The Action Commences—Casualties
The Report submitted by Commander Richard Hunter, R.N.,
Captain of the "Strong Arm".
The report of the proceedings which Commander Richard Hunter, R.N., the Captain of the Strong Arm, subsequently submitted to Captain Helston, is so terse and yet so graphic, that it is inserted here.
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"H.I.M.S. Strong Arm,
"Hong-Kong, 9th Jan.
"SIR,
"I have the honour to report that, in accordance with your signal received at 8.30 A.M. on 8th Jan., I immediately raised steam in fifteen boilers. One hour later I was able to slip from the buoy, and proceeded southwards to the rendezvous indicated in your orders.
"By 10 A.M. I was making fourteen knots, and at 11 nearly nineteen, which speed was gradually increased to twenty as the remainder of my boilers raised steam.
"At 12.35 P.M. the island then being in sight, the mast-head look-out sighted a cruiser and three destroyers steaming towards it from the west, and almost immediately afterwards sighted destroyer 'No. 1' leaving the island.