well, so much the better; the darker thenight, the better for our purpose; only I fervently wished that thewater had not been so brilliantly phosphorescent, for in the intensedarkness the gleam of it was visible for quite a considerable distance,and I feared that, if the Russians were keeping a sharp lookout, itwould prematurely reveal our approach. We had cleared for action beforegetting under way, and each boat carried two torpedoes in her tubes, herguns loaded, and ammunition ready to pass up on deck at a moment'snotice.
Hour after hour we steamed on, describing the arc of a big semi-circleas we altered our course from time to time, until at length we wereheading west-nor'-west for Port Arthur; and during the whole time we hadnot sighted a craft of any description.
At length, about half-past ten, the darkness ahead seemed to growblacker than ever, and turning to Ito, who stood beside me on thebridge, I said:
"Do you see that darkness ahead, Ito? Surely that is the loom of land."
"Yes," answered Ito, who spoke English excellently. "Without a doubtthat is the high land on either side of Port Arthur; and--ha! there isthe Pinnacle Rock light, straight ahead. By Jingo! as the honourableEnglish say, Captain Matsunaga has `hit it off splendidly.' And seethere,"--as a light began to wink at us from the bridge of the _Asashio_ahead--"there is the signal for the 4th and 5th Divisions to partcompany. Yes; there they go; and now, as again the honourable Englishsay, `we shan't be long.'"
I shivered involuntarily. A quarter of an hour more and that blacknessahead would be pierced by the blinding rays of the inexorablesearchlights and stabbed by the fierce flashing of artillery, the glareof bursting shells, and the radiance of star rockets. And we should bein the midst of it. It would be my first experience of actual warfare,and I wondered how I should pass through the ordeal. I had alreadylearned that the Japanese soldier or sailor is absolutely the mostfearless creature in existence. He fears death as little as he fearssleep, provided that it comes to him in the service of his Emperor andhis country. To die for his Emperor, indeed, who is to him as a god, isthe very highest honour, the greatest glory, that the male Japanese canlook forward to. He faces such a death with the same pure joy, the sameexaltation, that the early Christian martyrs displayed when they wereled forth to die for their faith. It was this spirit, this eagerness,this enthusiasm to die in battle, that caused the enormous lossessuffered by the Japanese during the war; but it made them invincible!How was my conduct going to compare with that of men like these, I whowas animated by no more lofty sentiment than the desire to do my duty tothe best of my ability, to play my part as a man should, and, above all,to uphold the honour and dignity of my race? I was happy in theconviction that I should not disgrace myself by any exhibition of cravenfear, but what I dreaded was that in the excitement of the moment Ishould get "nervy," lose my head (if only figuratively), and perhapsforget to do something that I ought to do, to miss some opportunity thatI ought to see and seize. "Brace up, Paul!" I said to myself, "pullyourself together for the honour of the dear homeland; forget all aboutyourself, and think only of the work that lies before you." And I did.My thoughts went back to my talk with the Admiral in the _Mikasa's_cabin that afternoon; I suddenly remembered that the work in hand was tobe carried out as I had planned it; and in a moment all my anxietyvanished, I was my own man again, mentally planning what I would do; andfrom that moment I felt as cool and collected and keen as was Ito whostood beside me.
As the tail lights of the 4th and 5th Divisions of the flotilla vanishedin the darkness on our port quarter, the _Asashio's_ signal lanternbegan winking again, and Ito read off and translated the message to me:
"Reduce speed to twelve knots. Be ready to show signal lanterns ifrequired. When I starboard helm, Division one will follow me, whileDivisions two and three will port helm and sheer off to the eastward."
A single flash from our own carefully shrouded signal lanterns informedthe Commodore that the message had been read and understood, and all wasopaque darkness once more. The rain had by this time cleared off andthe atmosphere was much clearer, so clear indeed that the outlines ofthe hills ahead showed with tolerable distinctness, and the water wasgetting smoother.
The lighthouse light was showing very bright and clear by this time, andtwo or three other and much dimmer lights, like those of houses, showedhere and there in the shadow of the hills. The gap between the hillswhich marked the harbour entrance was also visible, while a faint glarein the sky to the right of it showed that Port Arthur was still awake.But everything seemed absolutely peaceful, and there were no signs ofthat alertness which we had expected to find.
Suddenly the lighthouse light, upon which my gaze happened to be fixed,seemed to blink several times in a very curious manner; then itdisappeared altogether for a moment, and I saw a great black shadow thatseemed to rapidly increase in size as I stared at it. Then I glimpsedat the base of the shadow the ghostly gleam of phosphorescent foam, suchas is piled up by the bows of a ship travelling at speed, and high aboveit a rolling, swirling cloud of blackness spangled with evanescentsparks which, a moment later, I saw was issuing from three of a group offive tall funnels.
"By Jove! Ito," I exclaimed, "here comes the patrol cruiser--the_Askold_--and she is heading straight for us! Gun and tube crews, standby! Quartermaster, light those two signal lanterns, white above red,bend them on to the signal halliards, and stand by to hoist away when Igive the word."
"Yes," agreed Ito, his voice tense with excitement; "she has seen andintends to speak us. See, she has stopped her engines, and is hailingthe _Asashio_! What a jolly, bloomin' chance," (Ito was very proud ofhis command of English slang, and availed himself of every possibleopportunity to air it) "to honourably torpedo her! Will the honourableSwinburne augustly grant the humblest of his servants permission to doso?"
"Heavens! no, man," I exclaimed, "not for worlds. And I pray thatMatsunaga may also have the sense to refrain from doing so."
"But why, my honourable friend; why?" demanded Ito, literally dancingwith eagerness and impatience.
"Because, don't you see, my honourable duffer, that if we did so theexplosion wo
uld put all Port Arthur, and the fleet too, on the _quivive_ long before we could get at them, and thus spoil our chances ofbagging the battleships?" I replied. "No, certainly not. Let thecruiser go; it is the battleships we want. There go the _Asashio's_lanterns. Hoist away, quartermaster!"
"Yes, yes; I see," replied Ito in crestfallen tones; "you are honourablyright, of course. Aha! there goes the cruiser. The honourable CaptainMatsunaga has evidently honourably satisfied her. He honourably speaksRussian like a native."
It was an exciting moment; but, tense as it was, I could not help beingamused at the pertinacity with which Ito, like all the Japanese, draggedin the word "honourable" upon every possible and impossible occasion.It arises, of course, out of the desire, drilled into them, generationafter generation, to be extremely polite; and doubtless when speaking intheir own tongue, the word is never unsuitably used; but when theyundertake to talk English, it is frequently pitchforked into theconversation in the most incongruous and even ludicrous fashion, and Idecided that it would only be kind to give Ito a lesson upon theabsurdity of employing it inappropriately. The opportunity came a fewminutes later.
The _Askold_, apparently satisfied with Captain Matsunaga's explanation,put her helm hard a-starboard and swept on, presently vanishing in thedarkness; and a minute or two later the _Asashio_ made the signal forthe Divisions to separate as arranged, starboarding her helm as she didso and leading Number 1 Division to the westward, while Divisions 2 and3 ported and swerved sharply away to the eastward.
"The critical moment is at hand," said I. "Be so good, Mr Ito, as togo down on the main deck and assure yourself that everything is ready,and that the men are standing by the tubes and guns."
Then Ito turned upon me and poured out an impassioned entreaty that hemight be "honourably" permitted to take charge of and fire the torpedoeshimself. I considered for a moment. The man who might chance to scorea hit in the coming attempt would gain immense kudos, I knew, and, inall probability, promotion also. By rights, of course, Ito's stationshould be by me, to take my place should I chance to be hit; but he wasjust as liable to be hit on the bridge as anywhere else; also it wouldbe doing him a kindness to grant his request. So:
"Now, look here, Ito," I said, "it is of paramount importance that themen in charge of the tubes to-night should be first-rate shots, and ascool as cucumbers; for, hit or miss, I do not suppose we shall beafforded a chance to discharge more than the two torpedoes already inour tubes; therefore they must both hit. Now, are you a good shot withthe torpedo?"
Ito solemnly assured me that there was not a better torpedo shot thanhimself in the whole Japanese fleet.
"And is your nerve all right? I mean, are you perfectly cool?" Idemanded.
"As cool as the honourable cucumber," he asserted. "Feel my unworthyhand."
I could not help laughing. Here was the inevitable "honourable" beingdragged in again. I seized his hand and held it loosely in mine for afew seconds. It was firm and steady as a rock.
"Good!" I said. "You will do, Ito. Go down and work the tubes, myboy, and see that you excel yourself to-night. And, Ito, if you loveme, do not, for heaven's sake, forget to withdraw the honourable safetypin from the honourable fan before you honourably fire the honourabletorpedo, or you will make no honourable hits this honourable night. Doyou honourably take me?"
There! I had fired off my little joke on Ito; illustrated to him, Ifondly thought, the absurdity of indiscriminately dragging in the word"honourable" in and out of season. How would he take it, I wondered.
"The august captain may honourably rely upon his unworthy lieutenant todo his honourable best," he gravely answered; and the next moment was"honourably" descending the bridge ladder to the deck. My miserableattempt at jocularity had absolutely missed fire; the dear, innocentfellow had accepted my speech as uttered in all seriousness.
It was at this moment that I first caught the loom of the Russian ships,showing up a deeper black against the black shadow of the frowningcliffs away to starboard; and a second or two later a long, brilliantbeam of intensely white light shot out from one of the black shapes andslowly swept hither and thither, now striking the heaving surface of theblack water, and anon vividly illumining one of her sisters. Our ordershad been not to discharge at a higher range than five hundred metres.
Slowly, the beam swept round toward us until it halted and restedsteadily upon a great lump of a craft that towered out of the water likea castle, almost immediately between itself and us. Luckily, thedazzling light itself was hidden from our eyes by the bulk of the shipupon which it rested, but it invested her with a sort of halo ofradiance against which she stood out black and grim, a perfectsilhouette. She was a big craft, evidently a battleship, with a loftysuperstructure, three big funnels cased half-way up, a long overhangingbridge, and two stout military masts with fighting tops, and two yardsacross each. She was just within range, and, seizing a megaphone, I wasin the act of raising it to my lips to order Ito to let fly at her, whenI saw a long, silvery shape flash out from our after-deck, and a fewseconds later a great cone of water leaped into the air and fell like adeluge upon the great ship, which seemed to lift half out of the water,as though hove up by a giant. A heavy _boom_ followed, and I had theextreme gratification of knowing that the little _Kasanumi's_ firstWhitehead had got home.
The explosion was quickly followed by several others; and in the midstof them a sudden transformation took place. The pitchy darkness gaveway to the glare of a perfect network of searchlight beams streaming outfrom ship after ship and from the cliffs above, sweeping here, there,and everywhere, lighting up the fleet, the cliffs, the channel leadingto the harbour, the lighthouse, everything, in fact, except ourdestroyers, which they all seemed to miss in the most miraculous way.Excited shouts came pealing across the water to us from the decks of thevarious ships, boatswains' whistles shrilled, order after order washoarsely bellowed, and with a rattling crash of gun-fire a perfecttempest of projectiles was sent hurtling out to sea from the nowthoroughly awakened and panic-stricken Russians, not a solitary shot ofwhich came anywhere near us; for the enemy seemed to have not theslightest idea of our actual whereabouts. And then, to add to theturmoil and confusion, the forts on the cliffs above opened fire withtheir heavy guns, and we heard the shells go muttering angrily faroverhead, as the gunners ashore also fired into the offing.
The fleet as a whole now lay broad on our starboard beam, and we in the_Kasanumi_ were crossing the bows of a two-funnelled battleship which,from her position as the outermost ship of the fleet, I knew must be the_Tzarevich_, when, out of the tail of my eye, so to speak, I againcaught the flash of one of our Whiteheads as it leapt outward andplunged into the sea. Breathlessly I awaited the result, and presently,to my delight, I saw that our second torpedo had got home!
"Good old Ito!" I exclaimed aloud; and, as I spoke, the man himselfstood beside me.
"Two hits!" he gasped, almost inarticulate with excitement and delight."The _Kasanumi_ has done her duty to-night."
"She has," I agreed; "and so have you, splendidly, old chap. This meansimmediate promotion for you, Ito; for you may rest assured that, if weget out of this alive, I will not fail to report to the Admiral what youhave done. I don't see--"
"Ah, but," he interrupted me, "the real credit of it all belongs to you,not me. For if you had not warned me, I should certainly, in myexcitement, have forgotten to withdraw the pins before firing thetorpedoes. As it was, I very nearly did so when firing the first, butluckily your warning flashed into my mind at the very instant when I wasabout to fire. I am afraid that many of our men have forgotten thatessential; for although all the torpedoes must be by this timedischarged, I do not think that many ships have been hit."
I had noticed the same thing myself, and was about to say so, but atthis moment the Russian ships opened fire with their heavy guns, andconversation, which up to now had been difficult enough, became quiteimpossible owing to the deafening din. But I observed that the
shipsand batteries were all firing out to sea, whereas our destroyers were bythis time between the fleet and the land, completely absorbed in thedeep shadow of the lofty cliffs, so that up to that moment I believed wehad remained unseen. Then the _Asashio_ flashed the signal for Number 1Division to retire at full speed, putting her helm hard a-port as shedid so, for by this time we were running parallel with the shore on thewest side of the harbour, and a few minutes more would have taken us tothe harbour's mouth, which was now brilliantly illuminated by the raysof some half a dozen searchlights, which it was essential for us toavoid if we wished to escape instant annihilation.
It was at this moment, when I was eagerly taking note of the mostdistinctive features of the harbour entrance, brought thus prominentlyinto view--with the idea that such knowledge as I might then be able toacquire might prove useful at some future time--that three destroyers,coming out of the harbour at full speed, rushed across the illuminatedarea and, turning sharp round the Pinnacle Rock, headed almost directlytoward us. A single glance sufficed to show that they were Russiancraft, for they were of a different model from ours, and their fourfunnels were arranged differently from ours, being in pairs.
For a moment I believed that they saw and were about to engage us, Itherefore laid my hand upon Ito's arm to attract his attention, pointedto the boats, and then yelled in his ear:
"Russians! Stand by to give them a broadside as they pass."
Ito nodded comprehendingly, and vanished from my side. A minute later,the leading Russian destroyer came abreast the _Asashio_, and CaptainMatsunaga showed that he was as wideawake as the rest of us, by plumpinga 12-pound and three 6-pound shells into her. Then came our turn, andwe did the same, each of the four Japanese boats in turn firing all theguns that would bear upon each of the three Russian boats as they cameup, without receiving a single shot in return; for, strange as it mayseem, the Russians appeared to have no suspicion of our whereaboutsuntil we actually fired upon them.
But perhaps we should have been wiser had we allowed our valour to betempered with discretion, and refrained from attacking the enemy'sdestroyers; for the flashes of our guns, low down near the surface ofthe water, were instantly observed by a hundred sharp eyes, eagerlyseeking the whereabouts of the elusive enemy, and almost immediatelyevery searchlight on ship and shore swept round until it rested fullupon us, thereafter inexorably following our every movement, while aperfect tornado of shell and rifle-fire hissed and whined about ourears. But for this, it might have been not very difficult for us tohave inflicted further damage upon the battleships and cruisers; but asit was, there was only one thing to be done, namely, to effect ourescape with the utmost expedition, if, indeed, escape were stillpossible; for to remain until fresh torpedoes could be got up on deckand placed in the tubes, would mean our swift and certain destructionbefore the opportunity came for us to work further mischief. As it was,it was simply miraculous that we were not instantly blown out of thewater; for, with a dozen or more searchlights bearing full upon us, wewere as plainly visible as though it had been broad daylight; yet,strange to say, not a shot struck any of us, a circumstance which canonly be accounted for upon the assumption that the Russian gunners wereso unnerved by our sudden and unexpected attack that, for the moment,they had completely lost the ability to shoot straight.
Through that frightful tempest of shot and shell we tore at top speed,the fragile hulls of the boats bucking and quivering to the impulse oftheir tremendously powerful engines, the water cleft by their sharp bowscurling almost to the height of the navigating bridges and drenching theoccupants with spray, while flames roared out of all four of theirfunnels as the stokers below toiled like fiends to feed the furnaces andmaintain a full head of steam. To add to our difficulties, the glare ofso many searchlights directed full upon us dazzled our sight to blindingpoint, so that it was only with the greatest difficulty we were able tofind our way. The formation in which the Russian fleet was mooredhelped us, however, for we presently found ourselves rushing across thebows of their weathermost line, and we steered accordingly.
Then, quite unexpectedly, we came upon the three Russian destroyersagain; and those of us who happened to be prepared--of which the_Kasanumi_ was one--gave them a further peppering, to which, as before,they made no reply. And now, at last, we were reaching the end of theline, and the gauntlet was almost run, for as we drew out to seaward theinshore ships were compelled to cease fire for fear of hurting theirfriends instead of us. There was but one more ship to pass; and as wedrew near to her I saw that she had a decided list to port, and wasfloating so deep aft that her "admirals' walk," or stern gallery, wasvery nearly submerged. Steam was roaring from her safety valves, and aswe came up to her a small curl of water under her bows and a swirl ather stern showed that she was under way. It was the _Tsarevich_,heading for the harbour, evidently in a sinking condition, and we hadthe satisfaction of knowing that by that night's work we had put atleast one of the Russian battleships _hors de combat_. Her crew weremuch too busy to pay any attention to us; and a quarter of an hour laterwe were beyond the zone of that awful, merciless fire, and were headingsouth-east for Mokpo, where we had been ordered to rendezvous.
We did not, of course, at that time know the extent of the damage thatwe had succeeded in inflicting upon the Russian fleet; but trustworthyinformation reached us later, that the _Tsarevich_ had been struck aft,the torpedo blowing a big hole in her hull and flooding her steeringcompartment to such an extent that her captain had been obliged to beachher to prevent her from sinking. The _Retvisan_ had been struckamidships, and a large hole blown in her pump compartment, rendering itnecessary that she also should be beached in order to save her. Thosetwo battleships constituted the _Kasanumi's_ share of the bag; and verypleased we were with ourselves when the news became known, since thosetwo ships were far and away the best in the Russian fleet, and the lossof them, even if it should prove to be only temporary, was a veryserious matter for the Russians. But, in addition to these, the_Pallada_, cruiser, and the volunteer cruiser _Angara_ were also hit,and were obliged to be beached to save them from foundering.
Thus we had done not at all badly; although some surprise was felt that,considering the favourable circumstances under which the attack wasmade--by which I mean our unsuspected approach, and the time whichelapsed before the searchlights actually found us--we had not done agreat deal more. For Divisions 1, 2, and 3, which had attacked theRussian fleet, consisted in all of ten destroyers, each of which haddischarged two torpedoes--twenty in all. And of those twenty, onlyfour, apparently, had got home. It was not a result to be proud of.But I had a suspicion that I could have put my finger upon theexplanation, had I been asked to do so; and it would have been this: Thenight was bitterly cold; so cold, indeed, that the spray froze as itfell upon us, and the weather was simply atrocious; the result beingthat by the time the flotilla arrived in Port Arthur roadstead, thelimit of even Japanese physical endurance had been almost, if not quite,reached. Most of our deck hands had been more or less severelyfrost-bitten, not only their bodies, but also their minds were benumbedby the arctic severity of the weather, and thus it came to pass (atleast so I reasoned it out) that when the moment for action arrivedtheir faculties, between physical suffering and mental excitement,became so confused that many of them made the mistake against which Ihad warned Ito, and failed to withdraw the safety pin before dischargingtheir torpedoes, thus rendering the missiles ineffective. This was alsoIto's opinion, you will remember.
By the time that we reached Mokpo we were all in a most deplorablecondition, nearly half of the deck hands of the expedition beingcompelled to go into hospital suffering from frost-bite, a few of thecases being of so severe a character that the patients lost either theirhands or their feet, while one man lost all four members, and narrowlyescaped dying outright. Ito and I were somehow lucky enough to escapewithout serious injury, but we both developed virulent attacks ofinflammation of the lungs, which put us _hors de combat_ for nearlythree weeks
. But there is no doubt that our recovery was greatlyfacilitated by the intimation, which reached us while we were still inhospital, that we had both been promoted to the rank of Commander.
Meanwhile, things had been happening at Port Arthur and elsewhere. Onthe morning following our attack, Togo sent three fast cruisers intoward the fortress to reconnoitre; and these ships having discoveredpretty much how matters stood there, and reported to the Admiral, thewhole fleet stood in and engaged the ships and batteries at long-range,firing only their 12-inch and 8-inch guns, the range being too long forthe others. The weather had changed, and was now bright andcomparatively warm, the atmosphere so clear that even comparativelysmall objects were clearly visible.
The _Mikasa_ opened the ball by firing a sighting shot from one of the12-inch guns in her fore barbette, and at the same moment the Russianships were seen to be getting under way. At low speed the Japanesefleet steamed past the port in "line ahead," firing as they went, andafter an engagement lasting some forty minutes, drew off, hoping thatthe Russian fleet would follow them, but in this they were disappointed.Our ships were hit several times and sustained a certain amount ofdamage, but, luckily, not of a serious character. It was reported thatwe lost four killed and fifty-four wounded, none of the wounds beingserious enough, however, to necessitate the men being sent ashore to thehospital. It was some time before reliable information reached us as tothe extent of the damage sustained by the Russians, but when it came itwas to the effect that several of our shells fell in the town,scattering the piles of coal on the wharves and creating general panic;the _Poltava_ was so badly hit that she could not move, a shell blowingher bows open; the _Petropavlosk_ and _Pobieda_ were also hit, thoughnot seriously; our old friend, the _Askold_, was hit on the waterlineand set on fire, as was also the _Diana_; while the _Novik_, which hadsteamed out toward our fleet, was sent flying back with her rudderdamaged, so that they had to steer her with her propellers. This affaircaused Admiral Stark to be superseded; his successor being AdmiralMakarov, said to be the finest seaman Russia then possessed. At thesame time General Kuropatkin was appointed commander of the Russian landforces.
Two days later, the Russians lost the mine-layer _Yenesei_ in Dalny Bay.This was a particularly hard bit of luck for them, inasmuch as that shehad practically completed her work when the disaster happened. Hermission was to sow Dalny Bay with four hundred contact mines, in orderto prevent the Japanese from using the bay as a landing-place fortroops. She had successfully laid all but two of the four hundredmines; but when the three hundred and ninety-ninth mine was launchedoverboard, it floated, instead of sinking to its prescribed depth. Thecaptain of the ship is said to have opened fire upon it with his lightguns, to explode it; and in this he appears to have been only toosuccessful, since it not only exploded but also blew up the ship, whichsank almost immediately, most of her crew going down with her. And onthe following day the small cruiser _Boyarin_ went ashore in Dalny Bay,and became a total wreck. Thus in less than a week the Port Arthurfleet had become reduced in strength by no less than three battleships,five cruisers, and one mining ship, exclusive of the cruiser _Variag_and the gunboat _Korietz_, destroyed at Chemulpo.
Encouraged by the success of the first destroyer attack upon PortArthur, Admiral Togo arranged for a repetition of the experiment on thenight of 13th February, and the attempt duly came off, the 4th and 5thDivisions of the destroyer flotilla being this time told off to conductthe attack. These divisions, consisting of eight boats, had notparticipated in the previous attack, and Togo no doubt wished to givethem an opportunity to acquire _kudos_, and, at the same time, byarousing their emulation, spur them on to outvie our performance.
Unfortunately, however, for the expedition, the weather was even worsethan that with which we had had to contend: the cold was intense, a galewas blowing, a tremendously heavy sea was running, and, to cap it all, aterrific snow blizzard was raging. The result of this combination ofadverse conditions was that the destroyers very soon lost touch witheach other, and only two of them succeeded in entering the harbour, the_Asigiri_ preceding the _Hayatori_ by nearly two hours. The _Asigiri_entered the harbour unseen, discharged two torpedoes--both of which hercaptain, Commander Isakawa, believed had got home--and then fled,encountering an enemy's launch on the way, and sinking her. Theexplosion of the _Asigiri's_ torpedoes of course raised an alarm,searchlights flashed wildly hither and thither, gunners blazed awaymadly, and so great was the panic that several of the Russian destroyersopened fire upon each other and did a lot of damage.
When Commander Takanouchi, in the _Hayatori_, arrived two hours later,the confusion was still at its height, and taking advantage of it, he,too, slipped in unnoticed and, as he believed, successfully torpedoed acruiser before he fled. But it seemed very doubtful whether, after all,either of the Japanese boats did much damage; for when the Japanesecruisers reconnoitred next day, none could be detected.
Then, on the night of 23rd February, all the Russian ships being insidePort Arthur, Togo sent in five steamers, under Commander Arima, whoseinstructions were that they were to be sunk across the harbour entrance,in such positions as would effectually block the passage. But theirapproach was prematurely discovered, and so terrific a fire was openedupon them from the batteries that two were sunk, while the other three,their steering gear being shot away, went ashore outside. The attemptwas consequently a failure, while ten men lost their lives in making it.
On the night of 24th February and the morning of the following day, theJapanese fleet made a second attack upon Port Arthur, bombarding thetown and fleet for twenty-five minutes. The Russian cruisers _Bayan,Novik_, and _Askold_ were hit, some shells exploded in the batteries,and the town was set on fire in two places, but the damage done wasinconsiderable; and at length, in accordance with his instructions to onno account risk his battleships by engaging the forts, Togo felt himselfobliged to retire.