Frobisher, knowing the strength of his own ship, with her strongly-reinforced and far-protruding ram, determined to try whether he could not do more wholesale execution with it than with his guns alone; for he could already see that the superior number of the Japanese ships and their consequent heavier weight of metal were beginning to tell severely upon the Chinese fleet. He therefore singled out as his prey the Surawa, one of the smaller protected cruisers, determining to experiment upon her before charging blindly into one of the heavily-armoured ships; for the loss of the Chih’ Yuen, or indeed of any more of the Chinese ships, at this juncture would be fatal to their hopes of gaining a victory.
Accordingly he telegraphed down to the engine-room for full steam, and passed the word “Prepare to ram”. Then, sweeping round in a circle that caused the cruiser to heel at a considerable angle, he set her going at full speed in the direction of his intended victim, firing his fore barbette and machine guns as he went, so as to demoralise her crew and, if possible, prevent them from escaping the blow. A perfect hurricane of lead and steel descended on the Chih’ Yuen’s decks and sides as the ships of the Japanese squadron awoke to what was intended, and in a few seconds her fore-deck was swept bare, as though by a gigantic plane. But the cruiser was well into her stride, and as long as no shot penetrated to her boilers she was bound to carry out her design.
The captain of the Surawa rang frenziedly for full steam ahead, but although the Japanese craft certainly did gather more way, the menacing stem of the Chih’ Yuen followed her, relentless as fate. Then, suddenly, the Surawa plumped into the stern of the Nagasaki, cutting her down to the water-line, and rebounded under the impact, to find the bows of the Chinese ship on the point of cutting into her. The Chih’ Yuen’s men flung themselves to the decks in preparation for the shock, and many of the Surawa’s crew leaped overboard to avoid it.
A second later it came. The Chih’ Yuen sank her iron ram into the side of the smaller craft as irresistibly as a knife sinks into butter, and although the shock was terrific the Chinaman took no harm. The Surawa, on the contrary, heeled over until the sea lapped over the edge of her deck, both her masts snapped like matchwood, and the funnel guys broke, letting the smoke-stack topple into the sea.
“Full speed astern!” roared Frobisher down the speaking-tube, forgetting that the order was in English. The engineers understood—perhaps the command was expected—and slowly the Chih’ Yuen’s destroying ram withdrew itself from the gash in the other cruiser’s side. In less than a minute, so deadly was the wound, the Surawa rolled heavily to port, settled sluggishly on an even keel once more, and then suddenly heeled over again and capsized, her boilers exploding as she did so, and down she went, carrying with her over three hundred of Japan’s bravest hearts.
Frobisher, emboldened by success, looked round for more prey. The Nagasaki, wounded to death by her sunken sister, was slowly settling down; she could be left. Ha! why not try for bigger game—why not try for the flagship, the Yoshino herself? If the Chih’ Yuen’s ram crumpled—well, she would surely destroy the Yoshino as well, and the sacrifice would be worth the gain. By Jove, he would try it! The name of Captain Frobisher should be on men’s lips that day, or he would know the reason why.
A hideous wreck above her gun-deck, with funnel pierced, both masts tottering to their fall, guns dismounted, and planks stained red with the life-blood of many a gallant Chinaman, the Chih’ Yuen quickly gathered sternway, piling the water up in a white, foaming mass under her round counter, while the vengeful guns of the Japanese squadron never ceased to thunder their hatred of the destroyer of two of their ships. Frobisher himself was obliged to relinquish the command to Drake for a few minutes, while the surgeon bound up a bad scalp wound which was blinding him with blood, this having been received from a fragment of flying shell that had managed to penetrate through the observation slit of the conning-tower.
Then, quite by accident, the cruiser added another success to her roll of destruction that day. The enemy’s destroyers had for some time past been hovering round, in the hope of getting home a torpedo which would send a Chinese ship to the bottom, and one of these had considered the opportunity favourable when the Chih’ Yuen was entangled in the wreck of the Surawa. She had stolen up astern, and had come to a standstill a few hundred yards away from the cruiser, intending to send a Whitehead into Frobisher’s stern; but the air-chamber proved to have been leaking, and it became necessary to pump some more air in before the torpedo could be discharged. Her men were so busy attending to this that they did not observe the Chih’ Yuen gathering sternway until it was too late, and they only awoke to their danger as the cruiser’s stern crashed into them, rolled them over, and sent them headlong to the bottom in a wreck of bursting steam-pipes, spilling furnaces, and crumpling machinery.
With a fierce laugh Frobisher pushed away the surgeon, who had finished, and himself seized the spokes of the steering-wheel and spun them over until the cruiser’s bows headed for the Yoshino. Then he rang for full speed ahead.
But the pause between the checking of the Chih’ Yuen’s sternway and her gathering speed ahead would have been fatal had it not been for Drake. Another of those stinging little wasps, the destroyers, had dashed past at full speed, and, although severely punished by the cruiser’s machine-guns, had managed to discharge a torpedo full at her side. The cruiser was helpless, unable to move until her engines had overcome the inertia, and for a few seconds it looked as though nothing could save her. But with a hoarse cry Drake dashed out of the conning-tower, where he was of course assisting Frobisher, ready to take charge if the latter were killed, and without a moment’s hesitation leaped overboard, swimming powerfully toward the rapidly-approaching torpedo.