It was dark long before we got back to the bay where we had anchored
the _Columbia_, and we might have found it impossible to make out her
whereabouts if Webster had not hoisted lights to guide us. When again
aboard we got up steam and stood out to sea. We should have run for
the Yellow Sea at once but for the presence of the Chinese agent, whom
we had had no opportunity of transferring from the _Columbia_. A
motion to throw him overboard was negatived, and we resolved to hold
on for Port Arthur, where we could get rid of him without going much
out of our way. Besides, we felt curious to see if any further
encounter would take place between the hostile squadrons. Such,
however, was not fated to be the case. The Japanese allege that they
intended to renew the attack in the morning, and tried with that view
to hold a course parallel with that of the retreating Chinese, but
lost them during the night.
We reached Port Arthur on the 19th, and having obtained a pilot,
entered the harbour. We found there only two of the vessels belonging
to the defeated squadron, the _Ping Yuen_ and the _Kwang Ting_.
The former did not seem much injured, but the latter had evidently
suffered heavily, the port bow being partially stove, the upper works
demolished, and the armouring tremendously battered and dinted.
Shortly after casting anchor in the West Port, I lowered a boat to
take Lin Wong ashore. In the dockyard he ascertained that a fast steam
launch was to leave for Tientsin with despatches within two days, and
he arranged to take advantage of her departure to regain that port,
from which, it will be remembered, he had come on board the
_Columbia_. As he seemed well acquainted with Port Arthur, I got him
to take me round, and show me as much of the place as could be seen in
the two or three hours of leisure at my disposal, for the _Columbia_
was to trip her anchor again in the evening.
The general features of Port Arthur, or, to give it its native name,
Lu-Shun-Kou, must be tolerably familiar to all who have followed the
course of the war. A glance at the map shows its position, at the
southern extremity of the Liaotung Peninsula, commanding, with the
formidable forts of Wei-hai-wei on the opposite tongue of land, near
Chefoo, the entrance to the Gulf of Pechili. Although now the
principal arsenal and naval depôt of the Chinese Empire, it is of
quite recent creation, only having come into note since 1881, in which
year it was decided to establish a naval dockyard. Up to then it had
only been used as a harbour for junks employed in the timber trade and
carrying cargoes from the Yalu to ports in the Pechili Gulf, or from
the south to Niuchang and West Chin-chou. Native contractors having
made an extensive bungle of the job, it was entrusted to a French
company, and by them completed. Since then the place has increased,
from an insignificant village of sixty or seventy mud houses and a few
shops, to a town of over a thousand dwellings, as well as two large
theatres, two temples, and a number of banks and inns. The population
at the time of the Japanese incursion was about 5000 or 6000, in
addition to a garrison of about 7000. The port is very spacious and
commodious, and dredgers have worked assiduously for several years
past to deepen the entrance to it. The bar has been deepened from
twelve feet to about twenty-five feet to enable permanent moorings to
be laid down for men-of-war. The dock basin, called the East Port,
covering an area of thirty-two acres, has been constructed well behind
the signal bluffs to the right of the entrance, the West Port, or
natural harbour, opening just opposite round the long, narrow spit of
land called the Tiger's Tail. The basin has a depth of twenty-five
feet at low water. There are large and numerous wharves and quays,
fitted with steam cranes, and connected by a railway with the
workshops, which contain all the most modern machinery and engines.
The dockyard, and in fact a considerable portion of the town, is
supplied with fresh water conveyed by pipes from a spring about four
miles to the north. There is a smaller dock for torpedo boats, and a
torpedo depôt on shore where those weapons can be tested and
regulated. The entrance to the port is defended by torpedoes and
submarine mines, although, as I noticed, some of the latter had been
so badly constructed and adjusted for depth as to show above water.
For defensive purposes nature and art have combined to render the
place exceedingly strong. Ranges of hills, varying from 300 feet to
1500 feet, surround the port and town almost completely, offering
scope for fortification of the most formidable character, advantages
which, as far as construction goes, have been well utilized, massive
and lofty stone forts occupying every point of advantage. I believe
they are of German construction. They bristle with heavy Krupp and
Nordenfeldt guns. The elevation on the coast varies from eighty feet
to 410 feet. The land defences, though newer than those seaward, are
less powerful; the heaviest guns, of 21 and 24 centimetre, are in the
latter. Everywhere the forts are supplemented by trenches, rifle-pits,
and open redoubts or walled camps.
Such is, or was, Port Arthur, and when we remember how the Turks held
Plevna, an open town until the earthworks were hastily thrown up round
it, for months against all the force Russia could bring against it,
one cannot but feel amazement that a place so powerful should so
easily have fallen. Properly defended, it should be unreducible by
anything but famine. The coast defences are impregnable, and those
inland, though more susceptible of attack, should not fall before
anything short of overwhelming superiority of force. I should like to
have seen the 20,000 men whom the Japanese led against it take that
fortress in forty-eight hours from Osman Pacha's army. The Mikado's
generals, however, had formed a perfectly just estimate of their own
powers as against those of the enemy. In fact, a third of their force
could have taken Port Arthur from the ridiculous soldiers who held it.
The garrison in ordinary times amounts to 7000 men, but before the
Japanese attack it had been increased to nearly 20,000. This is
inadequate; 30,000 men at least should occupy the fortress in time of
war, and 40,000 would not in my opinion be too many.
The chief man in the place when I was there was the Taotai, or
governor, Kung, a brother, I have heard, of the Ambassador to England.
His office, I believe, is civil; the military chiefs were Generals
Tsung and Ju. The soldiers, who appeared to range about everywhere
pretty much at their own discretion, were an uncouth, rough lot, with
very little of the smartness of dress and bearing which we associate
with the military character. Everywhere was a most portentous display
of banners, as if the sacrilegious foot of a foeman could not be set
on any spot rendered sacred by the dragon flag. The town presented a
very neat and compact aspect, and struck me very favourably as
compared with Tientsin, the only other Chinese town I had been in, and
which seemed to me to be for the most part composed of narrow, dirty,
stinking lanes with one or two good streets in the centre. Port
Arthur, as might be expected of so recent a settlement, constructed to
a large extent under European supervision, is very much better built,
and altogether presents, or did present--for to a melancholy and
deplorable condition was it soon to be reduced--a thriving and busy
aspect.
At dusk I quitted the streets, with their bazaar-like shops and
strange illuminations, and made my way back to the port under escort
of my Chinese friend, who with Oriental politeness insisted on seeing
me safe back on board. A most unwelcome shock awaited me. No
_Columbia_ was to be found, and Lin Wong's inquiries elicited that
she had left nearly an hour before. We hunted up the pilot who had taken
her out, and learned from him that she had steamed away south-east
immediately; she could not, therefore, be awaiting me outside. What on
earth could be the meaning of it? I could only conjecture that by some
oversight the fact of my not being on board had been forgotten. She
possibly might return on its being discovered that I had been left
ashore, but in the meantime what was I to do? A suggestion by Lin
solved the difficulty. If the _Columbia_ did not put back, I could
obtain a passage to Tientsin on the vessel which was soon to convey
him to that port, where I could arrange my future proceedings
according to circumstances. This seeming the only feasible plan, I,
with many internal maledictions upon the stupid mischance, accompanied
the agent to an hotel or inn where he had already chartered quarters
for his short stay in the place. There are some half-dozen of these
establishments in Port Arthur. Three or four of them are wretched
hovels, which existed in the squalid infancy of the town; the newer
ones are larger and fairly commodious and comfortable. The one we
occupied was near one of the gates of the approaches to the
north-eastern forts. Mine host was a square, thick-set Celestial named
Sen. Port Arthur being well accustomed to "foreign devils," some of
the servants had been engaged for their knowledge of that curious
dialect "pidgin English," which in the far East is pretty much what
Lingua Franca is in the Levant. With a little practice it is easily
comprehended, although, under the chaperonage of Lin, my difficulties
were largely reduced. Fortunately I had a considerable sum of American
money in my pockets, and with Lin's aid was able to negotiate it at
one of the banks, at a pretty smart loss, I may say. Otherwise I was
fairly content and comfortable, and had no human want but whisky.