By dint of wheedling entreaty and the most lavish promises on my part
that I would on no account attempt to do any actual work, I succeeded in
inducing the doctor to discharge me from the hospital on the second day
after the departure of the Admiral, with General Oku's transports, to
Pi-tse-wo.
I was discharged shortly after eleven o'clock in the morning, and was
conveyed in a hand ambulance down to the landing-place, where my boat
was waiting for me, having been semaphored for, the instant that I
obtained my discharge. I was glad to find myself aboard my own little
ship once more; and the crew seemed to be as glad to see me as I was to
see them; for it appeared that during my absence the _Kasanumi_ had been
employed upon nothing but patrol work, which was not at all to the taste
of my lads. Young Hiraoka, my lieutenant, seemed keenly disappointed
when he learned that our most exciting work, for some time to come, was
to be the construction of the long boom; but philosophically remarked
that no doubt as soon as the Russians learned what we were about, we
should have a few of their destroyers paying us a call, when we might
hope for a little fun.
By the time that I got aboard, it was noon; and I at once signalled the
transports, asking how soon they could be ready to start. The reply was
that, not expecting to be called upon to go to sea so soon, their fires
were all out--but boilers were full and fires laid, and they could have
steam in three hours; whereupon I made the signal to light fires at
once, and report when they were ready to move. Then I got into a
reclining chair under the awning aft, and, having partaken of a hasty
luncheon, treated myself to a snooze, since I expected to be up all
night.
We all got under way shortly after three o'clock in the afternoon, and,
having cleared the harbour, headed away north-west for the Elliot group.
The weather was, for a wonder, beautifully fine, no fog, very few
clouds, brilliant sunshine, very little wind, and the water as smooth as
a mill pond; consequently we made very good progress, although the speed
of the slowest transport was only ten knots, and of course the rest of
us had to regulate our pace by hers. Had the weather been threatening I
should of course have been anxious, but the barometer stood high, and as
even at ten knots the passage would only occupy about thirteen hours, I
felt quite easy in my mind.
The trip across the Yellow Sea was made without mishap or adventure
until we arrived within about twelve miles of our destination. The
night was still gloriously fine, the water smooth, the stars brilliant,
and the moon, within about an hour of setting, hung in the western sky,
spreading a broad path of silver on the surface of the gently heaving
sea. It was a few minutes after four bells in the middle watch when,
having been dozing for some time in my chair, which had been taken up to
the bridge for my convenience, I scrambled to my feet and began to pace
to and fro, for I was feeling somewhat chilly, although wrapped in a
good warm ulster.
The beauty of the night fascinated me. It was so calm and peaceful, and
the air, although a trifle cool, was yet bland, as though it were a
breath of the coming summer; and, looking back upon what we had been
called upon to endure of storm and darkness, and bitter, numbing cold
and wet, I rejoiced that summer was at hand, hoping that, before winter
came again, there would be peace, and that our nightly buffetings by
arctic winds, hail, snow, and icy seas would be at an end.
As these thoughts passed through my mind, my gaze fixed itself
contemplatively on the broad path of silver--now imperceptibly changing
to liquid gold--cast upon the surface of the sea by the setting moon;
and, as I gazed, I gradually became aware of a tiny black object, about
a mile away, on our port bow, rising and falling with the lazy heave of
the swell. In that mine-strewn sea the smallest and least conspicuous
floating object demanded one's instant and most careful attention, and
whipping my binoculars out of the case, strapped to the bridge rail, I
quickly focused them upon it. Through the glasses it looked very like
the top of a ship's galley funnel, though not quite so stout, and it was
moving as though to cross our hawse, for with the help of the glasses I
could see the little ripple of scintillating foam it piled up before it.
I knew in an instant what it was, for I had seen submarines before, and
at once recognised the slender object forging through the water out
yonder as the upper portion of a submarine's periscope.
Of course she had seen us, probably a good half-hour before, or she
would not be submerged; and the course she was steering indicated that
she was bent upon mischief.
I congratulated myself upon having sighted her in good time before
entering her danger zone, for the _Kasanumi_ was about a mile ahead of
the main body of our little fleet, and I felt that I should have time to
deal with her before the others came up. The question was: would she
attack the destroyer, or would she allow us to pass and reserve her
energies for the transports, under the impression that they were
carrying troops? It was impossible to guess, and it would never do to
take any chance; I therefore pointed out the periscope to young Hiraoka,
told him what it was, and then ordered him to go down quietly, have the
hands called, and get all guns loaded. The thought of trying to get in
a torpedo before the Russian discharged hers, occurred to me; but I
decided against it, as some of our torpedoes had a trick of running
erratically.
Meanwhile, we continued to potter along at ten knots, as though we had
seen nothing and had not so much as the ghost of a suspicion that
submarines were in our neighbourhood. There was but one, so far as I
could see; and indeed until that moment we never suspected the Russians
of having any in those seas, although vague rumours--which we had never
been able to substantiate--had reached us of submarines having been
brought overland to Port Arthur from Petersburg in sections.
With my eyes glued to my binoculars, and my binoculars focused steadily
upon that small pole-like object protruding a bare two feet above that
shimmering, silvery sheen of water, I directed the signalman near me to
ring down the order to the engine-room to "Stand by"; and then to fetch
our wireless operator to me. In a few words I explained the situation
to this youngster, when he came, and gave him his orders, while the
sounds of Hiraoka's preparations came to my ears.
Suddenly, as I watched the periscope every moment becoming more
distinct, I noticed that the ripple of foam about it was steadily
lessening, and presently it disappeared altogether. The submarine had
evidently stopped her engines, and was lying in wait, either to torpedo
us as we passed, or to permit us to pass on unsuspecting, and then get
in her work upon the transports. It was a bit of luck which I had not
dared to hope for, and I instantly made my plans. Steadily the
_Kasanumi_ held on, as though utterly unsuspecting, steering a course
which, if continued, would take us athwart the submarine's hawse at a
distance of about three hundred yards, or less than half the effective
range of her torpedo.
Was she stealthily altering her position under water, turning her bows
toward us, so as to torpedo us the moment we should arrive within range,
or was she trusting that her presence was undetected, and waiting
patiently for the moment when we should cross her bows as she lay? The
latter, I believed, for she could not cant toward us without going
either ahead or astern, and she could not do either without her
periscope raising a ripple; and I was certain that nothing of that sort
had happened. I determined to risk something, after all, to put that
submarine out of action, and so held steadily on. At length we arrived
so close that I could see the periscope almost as distinctly without the
glasses as with them, and still intently watching it, I laid my hand on
the engine-room telegraph, carefully estimating the steadily decreasing
distance which separated us from moment to moment.
Six hundred yards. Five hundred. Four-fifty. Four hundred. I crashed
the telegraph handles over to "Full speed ahead!" on both engines, and
never moving my eyes for an instant from the periscope, directed the
helmsman to steer straight for it. The submarine was lying motionless
and inert there, some fifteen feet beneath the surface; and I calculated
that it would take the Russians at least half a minute to realise that
they were discovered, and to get way upon their craft; and by that time
we should be so close to them that it would be impossible for them
either to dive or to turn the submarine bows on to us, much less to
escape. Then, as I felt the destroyer leap forward beneath me, like a
spirited horse at the cut of a whip, I blew my whistle, as a signal to
"Sparks," who instantly wirelessed back to the main body to stop until
further orders, and to keep a sharp lookout for submarines.
Like a greyhound slipped from the leash, the _Kasanumi_ rushed at that
luckless periscope, about which a few bubbles of foam were just
beginning to gather at the moment when our stem, towering over it, hid
it from my sight. The next instant our hull swept over it and of course
snapped it clean off, although we felt no shock whatever, for our
draught of water was too light for our keel to reach the submarine's
conning tower. But by the loss of her periscope the craft was
effectually blinded, and now she was at our mercy, for she _must_ come
to the surface, sooner or later, while, so smooth was the water, the
swirl or wake of her as she forged ahead was clearly perceptible, and
all we now had to do was to follow her until she rose, and then take or
sink her.
As I lost sight of the periscope, I rang down to stop and reverse both
engines, at the same time ordering our helm hard a-port. Then, as we
checked and lost way, we went ahead, first on our port engine and then
on both, at the same time shifting our helm, so as to get into the wake
of the submarine. We managed to do this before quite losing sight of
the disturbance made by her passage through the water; and, this done,
we regulated our pace by hers, maintaining a distance of about fifty
fathoms between her and ourselves. She shifted her helm several times
in an evident attempt to baffle pursuit; but, thanks to the tell-tale
swirl she raised, we were able to follow her; and at length, after a
chase of about three-quarters of an hour, she rose to the surface, the
watertight door of her tower opened, and a man's head appeared.
He looked greatly astonished to see us within a biscuit-toss of him, and
instantly ducked out of sight, leaving the hatch open, however, and we
heard him shouting something to some one in the boat's interior. A few
seconds later another head appeared, stared at us fixedly for a few
seconds--during which young Hiraoka, who had a very fair knowledge of
Russian, hailed him to surrender--and he, too, disappeared. Then, while
we were patiently awaiting further developments, the submarine, which
was still going ahead, suddenly inclined her bows and, before we could
do anything, _dived with her hatch open_! The brave fellows who manned
her, evidently taking a leaf out of their opponents' book, had chosen
death rather than surrender, and had deliberately plunged to the bottom
rather than yield their vessel to us! For, of course, the craft was
never seen again, nor did any of her crew come to the surface, although
we hove-to for an hour or more, and got our boat out in readiness to
pick up any one who might escape from that steel coffin.
I was quite prepared to hear a loud cheer of exultation burst from the
lips of my crew when they realised what had happened. But no. There is
nothing that the Japanese admire more than courage; and such a
deliberate act of devoted self-sacrifice for the honour of one's country
and flag as they had just beheld, called forth merely a low-spoken
murmur of intense, almost envious praise.
We arrived at our destination without further adventure, and dropped
anchor in the roadstead just as the sun rose above the horizon, flooding
the rocky shores of the Elliots with gold, and were heartily greeted by
the few craft which we found lying at anchor there.
Looking back upon our adventure with the Russian submarine, I could not
help regarding it as almost providential that we had encountered her;
for I think there can be very little doubt that when we fell in with her
she must have been on her way to the Elliot archipelago, where, had she
arrived safely, she might have found more than one spot in which she
could have lain _perdu_, to emerge at a favourable moment and destroy at
least one, if not more, of our most precious battleships.
Giving orders for the immediate discharge of the materials for the boom,
at a spot which I selected immediately after we had come to an anchor, I
turned in and slept soundly until past midday, resting again all the
afternoon; so that when evening came I had quite recovered from the
fatigue of the previous night, and was pronounced by the doctor in
charge of the hospital ashore to be progressing toward complete recovery
quite as rapidly as could be reasonably expected, while my wound was
healing in fine style. About four o'clock that afternoon, word was
brought to me that the whole of the materials intended for the
construction of the boom had been landed; and I went ashore to inspect
them. They consisted for the most part of enormous balks of timber and
massive cables; but there were also immense quantities of chain to serve
as lashings, stout staples, iron bars, innumerable bundles of long,
massive, pointed spikes, and thousands of empty casks, stoutly hooped,
without bung-holes, and coated with pitch to ensure permanent
watertight-ness. Commander Tsuchiya, whom I had placed in charge of the
discharging operations, had done his work well, stacking the various
items each by itself, and keeping a careful account of the quantities of
each. He handed me a copy of his list, and after I had inspected the
whole of the material, I returned to my ship and sat down to plan out
the details of the construction of the boom, which, with the list of the
quantities before me, was a comparatively easy task.
Dawn of the following day found us all ready to make a start, and with
Tsuchiya again as my principal _aide_, we quickly got to work, pressing
every available hand into the service. Many hands make light and quick
work, especially where those hands are willing, but I was astonished at
the ardour and zest which those handy little Japanese seamen manifested;
they toiled untiringly all through that long, hot day, with the result
that, when we knocked off at nightfall, we had considerably more than
half a mile of that boom put together and secured in position by
ponderous anchors and stout chain cables.
We were hard at work upon the boom again when, during the afternoon of
the following day, our battle fleet returned from Pi-tse-wo, after
covering the landing of General Oku's army. The fleet steamed in
between the islands and Cape Terminal on the mainland, toward which we
were running the boom; and my friend Ijichi, the skipper of the
_Mikasa_, told me, with a laugh, that when the little Admiral first saw
the boom and made out what it was, he could hardly credit his eyes. He
had been under the impression that I was still in hospital, and would
probably not be able to get to work for a week or more. Yet there I
was, as large as life, in a picket boat, with my head still swathed in a
bandage, superintending operations, and clearly recognisable with the
assistance of a pair of binoculars. And when at the close of the day I
went aboard the flagship to report myself, Togo did not hesitate to let
me understand how intensely gratified he was at the progress which we
had made.
Meanwhile, I was fast progressing toward complete recovery; and on the
day following the return of the fleet to the Elliots, the bandage was
removed from my head, and I was pronounced to be practically all right
once more. And, to add to my gratification, a destroyer arrived from
Sasebo, bringing mails for the fleet, among which were no less than
three delightful letters from my friends the Gordons, at home, and two,
equally delightful, from my Sasebo friends, Mr Boyd and his wife.
Those from the Gordons were full of congratulations; for I gathered from
them that a long and circumstantial account of our second attempt to
seal up Port Arthur harbour had appeared in the home newspapers, in
which somewhat conspicuous mention was made of my doings, and my friends
were delighted to learn that I was "so successfully maintaining the
finest traditions of the British Navy," as they were kindly pleased to
put it. My chum, Ronald, was particularly chirpy about it, expressing
in no measured terms the wish that he could have been with me, while he
informed me that, notwithstanding the painful circumstances under which
I had left the _Terrible_--and the British Navy--the officers of that
ship, with only one or two exceptions, had expressed their
gratification, while several of them, whom he named, had desired him to
convey to me their congratulations and good wishes.
During the next day or two excellent progress was made with the
construction of the long boom; and then came a spell of bad weather
which, although it did not hinder the putting together of the sections
of the boom, in the smooth water of the anchorage, rendered it
impossible for us to tow them out and splice them to the portion already
in position. But although the bad weather greatly delayed us in this
way, we did not altogether regret it, for the heavy sea kicked up by the
gales afforded a splendid test of that portion of the boom already in
place, and we were greatly gratified, as we steamed out day after day to
examine it, to find that it had not been damaged or displaced in the
smallest degree.
It was toward the end of the third week of May that the Admiral
signalled me to proceed on board the flagship. It was late in the
afternoon of a thoroughly wretched day; the wind had been blowing hard
from the south'ard for the past three or four days, with almost
incessant rain, and there was a very heavy sea running between the
islands and the main. I had just returned from my second inspection of
the boom that day, and I naturally thought that the signal indicated a
desire on the part of the Admiral to question me in relation to the
stability of the structure. And when I entered his cabin, and he
greeted me with the question:
"Well, Captain Swinburne, how is the boom standing the sea, out yonder?"
I was confirmed in my opinion. But I presently found that I was
mistaken; for when I had told him all that there was to tell about the
boom, and he had expressed his satisfaction, he said:
"By the way, it is Commander Tsuchiya who has been your chief assistant
in this work, is it not?"