“Well, then, here goes. You have not seen the place, I suppose?”
“No.”
“Well, the mouth of the river is strongly fortified, especially on the north side, where there is a big casemated fort with earthworks, mounting altogether some fifty guns of different sizes. A third of a mile farther up the river is the inner fort, which is very strong, but smaller than the other, and mounts about thirty guns. An earthwork covered–way connects the two forts, and the parapet is pierced for many small guns. On the south side, extending a mile along the shore, are a number of casemated batteries, mounting about one hundred and twenty guns. These are good guns, and for the most part modern. There is also an inner fort a mile inland, built for the defence of the main magazines.
“All these fortifications consist of earthworks with cement and concrete galleries. They are wonderfully well built; certainly as good as any I have ever seen. You see, mud is the usual substance with which they build houses in China, and they are wonderfully clever with it. At many points of the fortification there are high and very powerful redoubts, which carry at their angles very big modern guns, mostly Krupp quick–firers. All these forts seem to have been designed by foreigners; I donʼt think the Chinese would ever have been up to such work if they hadnʼt had foreign instructors. Apparently, however, they sacked these fellows when they had finished the batteries, and themselves carried out the rest of the work. There hasnʼt been any regular garrison in these forts for some years, but officials and hangers–on have resided there. When the row began, however, troops came marching in, and we calculated that at the time of the bombardment they were occupied by some eight thousand men. I fancy they were good soldiers, for they came from Hunan, which province is considered to turn out the best soldiers in China. Their general, Liu, came from the same place.
“Unfortunately the water near the forts is very shoal, and war–vessels that drew twenty feet of water were obliged to heave–to five miles off the bar; that is to say, ten miles off the forts. By the fifteenth there were twenty–five foreign men–of–war here—British, French, German, Austrian, Russian, Italian, and Japanese. An American ship came up a day or two before the battle. It was difficult getting news so far out, so the admiralʼs light–draught yacht anchored close outside the bar, and they ran a wire into the destroyer Fame, which was anchored just outside the fort. By this means despatches were wired out to the yacht, and either flashed or semaphored to the fleet. A mile above the fort was the Imperial naval yard and docks, and lying moored to the wharves were four very fine thirty–two–knot German–built destroyers, with full Chinese crews on board.
“During the day before the battle everyone was on the qui vive, for it was known that a summons to surrender next day had been sent in to the forts. Only two trains were despatched for Tientsin, and both these had to be worked by engineers from the fleet, for all the Chinese had disappeared. A large Japanese force was landed from their ship, and encamped by the side of the railway at Tongku, two miles from the forts. Later in the day they shifted camp to the other side of the railway, to make room for a large Russian infantry force that had just come in from Port Arthur. Two hundred blue–jackets from our ships encamped near them in the evening, at the head of the road to the forts. A train came down from Tientsin in the afternoon containing a number of foreigners, principally women and children, who at once took shelter on some merchant steamers lying off the wharves.
“During the day the Fame dropped her end of the wire, and, steaming up the river, took up her station by the four Chinese destroyers in the middle yard. The Algerine, which had been lying between the north and south forts, also moved up the river to a berth about a third of a mile off the inner north fort. A quarter of a mile higher three Russian gun–boats were moored in line; higher still lay the German gun–boats, moored to one of the wharves; and a little lower down was the French Lion. At another wharf higher up lay the Japanese Atago, and higher up the United States paddle–wheel steamer Monocacy. I hope I am not boring you with too many particulars?”
“Not at all, I am much obliged to you for giving me such a good account; I seem to be able to see the whole thing.”
“Well, I must tell you that the Monocacy had been ordered to take no share in the business, but she did useful work in giving shelter to a number of women and children. Although we knew that an ultimatum had been sent in, nobody dreamed that the rumpus was going to begin so soon. We thought that, as usual, messages would be exchanged, and that the thing would drag on a little before anything serious came of it. The Algerine had her ventilators up, masts all standing, and yards crossed. The Germans on the Iltis had landed their boats and ventilators some days before; the Lion had housed her ventilators but still had her yards crossed. At nine oʼclock a long searchlight train went out under the command of Lieutenants Kirkpatrick and Riley, with the twelve–pounder Hotchkiss, two Maxims, and a hundred men—German, British, and French. It was stoked by British blue–jackets, and was driven by a German engineer from the Iltis.
“All watched the glare of the searchlight for about three hours, till it disappeared across the plain in the direction of Tientsin. Then all who were on the port watch turned in. We had scarcely got into our hammocks when there was the boom of a heavy gun, and you can imagine how quickly we all jumped into our clothes again and ran on deck. We could see that the inner north fort was firing, and guessed that the Algerine, which was lying nearest to her, was the target. No return shot came from her, and it was evident that she was taken as much by surprise as we were. Bom, bom, bom went the big guns. It was about five minutes before the Algerine replied, and shortly afterwards the three Russian gun–boats returned the fire, and the Iltis and the Lion also joined in.