The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-13
THE Battle OF THE YALU.
Described by Commander McGihn of
the Chen-Yuen.


An account of the Yalu river fight be-
tween the Japanese and the Chinese, as
seen from the quarter deck of Chinese
warship, makes up the greater part of a
letter received about ten days ago by the
family of Philo Norton McGifin. com
mander of the Chen Yuen, who was
wounded in the battle, and was, at the
time of the writing, under medical treat
ment for his injuries Commander McGtf-
fin wrote an interesting personal account
of the battle to his family, and it was
sent by them to the commanders brother.
Prof. Nathaniel McGiffin, of the Polytech-
mic Institute in Brooklyn. 1t is now re-
ported that the Chen-Yuen was run
ashore while entering Wei-Hai-Wei in en-
deayoring TO dodge torpedoes, and that
Lin TAI Sau, who was put in command bv
Commander McGifin, committed suicide
rather than face the disgrace of havine,
mismanaged the ship.
Much OF the letter from the Orient is
personal and of no general interest. but
extracts from it tell very wildly the story
of the fight, as between the lines can he
read commentary on the cowardice and
inefficiency of the Chinese officers, where
as the writer praises highly the courage
OF the ordinary sailors and gunners. The
letter is dated at sea, Sept %.
Il write from on board the Tao Ting
he writes, where my wounds are healing
rapidly. They are painful, but not dam
gerous, and l hope soon to be able To re-
rejon the fleet. The wall is not over b,,
any means. The Galu fight was n
terrible one. On Sept. II l conveyed five
transports of Chinese troops, with sixty
pieces of artillery and 800 horses to TIA La
Tan, on the boundary of Korea and China
near the mouth of the Yalu river. Smoke
70, f1,a l.
ed, and our feet was cleared for action and
gotten under way We had ten vessels.
and as the japanese squadron hove IN
sight we could count twelve Still there
was a good spirit among the men, who
seemed cool and ready for the fight II
was a most impressive sight as the two
fleets, each armed with the most terrible
weapons that can be devised for destruc-
tion, steamed together Just about noon
the first shot was fired by the Ting Yuerr
and We followed a moment later with the
second gun, sighted for 5000 yards.
Then followed hell of shot and shell
The volume of sound was simply indie
scribable. L was on the bridge when the
fight began with kodak camera, as [
wished to get some pictures of the mag
nihcent and impressive scene as the fleets
drew close together l was taking nv
third picture, when a shen from "a Japan
nese gun passed so close that the wind
whirled the camera from my grasp. but
l caught it before it fell and got my pic
ture and another AS l was about to de-
scend she'll struck the bridge, and only
a lucky grasp at the railing saved me
from being thrown off the deck.
From there l went down to the bar
bettes to cheer the gunners. They were
doing fine work, with perfect GOODNESS
and method, and it did me good to see
the courage and cheerfulness which they
maintained under such circumstances. Nv
this time the conclusion of the great
guns was a source of acute pain to me.
Every succeeding burst of sound seemed
TO split into my head, and following the
example Of some OF the men, / stuffed