A Chinese Command: A Story of Adventure in Eastern Seas

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

  THE BATTLE OF THE YALU.

  Directly he got on board the flagship, Frobisher, through hisinterpreter, sent a message to the admiral, asking whether he would seethe captain of the _Chih' Yuen_ immediately, upon urgent business, andalone; for the Englishman had no mind to have the interview interruptedby the presence of Prince Hsi. Whatever happened, that individual mustbe kept in ignorance of the fact that his treachery was so stronglysuspected as to be almost a certainty, otherwise he would be on hisguard; and it was Frobisher's intention, if Admiral Ting agreed, toleave the man in ignorance of the suspicions he had aroused, until heshould grow careless and over-bold, and then to pounce suddenly upon himand catch him red-handed. The Englishman knew that unless the man wereactually caught in the act, so that there could be no possible doubt asto his treachery, he possessed sufficient money and influence to wormhimself out of almost any predicament, however strong appearances mightbe against him.

  Fortunately the admiral was still awake, and, what was more to thepoint, was alone; and he immediately sent back word by the messengerthat if Captain Frobisher would kindly step down into the cabin, hewould grant him the interview, with pleasure.

  Frobisher descended to the admiral's private quarters, dispensing withthe services of the interpreter--since Ting spoke English--therebyensuring that the conversation should be strictly private. Then heproceeded to give as succinct an account as possible of the occurrencethat had just happened, not hesitating to express the opinion thatPrince Hsi was playing the role of traitor.

  Admiral Ting was much alarmed at hearing that a Japanese destroyer hadbeen detected prowling about in the offing, but did not express anysurprise when Frobisher mentioned his suspicions about the Prince.Indeed, he admitted that, although he had nothing definite to go upon,he had for some time past been extremely doubtful as to Hsi's loyalty tohis country. The man was so highly connected, however, and had so muchinfluence at the Chinese Court, that all the efforts that Ting had madeto get him transferred had been unsuccessful; and he had only succeededin making of his Highness a bitter enemy. What reason the fellow couldhave for wishing to betray his country it was impossible to say, andTing could only surmise that he must have lost a great deal of money atplay, of which he was inordinately fond, and was looking to Japan tofill his coffers again in return for services rendered.

  Ting averred that all he could do would be to have the Prince watchedclosely; but, if he were actually detected in the act of attempting anytreachery, the admiral vowed that he should be punished, happen whatmight.

  As there could be no longer any doubt that the Japanese fleet was in theneighbourhood--or, if not near at the moment, very soon would be, whenthe destroyer had delivered her report--it had become necessary to actat once. There were no facilities for disembarkation at night, as hasalready been mentioned; but under the new circumstances it wasimperative that the troops should be landed immediately, so that thefleet might be free to go out and fight without being obliged to leaveany ships behind to cover the landing. Ting therefore ordered a gun tobe fired, and the signal to be made for all captains to come aboard; andhe announced that the disembarkation was to take place at once, theprocess to be facilitated as much as possible by the various ships'search-lights, which would give enough illumination to preventaccidents. Consequently, about midnight the work commenced, much to theannoyance of the soldiers, who did not, of course, know the reason, andhad been looking forward to another comfortable night on board.

  Every boat belonging to the fleet, as well as the pontoons and raftscarried on board the transports for the purpose, was called intorequisition, and very soon a long procession of craft of all shapes andsizes was seen plying to and fro between transports and shore, guided bythe powerful rays of the search-lights. The horses were simply slung bymeans of broad straps to the end of a whip, hoisted out of the ships,and swung overboard, the straps being released as soon as they were inthe water, when they swam ashore of their own accord, being caught upontheir arrival by the soldiers who had already landed, and picketed.

  So rapidly and methodically was the work carried out--due principally,it must be acknowledged, to the efforts of the British officersbelonging to the Navy ships--that when daylight broke, about fouro'clock, the disembarkation was already half completed.

  Meanwhile Ting had issued orders for a full head of steam to be kept upon board every ship, transport as well as man-of-war, for he intended toput to sea the instant that the last man was ashore. He had no desireto be caught where he was by the Japanese fleet, especially since hewould then be seriously hampered in his movements by the helpless,unarmed transports. Anxious eyes were often turned seaward to where thetorpedo-boats were still carrying out their patrol duty in the offing;and more than one brave man heaved a sigh of relief as hour after hourpassed without one of them steaming in at full speed to give notice thatthe enemy were in sight.

  At length, about ten o'clock in the morning, the last horse had swumashore, and the last boatload of soldiers was on its way. The rafts andpontoons were hoisted in and secured, and the boats, as they returned,were run up and swung inboard; the various captains hied them to thebridges of their respective ships, from the steam-pipes of which whitefeathers of steam were escaping; and at midday, just twelve hours afterFrobisher's midnight visit to the admiral, the signal for departurefloated up to the yard of the _Ting Yuen_. The fleet steamed slowly andmajestically out of the roadstead, in two columns, with the transportswell away to starboard, on the opposite side from which the enemy mightbe expected to appear; the torpedo-boats spread themselves out fan-wise,carrying out their office as scouts; and the course was shaped forWei-hai-wei, under the guns of which the transports would be safe fromcapture.

  They had been steaming for about five hours, and had covered a littlemore than a quarter of the distance to Wei-hai-wei, when a puff of smokeburst out on board one of the torpedo-boats, the one farthest away toport, or toward the north-east, followed by the sharp, ringing sound ofone of her twelve-pound quick-firers. This was the signal agreed upon,should the enemy heave in sight; and the fact that the little craft hadalready turned and was steaming at full speed toward the flagship gavesufficient proof that the long-expected moment had at last arrived. Infact, by the time the torpedo-boat reached the _Ting Yuen_ it waspossible to make out no fewer than thirteen coils of smoke away on theeastern horizon, showing that the enemy's fleet was arriving in force,steaming in line abreast, and that it outnumbered the Chinese squadronby three ships. Thus, as two of the latter were not fit to take theirplace in the fighting line, the ratio was about one and a half to one infavour of the Japanese, so far as numbers were concerned.

  Judging from the numbers that nearly, if not quite, the whole of theJapanese fleet was present, Ting immediately ordered the transports tobreak away and make for Wei-hai-wei at full speed, the men-of-warundertaking the duty of preventing any of the enemy getting past andgoing in pursuit--in itself an unlikely contingency, since the Japaneseadmiral would need all his ships if he was to gain a victory overChina--the transports consequently quickened their pace, being all faststeamers, and gradually began to draw away from the slower and moreunwieldy battle squadron. And here it may be stated that they were notpursued, and all arrived safely at Wei-hai-wei without any mishapwhatever.

  Ting now hoisted the signal to clear for action, and a scene of bustleand orderly confusion at once ensued. All the boats belonging to thesquadron were hoisted out and lowered, and the _San-chau_ went therounds, collecting them all. Having done this, she took them in tow andsteamed slowly away to the westward, so as to be out of the way when thehostile fleets presently came to grips.

  Stanchions were taken down and stowed away, the magazines were opened,ammunition placed in the hoists, the guns loaded, and the fire-hoseconnected and laid along the decks, which were thoroughly drenched tolessen the possibility of fire. Buckets of fresh water for the use ofthirsty and wounded men were placed in convenient position
s round thedecks; and lastly, all the lighter and loose furnishings in the cabins,ward-rooms, and gun-rooms were taken down and put out of the way, toavoid their being smashed through the terrific vibration when the greatguns began to fire.

  The fire-control officers made their way with their range-findinginstruments into the fire-control tops, the captains went to theirconning-towers, and word was sent below to the engine-room staff warningthem of what was coming, so that steam might never be lacking. Finally,the shell-proof gratings were slid over the engine-room hatches,watertight doors were closed, and in grim silence the Chinese fleetsteamed ahead, waiting for the word which would start the mighty gunsroaring and the great, armour-piercing shells hurtling through the airon their errand of destruction.

  By the time these preparations were complete, the Japanese fleet hadapproached closely enough to allow of its various units being easilydistinguished through a telescope from the level of the deck; andFrobisher observed that the largest ships were placed at the starboardextremity of the long line, the smallest and weakest being at the otherend. The size of the cruiser nearest the Chinese fleet he estimated atabout nine thousand tons; then came two of about seven thousand, thentwo more, of six thousand or so, then three of four thousand; and nextfive small cruisers and gunboats, ranging from one thousand to twothousand tons. Besides these there were four destroyers of about threehundred and fifty tons; and he guessed that the fighting speed of thefleet would be about twelve or thirteen knots, against the Chinese ten--a vast advantage, enabling the possessor practically to choose his owntime and position for fighting.

  Comparing the two fleets, Frobisher came to the conclusion that, despitethe preponderance possessed by China in her two powerful battleships,Japan's was the stronger, since she possessed more ships, while severalof her smaller cruisers were larger than China's largest. When to thiswas added the fact of the extra three knots speed, it began to look asthough China would find all her work cut out to come off victor. But ifthere is one thing more certain than another it is that, before thebeginning of this battle, there was not a single officer among the wholeChinese fleet who did not feel convinced that China was going to win;and after-events proved that, had the issue lain in their hands alone,their stout hearts would have forced the victory, notwithstanding thedisparity between the two fleets.

  The Japanese fleet had now approached to within about six miles, and thegun-layers were beginning to fidget, and to wonder when the action wasto commence. Then a signal broke out on board the Chinese flagship, andthe two columns swung grandly to starboard in a wide sweep, until theirbows pointed full at the Japanese ships.

  Suddenly a bugle shrilled forth its challenging order--"Commencefiring", and with a crash that made the very air vibrate, the great gunson board the two battleships opened fire, sending their ranging shots sotruly that the announcement from the fire-control stations of "Rangecorrect" seemed superfluous. Fire had been opened with the guns laid toeight thousand yards, and all four heavy, armour-piercing shells hadfound their billets. The historic battle of the Yalu had commenced.

  Nor were the Japanese behindhand in accepting the challenge. With whatappeared to be almost lightning speed, the Japanese admiral, Nozu,changed his formation from column in line abreast to column of divisionssteaming in echelon, the starboard division being led to starboard bythe cruiser _Yoshino_, of nine thousand tons, and the division to portbeing led by the _Fuji_, of about the same measurement, these two beingthe most powerful ships possessed by the Japanese. This particularformation enabled the Japanese to direct the whole of their fire againstthe Chinese ships, since the two divisions of their fleet were to passon the inside of the Chinese double column, while the double Chinesecolumn would prevent their ships in the port line from firing to port,and those in the starboard line from firing to starboard. Likewise theinner line of each of the Japanese divisions sheltered the outer linefrom the fire of the Chinese port and starboard columns respectively.This amounted, in plain language, to giving the Japanese four times thevolume of gunfire that the Chinese could bring to bear, and was amasterly stroke of genius on the part of Nozu which Admiral Ting did notcomprehend until it was too late to remedy matters, and he found himselfhopelessly enveloped in the net.

  As yet, however, the action had only commenced. Through the observationslits in the walls of the _Chih' Yuen's_ conning-tower Frobisher saw, asthe Japanese fleet completed its evolution, several dazzling flashes offlame dart out from the turrets of the _Yoshino_ and the _Fuji_, andsimultaneously it appeared as though the entire Japanese fleet had firedat the same moment, so fierce and so continuous were the flashes of thedischarges. He felt his ship reel and stagger as no less than fiveheavy shell, fortunately not armour-piercers, struck her almostsimultaneously, and he heard the shrieks and cries of men in mortalagony as the deadly flying fragments scattered like shrapnel about thedecks.

  This would never do, said Frobisher to himself; if this kind of thingcontinued, his ship would be put out of action before she had anopportunity of giving back as good as she received. So, without waitingfor the admiral's signal for "General action", he pressed one of theelectric buttons close to his hand in the wall of the conning-tower, andthe two 9.4's in the _Chih' Yuen's_ forward barbette roared out theirhoarse defiance, dropping their shells full upon the _Yoshino's_ afterturret, where they burst with an explosion like that of a smallpowder-magazine, but without doing much damage. Had they fallen underthe muzzles of the guns, neither of the weapons would have been heardfrom again.

  But although the turret itself appeared uninjured, Frobisher would havebeen quite satisfied with the execution wrought if he could but havelooked inside. The guns' crews within, while in the act of servingtheir weapons, had, some of them, become aware that the after end of theturret had suddenly glowed red-hot for a moment; after that, none ofthem knew what had happened, for they had all been killed as by alightning stroke, by the terrific concussion of the two shells strikingtogether; and had a man been foolish enough to place his hand on thatspot even five minutes afterward, he would have left the skin behind, sointense was the heat generated by the impact.

  Frobisher, however, could not know this, and he sent word to thelieutenant in charge of the barbette to plant his shells, if possible,on or near the guns of the enemy which were already in action, leavingthe after guns until later. And presently he had the satisfaction ofseeing one shell after another crash down on the very spot where the_Hakodate's_ single gun protruded from her turret. When the flash ofthe explosion and the yellow fumes of the bursting charge had clearedaway, there became visible a black, ragged hole where the gun-port hadbeen, and the gun itself, blown from its mountings, was pointing itsmuzzle upward to the sky, useless for the rest of the action.

  Both fleets had now broken their formation to a large extent, and thefight had resolved itself more or less into a series of individualactions between ship and ship. The Chinese flagship was close alongsidethe _Fuji_, giving her a most unmerciful hammering with her eighty-tonmonster guns, which sent their high-explosive shells crashing throughher sides as through match-boarding, these subsequently bursting inside,between decks, carrying death and horrible mutilation in their train.The plucky _Chen Yuen_ and her gallant British captain, who, withFrobisher, most distinguished himself that day, had been laid in betweenthe already severely punished _Yoshino_ and the celebrated _Matsushima_,which, so far, had not received a single injury, although she hadentirely disabled and very nearly sunk the little Chinese unarmoured_Hai-yen_. The latter, with only one boiler available, and a very lowpressure of steam in that, most of her guns disabled, her captainkilled, and all her officers wounded, could do no more; and when the_Chen Yuen_ came up and drew the _Matsushima's_ fire upon herself, aquartermaster, one of the few surviving petty officers, steered herslowly and painfully, like a crippled-animal, out of the press, when,unpursued--being too small fry to trouble about--she turned her bows inthe direction of Wei-hai-wei, and hobbled into port some twenty hourslater, the dis
mal forerunner of the shattered and broken remnant thatwas so soon to follow her.

  Frobisher, knowing the strength of his own ship, with herstrongly-reinforced and far-protruding ram, determined to try whether hecould not do more wholesale execution with it than with his guns alone;for he could already see that the superior number of the Japanese shipsand their consequent heavier weight of metal were beginning to tellseverely upon the Chinese fleet. He therefore singled out as his preythe _Surawa_, one of the smaller protected cruisers, determining toexperiment upon her before charging blindly into one of theheavily-armoured ships; for the loss of the _Chih' Yuen_, or indeed ofany more of the Chinese ships, at this juncture would be fatal to theirhopes of gaining a victory.

  Accordingly he telegraphed down to the engine-room for full steam, andpassed the word "Prepare to ram". Then, sweeping round in a circle thatcaused the cruiser to heel at a considerable angle, he set her going atfull speed in the direction of his intended victim, firing his forebarbette and machine guns as he went, so as to demoralise her crew and,if possible, prevent them from escaping the blow. A perfect hurricaneof lead and steel descended on the _Chih' Yuen's_ decks and sides as theships of the Japanese squadron awoke to what was intended, and in a fewseconds 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 shotpenetrated to her boilers she was bound to carry out her design.

  The captain of the _Surawa_ rang frenziedly for full steam ahead, butalthough the Japanese craft certainly did gather more way, the menacingstem of the _Chih' Yuen_ followed her, relentless as fate. Then,suddenly, the _Surawa_ plumped into the stern of the _Nagasaki_, cuttingher down to the water-line, and rebounded under the impact, to find thebows 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 theside 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 theedge of her deck, both her masts snapped like matchwood, and the funnelguys broke, letting the smoke-stack topple into the sea.

  "Full speed astern!" roared Frobisher down the speaking-tube, forgettingthat the order was in English. The engineers understood--perhaps thecommand was expected--and slowly the _Chih' Yuen's_ destroying ramwithdrew itself from the gash in the other cruiser's side. In less thana minute, so deadly was the wound, the _Surawa_ rolled heavily to port,settled sluggishly on an even keel once more, and then suddenly heeledover again and capsized, her boilers exploding as she did so, and downshe went, carrying with her over three hundred of Japan's bravesthearts.

  Frobisher, emboldened by success, looked round for more prey. The_Nagasaki_, wounded to death by her sunken sister, was slowly settlingdown; she could be left. Ha! why not try for bigger game--why not tryfor the flagship, the _Yoshino_ herself? If the _Chih' Yuen's_ ramcrumpled--well, she would surely destroy the _Yoshino_ as well, and thesacrifice would be worth the gain. By Jove, he would try it! The nameof Captain Frobisher should be on men's lips that day, or he would knowthe reason why.

  A hideous wreck above her gun-deck, with funnel pierced, both maststottering to their fall, guns dismounted, and planks stained red withthe life-blood of many a gallant Chinaman, the _Chih' Yuen_ quicklygathered sternway, piling the water up in a white, foaming mass underher round counter, while the vengeful guns of the Japanese squadronnever ceased to thunder their hatred of the destroyer of two of theirships. Frobisher himself was obliged to relinquish the command to Drakefor a few minutes, while the surgeon bound up a bad scalp wound whichwas blinding him with blood, this having been received from a fragmentof flying shell that had managed to penetrate through the observationslit of the conning-tower.

  Then, quite by accident, the cruiser added another success to her rollof destruction that day. The enemy's destroyers had for some time pastbeen hovering round, in the hope of getting home a torpedo which wouldsend a Chinese ship to the bottom, and one of these had considered theopportunity favourable when the _Chih' Yuen_ was entangled in the wreckof the _Surawa_. She had stolen up astern, and had come to a standstilla few hundred yards away from the cruiser, intending to send a Whiteheadinto Frobisher's stern; but the air-chamber proved to have been leaking,and it became necessary to pump some more air in before the torpedocould be discharged. Her men were so busy attending to this that theydid not observe the _Chih' Yuen_ gathering sternway until it was toolate, and they only awoke to their danger as the cruiser's stern crashedinto them, rolled them over, and sent them headlong to the bottom in awreck of bursting steam-pipes, spilling furnaces, and crumplingmachinery.

  With a fierce laugh Frobisher pushed away the surgeon, who had finished,and himself seized the spokes of the steering-wheel and spun them overuntil the cruiser's bows headed for the _Yoshino_. Then he rang forfull speed ahead.

  But the pause between the checking of the _Chih' Yuen's_ sternway andher gathering speed ahead would have been fatal had it not been forDrake. Another of those stinging little wasps, the destroyers, haddashed past at full speed, and, although severely punished by thecruiser's machine-guns, had managed to discharge a torpedo full at herside. The cruiser was helpless, unable to move until her engines hadovercome the inertia, and for a few seconds it looked as though nothingcould save her. But with a hoarse cry Drake dashed out of theconning-tower, where he was of course assisting Frobisher, ready to takecharge if the latter were killed, and without a moment's hesitationleaped overboard, swimming powerfully toward the rapidly-approachingtorpedo.

  "Come back, you madman!" shouted Frobisher. "What are you about?" ButDrake either could not or would not hear; he kept on his way, regardlessof the hail of rifle and machine-gun bullets which flicked the waterinto foam all round him.

  Then Frobisher and his crew saw what the gallant Englishman was about.As the deadly missile approached, hissing its way along the surface ofthe water, Drake stopped swimming and awaited it, and, as it swept past,flung his arm round the smooth, glistening machine. His arm was nearlytorn from its socket, but he managed to get a grip upon the thing justforward of its greatest diameter; and, once he had secured his hold, hewas not going to let go again. Then with fierce, strong strokes Drakebegan to kick out with his feet, pushing strongly at the nose of thetorpedo as he did so; and, wonder of wonders! the menacing headgradually swung away from the _Chih' Yuen's_ side. She was saved!

  But that was not enough for Drake. The torpedo might hit some otherChinese craft, so, encouraged by his first success, he did not cease hisefforts until he had turned the Whitehead completely round and got itheaded direct for a cluster of three Japanese cruisers. Then he struckout for the _Chih' Yuen_, and was hauled aboard just as the cruiser wasbeginning to forge ahead once more. The torpedo, unnoticed, pluggedinto the side of the unsuspecting _Soya_, and a huge column of whitewater, upon which the ship appeared to rise bodily, announced the factthat it had done its deadly work effectively. And so it had, for beforeanother five minutes had elapsed that unit of the Japanese Navy had alsocapsized and disappeared!

  But while the _Chih' Yuen_ had been piling up successes for herself, andearning laurels for her brave young skipper's brow--laurels with whichthe Chinese Government was afterwards only too proud to crown him--andwhile the gallant Englishman who captained the battleship _Chen Yuen_had been engaging no fewer than five Japanese ships at one and the sametime, ay, and beating them off, too, matters had been going badly forthe rest of the Chinese fleet. It is no exaggeration to say that if allthe Chinese captains had fought as stubbornly as did the Englishmen, andif the ammunition had not proved, as it did in so many instances, to befaulty, the Chinese fleet would undoubtedly, in spite of the superiornumbers of the enemy, have utterly destroyed the latter, and obtainedfull command of the sea. Japan would have been put b
ack twenty-fiveyears, there could have been no Russo-Japanese war, and China, insteadof being, as she now is, a third-rate Power, might have held the premierposition in Asia, as Japan so splendidly and skilfully does now. But,as so often happens, greed and dishonesty, self-seeking and cowardice onthe part of high officials, nullified the efforts of the brave seamenwho unavailingly gave their lives for their beloved country.

  When Frobisher, intending to ram the _Yoshino_, came to look about him,his heart sank as he saw the havoc that had been wrought among the restof the Chinese squadron. But, alas! worse by far was yet to come.

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  Note. The term "echelon" means, literally, "steps", or a zig-zagformation of columns, such as is shown in sketch Number 2, where theJapanese formation has been altered from "line ahead", as in sketchNumber 1, to "echelon."