The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-10-10
IN BLOOD AN INCH DEEP.

GbLdlRuI lrOn Cu0 lips Vi OnS WIZ saw
with his own eyes the tragic events of
which he tells, and had, himself, part
in this remarkable duel of the sea. The
battle he described was fought by the
Chinese cruiser Yang Wei, and the
Japanese flagship Matsushima, July II,
last, about so miles southwest of Che
mulpo, Corea, and lasted three hours,
resulting In almost complete destruction
of both vessels and terrible loss of life
to both. The narrator of both these
stirring events is young Englishman
who was supervising engineer of the
Yang Wei, and who has served for four
years in the Chinese navy. In a subse-
quent engagement he was injured to such
an extent that he had to leave the en-
peror's service and come to the United
States for medical treatment. He is
now IN San Francisco, in physician's
care, shattered and feeble in health, as a
result of his experience in two of the
most interesting and most deadly naval
battles of modern times.
The engineer tells, as preliminary to
his story, how the Yang Wei was ordered
Chemulpo and there met the Japanese to
feet of seven vessels. Tue commander
of the Yang Wei was ordered to watch
the Japanese fleet. and when the latter
put out to sea, the Yang Wei followed.
This is what caused the fight. He tells
the Japanese ship Naniwa-Kan signaled
to the Yang Wei that if she persisted in
following she would be fred on. The
Yang Wei paid no attention to this
warning, and kept right on. The Nan
iwa-Kan did not fire, and the Chinese
ship passed the Naniwa-Kan, and
steamed ahead of the Matsushima, the
Japanese flagship. The Japanese ad-
miral evidently thought that the Mat
sushima was more than a match for the
Yang Wei, for he ordered the other
ships to fall back, which they did. The
Yang Wei cleared for action, and took
position about 1000 yards off the Mat
sushima's port bow and kept it.
The Yang Wei is an unarmored steel
cruiser of 1850 tons displacement, and
was built in 1881 in England, at cost of
81 100000. Her length is 210 feet, and
her speed 16 knots. Her armament con-
sisted of one 101S inch 38-ton Armstrong
gun, one 9-inch 25-ton, six 5-inch, ten
Hotchkiss and six machine guns. The
Matsushima is an unarmored steel
cruiser of 1877 tons, built in France in
1890, and has a speed of 171l knots.
Her armament consisted of one 12-inch
Aston Canet rife, eleven 424-inch 56-
pound quick-firing guns, eleven Hotch-
kiss and six Nordenfeldt machine guns
The 12-inch rife was carried in 12-inch
barbette. The Yang Wei was com
manded by Captain Kwong Chow, but
Lieutenant Ii Yang, who had spent
eight years at the Annapolis naval
academy, fought the ship. Says the
engineer, continuing his story:
''We continued our speed and drew
the Japanese admiral on, until we had
the Matsushima out of sight of the rest
of the fleet. We had run about forty
miles in the chase with the admiIal's
flagship, when word was passed to again
stand for action. Suddenly our star
board engine was reversed full speed,
the helm was put hard aport and the
Yang Wei spun around on her keel,
and gave the Matsushima a IO16 inch
shell out of the 3S-ton gun, which struck
her in the port bow and exploded in her
secondary armor battery. That shot
tore an enormous hole in her upper
deck, and disabled three of her guns.
1t was the fret gun of the war. Then
followed some of the cleverest maneu-
vering on record. Orders poured into
the engine room thick and fast. We
rushed past the Matsushima on the re-
turn and brought out three 6-inch guns
to play on her secondary battery, at the
same time covering her after guns with
perfect stream of Hotchkiss 3-pound
shells and Nordenfeldt and Maxim bull
let's.
THE Japanese could not work one of
their guns. The shower of bullets that
the Yang Wei poured into the port
holes of the other vessel rendered it i'm
possible for her gun crews to stay at
their posts. We had the Matsushima
badly crippled before we received a re-
turn shot. We passed astern, and, as
our after 25-ton gun came to bear on her
after -barbette, where che had 45-ton
gun, we gave her 9-inch shell. It
struck the barbette and exploded. We
Immediately reversed our port engine,
and then went full speed astern on both.
The effect of this maneuver was to bring
our starboard battery to bear on her
starboard battery, and the Matsushima
received another telling blow in vital
part. We gave out three 6-inch star
board guns. The shells beat in the
after end of the starboard battery. AL