The weather had cleared somewhat during the afternoon, but when, at a
few minutes before five o'clock, the _Mikasa_ made the signal for the
destroyer flotilla to weigh and proceed, the clouds had gathered afresh,
and it was looking as wild as ever. It was exactly five o'clock when
the _Asashio_, followed by the _Kasanumi_, led the way out to sea; and
as we began to move, the Admiral signalled us: "Go in and sink the
enemy's fleet. I pray for your success."
The Elliot group of islands, from which we started upon our great
adventure, is situated some sixty miles north-east of Port Arthur, and
within some seven or eight miles of the mainland. Our nearest and best
way, therefore, under ordinary circumstances, would have been to creep
down the coast close inshore. But this would have involved our passing
Dalny on the way, and there were the Russian destroyers, which were said
to patrol as far as that place every night, to be reckoned with. We did
not desire to encounter them on the way, and so afford them a chance to
slip back to Port Arthur and give the alarm; our object was to get in
between them and Port Arthur, and so cut off their retreat. Also, we
had decided to approach Port Arthur from the south-west, so as to give
the idea that we were the Russian boats returning after a scouting
excursion in the offing; we therefore headed due south at the start, our
speed being fifteen knots, which was later increased to twenty-two, as
the course which we had decided upon took us far out of our way and
nearly doubled the distance to be run.
The sun disappeared beneath the horizon in a heavy squall of rain, the
wind breezed up fiercely, and it was piercingly cold. The night shut
down upon us dark as a wolf's mouth, the only relief to the intense
blackness being the phosphorescence of the bow wave as it swept, roaring
and scintillating away to port and starboard, and the faint gleam of a
shrouded lamp which each vessel bore at her taffrail as a guide to the
craft next astern of her. Well, so much the better; the darker the
night, the better for our purpose; only I fervently wished that the
water had not been so brilliantly phosphorescent, for in the intense
darkness the gleam of it was visible for quite a considerable distance,
and I feared that, if the Russians were keeping a sharp lookout, it
would prematurely reveal our approach. We had cleared for action before
getting under way, and each boat carried two torpedoes in her tubes, her
guns loaded, and ammunition ready to pass up on deck at a moment's
notice.
Hour after hour we steamed on, describing the arc of a big semi-circle
as we altered our course from time to time, until at length we were
heading west-nor'-west for Port Arthur; and during the whole time we had
not sighted a craft of any description.
At length, about half-past ten, the darkness ahead seemed to grow
blacker than ever, and turning to Ito, who stood beside me on the
bridge, 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 doubt
that is the high land on either side of Port Arthur; and--ha! there is
the Pinnacle Rock light, straight ahead. By Jingo! as the honourable
English say, Captain Matsunaga has `hit it off splendidly.' And see
there,"--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 part
company. Yes; there they go; and now, as again the honourable English
say, `we shan't be long.'"
I shivered involuntarily. A quarter of an hour more and that blackness
ahead would be pierced by the blinding rays of the inexorable
searchlights and stabbed by the fierce flashing of artillery, the glare
of bursting shells, and the radiance of star rockets. And we should be
in 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 already
learned that the Japanese soldier or sailor is absolutely the most
fearless creature in existence. He fears death as little as he fears
sleep, provided that it comes to him in the service of his Emperor and
his country. To die for his Emperor, indeed, who is to him as a god, is
the very highest honour, the greatest glory, that the male Japanese can
look forward to. He faces such a death with the same pure joy, the same
exaltation, that the early Christian martyrs displayed when they were
led forth to die for their faith. It was this spirit, this eagerness,
this enthusiasm to die in battle, that caused the enormous losses
suffered 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 who
was animated by no more lofty sentiment than the desire to do my duty to
the 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 the
conviction that I should not disgrace myself by any exhibition of craven
fear, but what I dreaded was that in the excitement of the moment I
should get "nervy," lose my head (if only figuratively), and perhaps
forget to do something that I ought to do, to miss some opportunity that
I ought to see and seize. "Brace up, Paul!" I said to myself, "pull
yourself together for the honour of the dear homeland; forget all about
yourself, 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 to
be carried out as I had planned it; and in a moment all my anxiety
vanished, I was my own man again, mentally planning what I would do; and
from that moment I felt as cool and collected and keen as was Ito who
stood beside me.
As the tail lights of the 4th and 5th Divisions of the flotilla vanished
in the darkness on our port quarter, the _Asashio's_ signal lantern
began winking again, and Ito read off and translated the message to me:
"Reduce speed to twelve knots. Be ready to show signal lanterns if
required. When I starboard helm, Division one will follow me, while
Divisions two and three will port helm and sheer off to the eastward."
A single flash from our own carefully shrouded signal lanterns informed
the Commodore that the message had been read and understood, and all was
opaque darkness once more. The rain had by this time cleared off and
the atmosphere was much clearer, so clear indeed that the outlines of
the hills ahead showed with tolerable distinctness, and the water was
getting smoother.
The lighthouse light was showing very bright and clear by this time, and
two or three other and much dimmer lights, like those of houses, showed
here and there in the shadow of the hills. The gap between the hills
which marked the harbour entrance was also visible, while a faint glare
in the sky to the right of it showed that Port Arthur was still awake.
But everything seemed absolutely peaceful, and there were no signs of
that 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 it
disappeared altogether for a moment, and I saw a great black shadow that
seemed to rapidly increase in size as I stared at it. Then I glimpsed
at the base of the shadow the ghostly gleam of phosphorescent foam, such
as is piled up by the bows of a ship travelling at speed, and high above
it a rolling, swirling cloud of blackness spangled with evanescent
sparks which, a moment later, I saw was issuing from three of a group of
five 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, stand
by! Quartermaster, light those two signal lanterns, white above red,
bend them on to the signal halliards, and stand by to hoist away when I
give the word."
"Yes," agreed Ito, his voice tense with excitement; "she has seen and
intends to speak us. See, she has stopped her engines, and is hailing
the _Asashio_! What a jolly, bloomin' chance," (Ito was very proud of
his command of English slang, and availed himself of every possible
opportunity to air it) "to honourably torpedo her! Will the honourable
Swinburne augustly grant the humblest of his servants permission to do
so?"
"Heavens! no, man," I exclaimed, "not for worlds. And I pray that
Matsunaga may also have the sense to refrain from doing so."
"But why, my honourable friend; why?" demanded Ito, literally dancing
with eagerness and impatience.
"Because, don't you see, my honourable duffer, that if we did so the
explosion would put all Port Arthur, and the fleet too, on the _qui
vive_ long before we could get at them, and thus spoil our chances of
bagging the battleships?" I replied. "No, certainly not. Let the
cruiser 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 honourably
right, of course. Aha! there goes the cruiser. The honourable Captain
Matsunaga has evidently honourably satisfied her. He honourably speaks
Russian like a native."
It was an exciting moment; but, tense as it was, I could not help being
amused at the pertinacity with which Ito, like all the Japanese, dragged
in the word "honourable" upon every possible and impossible occasion.
It arises, of course, out of the desire, drilled into them, generation
after generation, to be extremely polite; and doubtless when speaking in
their own tongue, the word is never unsuitably used; but when they
undertake to talk English, it is frequently pitchforked into the
conversation in the most incongruous and even ludicrous fashion, and I
decided that it would only be kind to give Ito a lesson upon the
absurdity of employing it inappropriately. The opportunity came a few
minutes later.
The _Askold_, apparently satisfied with Captain Matsunaga's explanation,
put her helm hard a-starboard and swept on, presently vanishing in the
darkness; and a minute or two later the _Asashio_ made the signal for
the Divisions to separate as arranged, starboarding her helm as she did
so and leading Number 1 Division to the westward, while Divisions 2 and
3 ported and swerved sharply away to the eastward.
"The critical moment is at hand," said I. "Be so good, Mr Ito, as to
go 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 he
might be "honourably" permitted to take charge of and fire the torpedoes
himself. I considered for a moment. The man who might chance to score
a hit in the coming attempt would gain immense kudos, I knew, and, in
all probability, promotion also. By rights, of course, Ito's station
should be by me, to take my place should I chance to be hit; but he was
just as liable to be hit on the bridge as anywhere else; also it would
be doing him a kindness to grant his request. So:
"Now, look here, Ito," I said, "it is of paramount importance that the
men in charge of the tubes to-night should be first-rate shots, and as
cool as cucumbers; for, hit or miss, I do not suppose we shall be
afforded a chance to discharge more than the two torpedoes already in
our tubes; therefore they must both hit. Now, are you a good shot with
the torpedo?"
Ito solemnly assured me that there was not a better torpedo shot than
himself in the whole Japanese fleet.
"And is your nerve all right? I mean, are you perfectly cool?" I
demanded.
"As cool as the honourable cucumber," he asserted. "Feel my unworthy
hand."
I could not help laughing. Here was the inevitable "honourable" being
dragged in again. I seized his hand and held it loosely in mine for a
few seconds. It was firm and steady as a rock.
"Good!" I said. "You will do, Ito. Go down and work the tubes, my
boy, and see that you excel yourself to-night. And, Ito, if you love
me, do not, for heaven's sake, forget to withdraw the honourable safety
pin from the honourable fan before you honourably fire the honourable
torpedo, or you will make no honourable hits this honourable night. Do
you honourably take me?"
There! I had fired off my little joke on Ito; illustrated to him, I
fondly 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 to
do his honourable best," he gravely answered; and the next moment was
"honourably" descending the bridge ladder to the deck. My miserable
attempt at jocularity had absolutely missed fire; the dear, innocent
fellow 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 frowning
cliffs away to starboard; and a second or two later a long, brilliant
beam of intensely white light shot out from one of the black shapes and
slowly swept hither and thither, now striking the heaving surface of the
black water, and anon vividly illumining one of her sisters. Our orders
had been not to discharge at a higher range than five hundred metres.
Slowly, the beam swept round toward us until it halted and rested
steadily upon a great lump of a craft that towered out of the water like
a castle, almost immediately between itself and us. Luckily, the
dazzling light itself was hidden from our eyes by the bulk of the ship
upon which it rested, but it invested her with a sort of halo of
radiance against which she stood out black and grim, a perfect
silhouette. She was a big craft, evidently a battleship, with a lofty
superstructure, three big funnels cased half-way up, a long overhanging
bridge, and two stout military masts with fighting tops, and two yards
across each. She was just within range, and, seizing a megaphone, I was
in the act of raising it to my lips to order Ito to let fly at her, when
I saw a long, silvery shape flash out from our after-deck, and a few
seconds later a great cone of water leaped into the air and fell like a
deluge 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 the
extreme gratification of knowing that the little _Kasanumi's_ first
Whitehead had got home.
The explosion was quickly followed by several others; and in the midst
of them a sudden transformation took place. The pitchy darkness gave
way to the glare of a perfect network of searchlight beams streaming out
from ship after ship and from the cliffs above, sweeping here, there,
and everywhere, lighting up the fleet, the cliffs, the channel leading
to the harbour, the lighthouse, everything, in fact, except our
destroyers, which they all seemed to miss in the most miraculous way.
Excited shouts came pealing across the water to us from the decks of the
various ships, boatswains' whistles shrilled, order after order was
hoarsely bellowed, and with a rattling crash of gun-fire a perfect
tempest of projectiles was sent hurtling out to sea from the now
thoroughly awakened and panic-stricken Russians, not a solitary shot of
which came anywhere near us; for the enemy seemed to have not the
slightest idea of our actual whereabouts. And then, to add to the
turmoil and confusion, the forts on the cliffs above opened fire with
their heavy guns, and we heard the shells go muttering angrily far
overhead, 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 again
caught the flash of one of our Whiteheads as it leapt outward and
plunged 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 himself
stood 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 means
immediate promotion for you, Ito; for you may rest assured that, if we
get out of this alive, I will not fail to report to the Admiral what you
have 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 my
excitement, have forgotten to withdraw the pins before firing the
torpedoes. As it was, I very nearly did so when firing the first, but
luckily your warning flashed into my mind at the very instant when I was
about to fire. I am afraid that many of our men have forgotten that
essential; for although all the torpedoes must be by this time
discharged, I do not think that many ships have been hit."
I had noticed the same thing myself, and was about to say so, but at
this moment the Russian ships opened fire with their heavy guns, and
conversation, which up to now had been difficult enough, became quite
impossible owing to the deafening din. But I observed that the ships
and batteries were all firing out to sea, whereas our destroyers were by
this time between the fleet and the land, completely absorbed in the
deep shadow of the lofty cliffs, so that up to that moment I believed we
had remained unseen. Then the _Asashio_ flashed the signal for Number 1
Division to retire at full speed, putting her helm hard a-port as she
did so, for by this time we were running parallel with the shore on the
west side of the harbour, and a few minutes more would have taken us to
the harbour's mouth, which was now brilliantly illuminated by the rays
of some half a dozen searchlights, which it was essential for us to
avoid if we wished to escape instant annihilation.
It was at this moment, when I was eagerly taking note of the most
distinctive features of the harbour entrance, brought thus prominently
into view--with the idea that such knowledge as I might then be able to
acquire might prove useful at some future time--that three destroyers,
coming out of the harbour at full speed, rushed across the illuminated
area and, turning sharp round the Pinnacle Rock, headed almost directly
toward us. A single glance sufficed to show that they were Russian
craft, for they were of a different model from ours, and their four
funnels were arranged differently from ours, being in pairs.
For a moment I believed that they saw and were about to engage us, I
therefore laid my hand upon Ito's arm to attract his attention, pointed
to 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 Captain
Matsunaga showed that he was as wideawake as the rest of us, by plumping
a 12-pound and three 6-pound shells into her. Then came our turn, and
we did the same, each of the four Japanese boats in turn firing all the
guns that would bear upon each of the three Russian boats as they came
up, without receiving a single shot in return; for, strange as it may
seem, the Russians appeared to have no suspicion of our whereabouts
until we actually fired upon them.
But perhaps we should have been wiser had we allowed our valour to be
tempered with discretion, and refrained from attacking the enemy's
destroyers; for the flashes of our guns, low down near the surface of
the water, were instantly observed by a hundred sharp eyes, eagerly
seeking the whereabouts of the elusive enemy, and almost immediately
every searchlight on ship and shore swept round until it rested full
upon us, thereafter inexorably following our every movement, while a
perfect tornado of shell and rifle-fire hissed and whined about our
ears. But for this, it might have been not very difficult for us to
have inflicted further damage upon the battleships and cruisers; but as
it was, there was only one thing to be done, namely, to effect our
escape with the utmost expedition, if, indeed, escape were still
possible; for to remain until fresh torpedoes could be got up on deck
and placed in the tubes, would mean our swift and certain destruction
before the opportunity came for us to work further mischief. As it was,
it was simply miraculous that we were not instantly blown out of the
water; for, with a dozen or more searchlights bearing full upon us, we
were as plainly visible as though it had been broad daylight; yet,
strange to say, not a shot struck any of us, a circumstance which can
only be accounted for upon the assumption that the Russian gunners were
so 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 of
their tremendously powerful engines, the water cleft by their sharp bows
curling almost to the height of the navigating bridges and drenching the
occupants with spray, while flames roared out of all four of their
funnels as the stokers below toiled like fiends to feed the furnaces and
maintain a full head of steam. To add to our difficulties, the glare of
so many searchlights directed full upon us dazzled our sight to blinding
point, so that it was only with the greatest difficulty we were able to
find our way. The formation in which the Russian fleet was moored
helped us, however, for we presently found ourselves rushing across the
bows of their weathermost line, and we steered accordingly.
Then, quite unexpectedly, we came upon the three Russian destroyers
again; 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 the
line, and the gauntlet was almost run, for as we drew out to seaward the
inshore ships were compelled to cease fire for fear of hurting their
friends instead of us. There was but one more ship to pass; and as we
drew near to her I saw that she had a decided list to port, and was
floating so deep aft that her "admirals' walk," or stern gallery, was
very nearly submerged. Steam was roaring from her safety valves, and as
we came up to her a small curl of water under her bows and a swirl at
her stern showed that she was under way. It was the _Tsarevich_,
heading for the harbour, evidently in a sinking condition, and we had
the satisfaction of knowing that by that night's work we had put at
least one of the Russian battleships _hors de combat_. Her crew were
much too busy to pay any attention to us; and a quarter of an hour later
we were beyond the zone of that awful, merciless fire, and were heading
south-east for Mokpo, where we had been ordered to rendezvous.
We did not, of course, at that time know the extent of the damage that
we had succeeded in inflicting upon the Russian fleet; but trustworthy
information reached us later, that the _Tsarevich_ had been struck aft,
the torpedo blowing a big hole in her hull and flooding her steering
compartment to such an extent that her captain had been obliged to beach
her to prevent her from sinking. The _Retvisan_ had been struck
amidships, and a large hole blown in her pump compartment, rendering it
necessary that she also should be beached in order to save her. Those
two battleships constituted the _Kasanumi's_ share of the bag; and very
pleased we were with ourselves when the news became known, since those
two ships were far and away the best in the Russian fleet, and the loss
of them, even if it should prove to be only temporary, was a very
serious 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 was
made--by which I mean our unsuspected approach, and the time which
elapsed before the searchlights actually found us--we had not done a
great deal more. For Divisions 1, 2, and 3, which had attacked the
Russian fleet, consisted in all of ten destroyers, each of which had
discharged two torpedoes--twenty in all. And of those twenty, only
four, 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 the
explanation, had I been asked to do so; and it would have been this: The
night was bitterly cold; so cold, indeed, that the spray froze as it
fell upon us, and the weather was simply atrocious; the result being
that by the time the flotilla arrived in Port Arthur roadstead, the
limit of even Japanese physical endurance had been almost, if not quite,
reached. Most of our deck hands had been more or less severely
frost-bitten, not only their bodies, but also their minds were benumbed
by the arctic severity of the weather, and thus it came to pass (at
least so I reasoned it out) that when the moment for action arrived
their faculties, between physical suffering and mental excitement,
became so confused that many of them made the mistake against which I
had warned Ito, and failed to withdraw the safety pin before discharging
their torpedoes, thus rendering the missiles ineffective. This was also
Ito's opinion, you will remember.
By the time that we reached Mokpo we were all in a most deplorable
condition, nearly half of the deck hands of the expedition being
compelled to go into hospital suffering from frost-bite, a few of the
cases being of so severe a character that the patients lost either their
hands or their feet, while one man lost all four members, and narrowly
escaped dying outright. Ito and I were somehow lucky enough to escape
without serious injury, but we both developed virulent attacks of
inflammation of the lungs, which put us _hors de combat_ for nearly
three weeks. But there is no doubt that our recovery was greatly
facilitated by the intimation, which reached us while we were still in
hospital, that we had both been promoted to the rank of Commander.
Meanwhile, things had been happening at Port Arthur and elsewhere. On
the morning following our attack, Togo sent three fast cruisers in
toward the fortress to reconnoitre; and these ships having discovered
pretty much how matters stood there, and reported to the Admiral, the
whole 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 for
the others. The weather had changed, and was now bright and
comparatively warm, the atmosphere so clear that even comparatively
small objects were clearly visible.
The _Mikasa_ opened the ball by firing a sighting shot from one of the
12-inch guns in her fore barbette, and at the same moment the Russian
ships were seen to be getting under way. At low speed the Japanese
fleet steamed past the port in "line ahead," firing as they went, and
after an engagement lasting some forty minutes, drew off, hoping that
the Russian fleet would follow them, but in this they were disappointed.
Our ships were hit several times and sustained a certain amount of
damage, but, luckily, not of a serious character. It was reported that
we lost four killed and fifty-four wounded, none of the wounds being
serious enough, however, to necessitate the men being sent ashore to the
hospital. It was some time before reliable information reached us as to
the extent of the damage sustained by the Russians, but when it came it
was 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 blowing
her bows open; the _Petropavlosk_ and _Pobieda_ were also hit, though
not seriously; our old friend, the _Askold_, was hit on the waterline
and set on fire, as was also the _Diana_; while the _Novik_, which had
steamed out toward our fleet, was sent flying back with her rudder
damaged, so that they had to steer her with her propellers. This affair
caused Admiral Stark to be superseded; his successor being Admiral
Makarov, said to be the finest seaman Russia then possessed. At the
same time General Kuropatkin was appointed commander of the Russian land
forces.
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 she
had practically completed her work when the disaster happened. Her
mission was to sow Dalny Bay with four hundred contact mines, in order
to prevent the Japanese from using the bay as a landing-place for
troops. She had successfully laid all but two of the four hundred
mines; but when the three hundred and ninety-ninth mine was launched
overboard, it floated, instead of sinking to its prescribed depth. The
captain of the ship is said to have opened fire upon it with his light
guns, to explode it; and in this he appears to have been only too
successful, since it not only exploded but also blew up the ship, which
sank almost immediately, most of her crew going down with her. And on
the following day the small cruiser _Boyarin_ went ashore in Dalny Bay,
and became a total wreck. Thus in less than a week the Port Arthur
fleet 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 Port
Arthur, Admiral Togo arranged for a repetition of the experiment on the
night of 13th February, and the attempt duly came off, the 4th and 5th
Divisions of the destroyer flotilla being this time told off to conduct
the attack. These divisions, consisting of eight boats, had not
participated in the previous attack, and Togo no doubt wished to give
them an opportunity to acquire _kudos_, and, at the same time, by
arousing their emulation, spur them on to outvie our performance.
Unfortunately, however, for the expedition, the weather was even worse
than that with which we had had to contend: the cold was intense, a gale
was blowing, a tremendously heavy sea was running, and, to cap it all, a
terrific snow blizzard was raging. The result of this combination of
adverse conditions was that the destroyers very soon lost touch with
each 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 her
captain, Commander Isakawa, believed had got home--and then fled,
encountering an enemy's launch on the way, and sinking her. The
explosion of the _Asigiri's_ torpedoes of course raised an alarm,
searchlights flashed wildly hither and thither, gunners blazed away
madly, and so great was the panic that several of the Russian destroyers
opened 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 a
cruiser before he fled. But it seemed very doubtful whether, after all,
either of the Japanese boats did much damage; for when the Japanese
cruisers reconnoitred next day, none could be detected.
Then, on the night of 23rd February, all the Russian ships being inside
Port Arthur, Togo sent in five steamers, under Commander Arima, whose
instructions were that they were to be sunk across the harbour entrance,
in such positions as would effectually block the passage. But their
approach was prematurely discovered, and so terrific a fire was opened
upon them from the batteries that two were sunk, while the other three,
their steering gear being shot away, went ashore outside. The attempt
was 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, the
Japanese fleet made a second attack upon Port Arthur, bombarding the
town 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 was
inconsiderable; and at length, in accordance with his instructions to on
no account risk his battleships by engaging the forts, Togo felt himself
obliged to retire.