LIKE A BATTLE OF OLDEN TIMES.
The fight between those two splendid battle-ships _Ting-Yuen_ of 7430
tons and the _Matsushima_ of 4300 tons, was a combat that puts us in
mind of some of the battles of olden days, when chiefs met
single-handed, and before their assembled armies decided the fate of
the day.
It will be observed that the Chinese ship was fully three thousand
tons heavier than the Japanese, and she carried more heavy guns too.
But the admiral of the latter had skill and daring and his vessel had
far greater speed, for, while the Chinaman could only steam fourteen
knots, the Jap could do over seventeen. She had also more
quick-firing guns, and no living thing can stand a moment before
these terrible weapons of modern naval warfare.
Creggan was stationed in one barbette--the port--and his friend in
another, while Goodwin worked a gun not far from our hero.
I have never had a chance of interviewing my friend the Ugly Duckling
as to his feelings during their terrible ship-to-ship engagement, but
it is not long since I talked with Creggan himself. He describes the
battle as a fearful tempest of fire and blood.
"What were your feelings, Creggan?" I asked.
"You mean," he answered, "when we ranged up to fight the Chinese
flag-ship?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well," he replied, "I cannot very well tell you. For to begin with,
the _Matsushima_ had already received her baptism of blood, and I had
shuddered to see men mangled out of all shape of humanity by bursting
shells, and others borne below, leaving here a limb and there a
ghastly arm behind, the blood spurting fountain-like over the faces
and clothes of the bearers.
"It might be my turn next, and that of the brave men who crowded the
barbette.
"Was I afraid?" he continued. "I confess I was. It was something
more than fear that took possession of my soul. I felt a cold terror
creeping round my heart, for I had no hopes of life. Such terror as
this it must be that a doomed man experiences when walking towards
the scaffold with trembling limbs and cold perspiring knees. But I
had prayer to support me. I do not know if you will quite understand
me, when I say that I could see far beyond the awful din and roar and
smoke of battle, see an eye above bidding me be of good cheer,
whether death should come or not.
"Every bullet has it billet. Yes, but a bursting projectile in
modern warfare has not one billet, but a hundred. The destruction
some of these shells cause cannot be grasped by anyone who has not
seen it.
"But here is a curious thing. No sooner did the first great boom of
one of our guns take place, and our huge shell go roaring away on its
mission of destruction, than all fear and terror passed away. I was
as exalted now, although calm, as if I had taken a great dose of
morphia, such as Dr. Grant once gave me.
"The first shot came from the foe--I mean the first that told. We
could see from where I stood the quick, spiteful puff of white smoke
and its awful tongue of red fire, and almost at the same time nearly
every man around me had fallen to the deck with the fearful
concussion as the Chinese projectile struck us almost amidships.
"But now the battle raged fast and furious. Small though we were in
comparison with the Chinaman, we circled around, and hardly did we
fire a shot which did not tell.
"We soon had the intense satisfaction of seeing the _Ting-Yuen_ in
flames. A few more of our shots and a torpedo would have sunk her,
had not her sister ship, the _Chen-Yuen_, come to her and stood by
her.
"The Chinese flag-ship was now unable to work her guns, but if," said
Creggan, "my memory serves me right, it was the last shell she fired
which worked such fearful havoc on board our poor ship.
"This shell was not only terrible in itself, but, bursting near to a
large heap of ammunition, it exploded it, tearing our decks almost to
pieces, and killing or wounding about eighty of our crew.
"I myself escaped that time," he continued.
"Yes," I said, "but you have an empty sleeve."
"True, but it was a shell from another vessel that tore away my
forearm after this.
"But poor honest Goodwin was rent in pieces. I marked his brave
looks but a minute or two before this, next when I saw him he formed
one in that awful heap of carnage, when arms, limbs, heads, and
bodies were huddled together, with stanchions, broken pieces of
conning-tower, all torn up like pasteboard, and the smoke of warfare
rising slowly from the bleeding mass.
"Ah, well! so quick was the death, that honest Goodwin couldn't have
known what hit him.
"Meanwhile the battle raged on, and it was just an hour after this
when I had my own disaster. I felt no pain. There was a bright
flash of light across my eyes, that was all; and I was advancing to
assist in training my gun, when a comrade flung himself towards me.
I was for the moment unaware that I was wounded, but fell fainting to
the deck.
"When I recovered my senses, I was lying in the battery with a
tourniquet around my arm. I was shortly after removed below, and saw
no more of the fearful fight. But I was told that at half-past three
we sank the _King-Yuen_, and after this our fleet, which in its two
divisions, had circled right round the Chinese, causing them great
confusion, hemmed them in.
"The flying squadron passed the _Chih-Yuen_, giving her fits, turned,
swept back again, and finally under its terrible fire she heeled over
and sank with all hands.
"I may say that the carnage in our tops was fearful. Blood spurting
from the dead and dying, and rushing in a red stream adown the masts.
"Owing to their wonderful strength and fourteen-inch armour belts,
the Chinese flag-ship and her sister, though utterly wrecked and
riddled as to their upper works, continued to float and fight to the
end.
"The Chinamen had certainly fought well, but shortly before sunset
thought they had had enough of it and fled. Our flying squadron
followed, peppering them as they went, but just as gloaming was
descending on the now gray sea they were recalled, and thus ended the
ever-memorable naval battle of the Yalu river."
* * * * * * * * * * *
This brilliant Japanese victory, reader, had a great effect on the
campaign on land.
"Even without it," says the historian, "Japan's military superiority
was so overwhelming and China's collapse so complete, that no single
event could have altered the fortunes of the war. But the crushing
defeat of the Chinese fleet, and the consequent command of the sea
held by the Japanese, facilitated all their operations, and enabled
them to land their armies when and where they chose, and to conceive
bold plans of campaign, which would have been too hazardous without
such a naval supremacy."
I must refer the reader who is interested in the subsequent triumphs
of Japanese soldiers to books on history. And these are plentiful
enough.
* * * * * * * * * * *
One day about six weeks after the fearful fight in which Creggan had
lost his forearm, the British paddle-frigate _Osprey_ hove in sight,
and both our chief hero and the Duckling, who, by the way, had come
through the fiery ordeal all safe and unscathed, were transferred
once more to their floating home.
They were both very sorry indeed to bid adieu to the brave Japs.
Every officer was a gentleman, and had treated them with the greatest
kindness.