2nd Affair.
The Matchin Attack.—The second attempt was made on the 25th-26th of May on two Turkish monitors, the Fettu Islam and the Duba Saife, and a small river steamer, the Kilidj Ali, lying at anchor off Matchin.[S]
Four Russian torpedo boats were sent to the attack, viz. the Czarowitch, Lieutenant Doubasoff; the Xénie, Lieutenant Chestakoff; the Djiquite, Midshipman Persine; and the Czarevna, Midshipman Bali. The total number of officers and men carried by these boats on this occasion was forty-six.
The night of the attack was rainy, but not completely dark, since the moon was above the horizon during nearly the whole of the expedition.
The force left Brailoff at one o'clock on the morning of the 26th, and advanced in two columns up the river, finding great difficulty in stemming the strong current.
A boat from the Duba Saife, rowing guard some 500 yards in advance of the squadron, observed the approach of the Russian boats, but allowed them to pass on their voyage of destruction without attempting to stop them, or alarm the vessels. On reaching within 150 yards of the Duba Saife, Dubasoff in the Czarowitch was challenged, and failing to give the correct answer was immediately fired at; but, nothing daunted by the hail of shot and bullets, he dashed on, and succeeded in exploding one of his spar torpedoes on the port side of the Duba Saife, just under her quarter, a column of water and débris being thrown up to a height of 120 feet, which partly filled his boat, but notwithstanding managed to get safely away. The monitor not sinking as soon as expected, Chestakoff in the Xénie dashed in, and completed the work of destruction, the unfortunate ship sinking in a very few minutes after this last explosion. The Djiquite was struck in the stern, and had to be run ashore for repairs, but eventually all four boats reached Brailoff in safety. The Russians allowed to neither killed nor wounded, which, when the time they were exposed to the fire of the three Turkish ships (about twenty minutes), the number of men (forty-six) engaged, and their very close quarters, seems miraculous.
The Duba Saife, thus lost to the Turks, carried two 12 cm. Krupp guns, and a crew of some sixty officers and men, few of whom were saved. Lieutenants Dubasoff and Chestakoff were decorated with the 4th Class of the Cross of Saint George, and three seamen received the insignia of the Order of Military Merit.
This attack was conducted in a most gallant manner, and far more systematically than the Batoum affair. If instead of holding one of the boats in reserve, which was part of Dubasoff's plan, and the remaining three attacking one vessel, the force had divided itself into two parties, and had made a simultaneous attack on both the monitors, the probability is that the Fettu Islam would have shared the fate of her consort.
The officer of the Turkish guard boat was tried by court-martial, but what his ultimate fate was is not generally known. He certainly deserved nothing less than death.