The voyage had hardly been begun when an incident occurred, which has been already narrated, and which astonished the entire world and nearly led to war between Russia and Great Britain. In the North Sea, at the point known as the Dogger Bank, the Russian vessels encountered the Gamecock fishing fleet from Hull, England. The Russian admiral mistook some of the trawlers for torpedo boats and ordered his vessels to fire. One fishing boat was sunk and two men were killed, others being badly wounded.
For some days the excitement in England was intense, and British official documents published later on showed that the two countries were on the point of war, but the crisis was ended by an agreement to refer the incident to an international naval tribunal. This board of inquiry met in Paris, and after a long investigation reported that the Russian contention that hostile torpedo boats were present when the firing took place was not justified. Rozhdestvensky, however, was acquitted of the charge of conduct unbecoming a sailor, and the incident was ultimately closed by the payment of a large money indemnity by Russia.
The Dogger Bank affair caused some delay to the Russian ships, though not nearly as much as Englishmen expected. After leaving the Straits of Gibraltar the fleet divided, one division, under Admiral Rozhdestvensky, proceeding by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the other, under Admiral Vollkersham, going via the Suez Canal. Rozhdestvensky had with him most of the battleships and Voelkersam the majority of the cruisers.
Both squadrons proceeded very slowly, and the reports from time to time regarding their whereabouts were of the most puzzling character. On January 1, however, Rozhdestvensky reached Madagascar, and there he awaited the cruiser squadron. The long time spent there led to renewed assertions that the Admiralty at St. Petersburg would never order the fleet to the Far East. In the middle of March, however, reports were printed that the Russians had sailed. These reports were denied, and then repeated, and at length it was definitely established that the Baltic fleet had sailed.
Fleet Reaches Asiatic Waters
Nothing more was heard of it till April 8, when the news came that the fleet had passed Singapore and was in the China Sea. On entering the China Sea, Admiral Rozhdestvensky sailed directly to Kamranh Bay, on the coast of Indo-China, in French territorial waters. The prolonged stay of the fleet resulted in a vigorous protest from Japan to France, back of which was the possibility that Japan would invoke the Anglo-Japanese alliance, calling upon Great Britain to compel respect of neutrality by France. France, in addition to instructing her representatives in Indo-China to demand that the Russians leave territorial waters, forwarded the protest to Russia.
On the Eve of the Struggle
Admiral Rozhdestvensky, on the eve of the great struggle, had dismissed every unnecessary ship. More than a half hundred colliers and supply ships, which had accompanied the fleet or had met it in the China Sea, were dismissed after the last ton of coal had been stored on the big fighting ships.
| THE RUSSIAN FLEET. | |||||
| Displace- | I. H. P. | Nominal | Gun | Weight of | |
| Name | ment | speed | protection | broadside | |
| —Tons. | —Knots. | —In. | fire—Lbs. | ||
| Kniaz Suvaroff | 13,516 | 16,800 | 18.0 | 11.6 | 4,426 |
| Alexander III | 13,516 | 16,800 | 18.0 | 11.6 | 4,426 |
| Borodino | 13,516 | 16,800 | 18.0 | 11.6 | 4,426 |
| Orel | 13,516 | 16,800 | 18.0 | 11.6 | 4,426 |
| Oslabya | 12,674 | 14,500 | 19.0 | 10.5 | 2,672 |
| Sissoi Veliky | 8,880 | 8,500 | 16.0 | 12.5 | 3,186 |
| Navarin | 9,476 | 9,000 | 16.0 | 12.5 | 3,404 |
| ARMORED CRUISERS. | |||||
| Dmitri D'skoi | 5,893 | 7,000 | 15.0 | 12.2 | 444 |
| Admiral Nakhimoff | 8,500 | 9,000 | 19.0 | 6.0 | 944 |
| PROTECTED CRUISERS. | |||||
| Oleg | 6,675 | 19,500 | 23.0 | 4.0 | 872 |
| Aurora | 6,630 | 11,000 | 20.0 | 4.5 | 632 |
| Svietlana | 3,828 | 8,500 | 20.0 | 4.0 | 476 |
| Almaz | 3,285 | 7,500 | 19.0 | 184 | |
| Jemtchug | 3,200 | 17,000 | 24.0 | 184 | |
| Izumrud | 3,200 | 17,000 | 24.0 | 184 | |
| THE JAPANESE FLEET. | |||||
| Asahi | 15,000 | 15,000 | 18.0 | 14.6 | 4,232 |
| Shikishima | 15,000 | 15,000 | 18.0 | 14.6 | 4,232 |
| Mikasa | 15,000 | 16,000 | 18.0 | 14.6 | 4,232 |
| Fuji | 12,300 | 13,000 | 18.0 | 14.6 | 4,005 |
| ARMORED CRUISERS. | |||||
| Tokiwa | 9,750 | 18,000 | 21.5 | 6.6 | 1,779 |
| Asama | 9,750 | 18,000 | 21.5 | 6.6 | 1,779 |
| Yakumo | 9,850 | 16,000 | 20.0 | 6.6 | 1,679 |
| Azuma | 9,436 | 17,000 | 21.0 | 6.6 | 1,679 |
| Idzuma | 9,800 | 15,000 | 24.7 | 6.6 | 1,779 |
| Iwate | 9,800 | 15,000 | 24.7 | 6.6 | 1,779 |
| Kasuga | 7,853 | 14,000 | 20.0 | 6.6 | 1,686 |
| Nisshin | 7,853 | 14,000 | 20.0 | 6.6 | 1,606 |
| PROTECTED CRUISERS. | |||||
| Takasago | 4,300 | 15,500 | 24.0 | 4-1/2 | 804 |
| Kasagi | 4,784 | 15,500 | 22.5 | 4-1/2 | 804 |
| Itsukushima | 4,277 | 5,400 | 16.7 | 11.4 | 1,260 |
| Hashidate | 4,277 | 5,400 | 16.7 | 11.4 | 1,260 |
| Matsushima | 4,277 | 5,400 | 16.7 | 11.4 | 1,260 |
| Naniwa | 3,727 | 7,120 | 17.3 | 1,200 | |
| Takishibo | 3,727 | 7,120 | 17.3 | 1,200 | |
| Atkitsushima | 3,150 | 8,400 | 19.0 | 380 | |
| Nitaka | 3,420 | 9,500 | 20.0 | 466 | |
| Tsushima | 3,420 | 9,500 | 20.0 | 466 | |
| Suma | 2,700 | 8,500 | 20.0 | 335 | |
| Akashi | 2,700 | 8,500 | 20.0 | 335 | |
| Idzumi | 3,000 | 6,000 | 18.0 | 335 | |
From the Saddle Islands, a thousand miles stretched away to Vladivostok. Coal and stores for the dash there were on every ship. Then prows were turned northward, there was a full day when nothing was known of the Russians. Then came this word, that the great destiny-laden armada was sighted approaching Admiral Togo's lair in the Straits of Korea. Forty-eight hours more, and the Japanese admiralty was electrified by the characteristically modest announcement from Japan's great naval captain: