The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-09-20
HER STRENGTH CRIPPLED.
CHINA SUFFERs 4 SEVERE LOSS IN
 4 NATAL RATTLE.

It Is the First Great Fight Ever Fought at
 Sea Under Really Modern Conditions-
 Chinese Loss Not Far From Two Thou
 rnnd-Two Cruisers Sunk.
 LONDON, Sept. 19,--A Shanghai dis patch says: A number of officers who were engaged in the naval battle on the Yalu river have arrived at Port Arthur with half dozen warships badly dam aged and filled with wounded men.
 The dispatch says Admiral Tings fleet left port on Friday evening to convoy seven steam transports convey ing large force of troops. A number of Europeans in the service of the Chinese admiralty accompanied the troops, which were to be landed near wipi from which point they were to be sent to the front. These troops com prised some artillery, but were mostly composed of infantry. Nothing was seen of the enemy until the Chinese fleet reached the mouth of the Yaln river, when fleet of Japanese war
 ships was sighted. Thereupon the trans ports were hurried forward and the war
 ships were cleared for action. The
 efforts of the transports to land the
 troops were successful and most of them were gotten ashore before the
 naval battle began.
 The Chen Yuen was the first vessel to open fire and was soon engaged
 with two Japanese warships of about the same size, one of which Is supposed to have been the cruiser Chiyoda. Soon all the vessels in both fleets were engaged. The Chinese cruisers Chen
 Yuen and King Yuen were sunk and 600 officers and men on board were drowned. Only few of the men struggling In the water were picked up. The Chao Yung and Yang Wei in man. oeuvering for a more advantageous po- sition got into shallow water and ran aground. The stranded vessels were helpless under the fire of the big guns of the Japanese ships and were finally set on fire by the enemy's shells and be- came wrecks.
 It Is feared that some of the trans ports were sunk, including one whose troops had not yet been landed. The Chinese loss Is estimated at 1,500 killed and wounded, and the Japanese loss is
 supposed to be 1000, but none of the Chinese officers giving accounts of the battle knew the names or the size of the four vessels of the enemy, which are ! alleged to have been destroyed. It is plain that the encounter has re-
 suited 1l seriously crippling the naval
 strength of Cbina,
 l In an article referring to the naval
 battle between the Japanese and Chi nese fleets the Westminster Gazette
 says:
 If the news is accurate we have the first great battle at sea ever fought under really modern conditions. It cer- tafnly bears out the anticipation that
 any such engagement would prove dis | astrous to both parties. The Japanese 1 undoubtedly served their purpose, if they have prevented the Chinese troops from landing. If such serious losses are 1 admitted at Shanghai 1t may fairly be concluded that the Japanese got the
 best of the battle all round. The Japa-
 nese, we were told the other day, were careful students of Captain Mahan of the American navy, and they have ap- parently studied to some purpose, and are varifying his theories as to sea power at all points, It is their com-
 mand of the sea which has enabled
 them to gain the vantage on land which has been theirs up to this poinf D.,