RUSSIANS RECAPTURING THEIR LOST GUNS AT LIAO-YANG.
Harbors of Refuge
It was some time before the full measure of Russia's disaster could be ascertained; for the movements of several of the dispersed vessels had been lost sight of. But at last all doubts were resolved. The Czarevitch and three destroyers reached Kiao-chau. The Askold and one destroyer found refuge at Shanghai. The Diana was able to make the French port of Saigon. Two destroyers went ashore near Wei-hai-wei and were abandoned; and one destroyer entered Chifu Harbor and was there seized by the Japanese and made a prize, in defiance of respect for a neutral port. The indomitable little Novik alone of all Russia's fleet attempted to make for Vladivostock. This swift cruiser had come out of the fight comparatively uninjured; and having put into Kiao-chau for coal, she steamed eastward again, and for some days was lost sight of. But the Japanese, though full of admiration for the exploits of the Novik, could not afford to let her escape, and they were on the watch for her appearance in the straits through which she must pass to reach Vladivostock. The cruisers Tsushima and Chitose had been searching the Soya Straits, which lie between Saghalien and Yezo, when at last the former vessel sighted the little Novik on the afternoon of the 20th of August in Korsakovsk Harbor. Immediately the attack began, and the Novik was soon compelled to retreat into the inner harbor, but not before she had inflicted such damage on the Tsushima as to compel her to draw off. Presently, however, the Chitose arrived, and next day completed the destruction of the Novik, whose crew abandoned her after running her on the beach. So ended the career of the one ship in the Russian Navy whose handling has consistently done credit to Russian seamanship.
International Complications
The appearance of fugitive vessels of the Russian squadron in neutral ports at once raised international questions of no little anxiety and difficulty. The attitude of Germany in particular was jealously watched by the Japanese; but, fortunately, in this case the behavior of the neutral Power was perfectly correct. The Czarevitch and the three destroyers in Kiao-chau were at once ordered to be dismantled, and their crews sent home on parole. Equally prompt and unimpeachable was the action of the French Government in regard to the cruiser Diana; but the case of the Askold at Shanghai threatened to give much more trouble. It was aggravated, too, by the indefensible action of the Japanese in the case of the destroyer Rishitelni, which reached Chifu on the 11th, bearing important dispatches. The Japanese followed the Rishitelni, and believing that the Chinese would not be able to enforce the disarmament of the boat, and their demands for her immediate departure having been ignored, a Japanese officer and armed guard boarded her. A scuffle between the Japanese and the Russian crews followed; and in the result, in spite of the protests of the Chinese, the Rishitelni was towed out of the harbor, after an ineffectual attempt on the part of her crew had been made to blow her up. The act was certainly a violation of Chinese neutrality; but as the Rishitelni had remained in the harbor for twenty-seven hours without any sign of disarming, the Japanese had good reason to believe that the Russian commander was not particularly sensitive to the claims of China's neutrality; and how well this belief was founded appeared in the case of the Askold, which found refuge at Shanghai. In insolent defiance of all right and law, the commander of the Askold refused either to disarm his vessel or to leave the neutral port. The wretched Chinese authorities, squeezed on one side by the Russian Government and on the other by the Japanese, could do nothing. One day they issued peremptory orders for the Russian vessel to leave; and the next day they extended the period of grace. A grave international situation threatened; for the Japanese were impatient at the necessity of having to detain several of the much-needed cruisers in watching the port, and they threatened extreme measures; for all this time the Askold was being repaired and put into fighting trim again. But at last the British Minister interfered to stop the work of repairs; and then the Czar issued instructions that the Askold and the destroyer that accompanied her should be dismantled.
Insignificant Japanese Losses
In winning this signal victory over the fleet of his enemy, Admiral Togo suffered but slight damage to the ships under his command. In spite of the heavy fighting at close range, none of the Japanese vessels were crippled—a circumstance of the utmost importance to Japan, who, unlike her enemy, has no second fleet to draw upon, and whose losses were therefore irreparable. The Mikasa, in which the brunt of the fighting fell, lost 32 killed and 78 wounded; the Yakumo, 12 killed and 10 wounded; the Nishin, 16 killed and 17 wounded; the Kasuga, 10 wounded; and the rest of the fleet a few wounded only. These casualties altogether were far exceeded by those endured on the Czarevitch or the Retvisan alone; and the difference can only be accounted for by the greater accuracy and efficiency of the Japanese gun fire. Of the fleet that left Port Arthur on the morning of the 10th of August, only a shattered remnant returned again—five battleships and two cruisers. But the sum of Russia's disasters had not been reached. It was fated that the Vladivostock squadron was to share the fate of the Port Arthur fleet.
The Last Raid from Vladivostock
So sudden had been Admiral Witoft's resolution to attempt a sortie, that no arrangements for concerted action with Admiral Skrydloff at Vladivostock had been made. It was the destroyer Rishitelni, whose arrival at Chifu caused such unpleasantness, that bore the message informing Skrydloff of what was happening. Fortunately for themselves the Japanese seized the Rishitelni too late to intercept that message. Skrydloff on the 12th steamed from Vladivostock with the cruisers Gromoboi, Rossia, and Rurik, and made straight for the Korean Straits. In the early morning of the 14th of August the Russian cruisers reached their old hunting-ground, and the critical point in their course—the narrow channel that separates the southernmost Japanese islands from the Korean promontory. In their successful raid during July the Vladivostock cruisers had reached the same point, and by good luck had evaded Kamimura's pursuit. The fortune of war had hitherto been all against the gallant Japanese Admiral, to whom had been committed the task of watching the Vladivostock squadron, and in particular, of guarding the Korean Straits. Even on this last decisive occasion that was to avenge his previous disappointments, he nearly missed his prey, who had got to southward of his fleet. But a timely glint of sunlight revealed the object of his long quest, and immediately putting his ships between the enemy and Vladivostock he was able to say with Cromwell at Dunbar: "The Lord hath delivered them into my hand". Kamimura had with him four armored cruisers of high speed and powerful armament—the Tokiwa, the Adzuma, the Idzumo, and the Iwate. The last two vessels were of 24 knots speed, and the slowest was of 21 knots. In gun power all the vessels were practically equal, and were much more heavily armed than the Russian cruisers, to which they now found themselves opposed. Of these the Gromoboi, a huge vessel of 12,336 tons displacement, was the latest and the most formidable. The Rossia was her equal in every respect except gun protection; but the Rurik was of another class altogether in a direction that proved fatal to her—namely, speed. Her engines were only capable of developing 18 knots, and that made her a terrible hindrance to the manœuvring power of the whole squadron. It was not until the Japanese had crossed the course of the Russians that the latter became aware of the presence of the enemy, and then they immediately put about and steered north. According to the report of the Russian Admiral, the fight began at half-past four in the morning a little north of the line between Fusan and Tsushima. The Russians attempted to make for the open sea northwards, but were headed off, mainly owing to the inferior steaming power of the Rurik, which was in the rear of the line. The Russians were in single column line ahead, while the Japanese steering across their course adopted the famous T-shaped formation which is associated with the name of Admiral Togo. The battle began at a range of five miles, and very soon the superior gunnery and heavier armament of the Japanese told its tale. The Russians changed course to the east, and immediately the ill-fated Rurik began to drop behind, enabling the Japanese cruisers to concentrate the fire on her at a range of little more than three miles. The steering gear broke down, and the vessel speedily became unmanageable, while the havoc wrought by the rain of shells poured into her quickly rendered her guns unworkable. With splendid gallantry the Rurik's consorts, seeing her desperate plight, returned to her assistance, and circled round her in order to draw the enemy's fire and to give the crippled cruiser a chance of effecting repairs. They suffered heavily in the attempt, and their sacrifice was unavailing. The Rurik burst into flames, which her devoted crew could not subdue. Her movements became erratic. She developed a heavy list to port, and then began to settle down by the stern. At last, after the fight had been going on for nearly four hours, it became evident that the Rurik was doomed; and her consorts, who were in sorry case themselves, left her to make their own escape. Both the Gromoboi and the Rossia had been struck repeatedly below the water line, and had been fired in several places by the Japanese shells, though the fires were got under. What finally decided their flight was the arrival of reinforcements for the enemy in the shape of the Noniwa and the Takachiho—two protected cruisers of the second class. These vessels were left to finish off the already sinking Rurik, while Admiral Kamimura set off at full speed in pursuit of the Gromoboi and Rossia. For some reason, however, which has never yet appeared, this pursuit was not persisted in. Both the Russian cruisers were badly damaged, and there is no reason to suppose that they could have ever reached Vladivostock, as they did a day or two later, if Admiral Kamimura had not drawn off his ships. There is, of course, no doubt that there must have been some compelling reason to induce the Japanese Admiral to forego the full fruits of his opportunity, but that he should have had to do so made his victory much less complete and decisive. He returned to the scene of battle to discover that the Rurik had gone down, but in time to assist in saving the crew, of whom some 600 survivors were rescued. This act of humanity was not a solitary instance, but it is one of the most striking instances of the magnanimous temper in which the Mikado's forces both on land and sea carried on the war. The Russian Commander, in his official report, makes it clear that he was much surprised and relieved when he found that the pursuit of his cruisers was being abandoned. He states that at this stage of the battle three of the funnels on the Rossia were holed, and three of her boilers were rendered useless, so that she was not able to keep up full steam, while eleven holes had been made in the vessel's hull below the water-line. The Gromoboi had six holes below her water-line; while on both of the cruisers the loss of life had been most severe. More than half the total number of officers had been killed or wounded, and quite a quarter of the crews. Thirty miles away from the spot where the Rurik had been left sinking, the Gromoboi and Rossia were able, by the mysterious drawing off of the enemy, to stop their engines and effect temporary repairs. On the 16th of August they arrived again at Vladivostock, and went immediately into dock—with the certainty of taking no further part in active operations for some months to come. Thus within a single week both squadrons of Russia's navy in the Far East suffered signal and overwhelming disaster with the effect of immediately and palpably relieving the difficulties of the campaign for the invasion of Manchuria. If the dispersal and repulse of the Port Arthur fleet was the more momentous event of the two, the shattering of the Vladivostock squadron had an immense value in at once restoring confidence and immunity to Japan's seaborne trade, and in removing from Togo's flank, as it were, a menace which since the opening of the war he had never been able wholly to dismiss. As one result of these naval victories, the war-worn and storm-beaten ships of the Japanese fleet blockading Port Arthur were able in turn to go into dock for the execution of those repairs which must have become increasingly necessary; while at the same time it was possible to strengthen and tighten the blockade, and push on with perfect freedom from risk with the preparations for landing men and munitions at the theatre of war.
