Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-09-09
BATTLE OF THE YALU.
THE CHEN YUEN'S COMMANDER
DESCRIBES THE FIGHT.
Two Chinese Ships Ran Away, But
the Others Fought With Great
Bravery-Din of Striking Shells.

I'm, the bravo American OF.
W ficer in charge of the Chinese
battleship Chen Yuen, writes
a graphic account of "The Battle OF
the Yalu, for the Century. AS Com
mander Giflin was the first naval Off.
Ger belonging to the Nations of Euro
pean civilization to witness an engage
ment with modern vessels and guns,
his account has value entirely apart
from its interest The following is
an extract from his article:
The fleets closed on each other rap
idly. My crew was silent. The sub
lieutenant in the military foretop was
taking sextant angles and announcing
the range, and exhibiting an appro-
pirate small signalling. AS each
range was called the men at the guns
would lower the sightbars, each gun
captain, lanyard in hand. keeping his
gun trained on the enemy. Through
the ventilators could be heard the
beats of the steam-pumps; for all the
lines of hose were joined up and spout
ing water, SO that in case of fire no
time need be lost. The range was about
four miles, and decreasing fast. "Six
thousand metersl" Give thousand
eight hundred"-"six hundred
hundred -"fve hundredr' Give
thousand four hundred! |"
The crisis was rapidly approaching.
Every mans nerves were in q state OF
tension, which was greatly relieved MS
n huge cloud of white smoke, belch
ing from the Ting Yuens starboard
barbette, "opened the ball" Just as
the projectile threw up a column of
white water a little short of the Yosh-
ino, n roar from the Chen Yuen's bat.
terry seconded the flag ships motion.
1t was exactly 70. 20 p. m. The range,
as found on the Chen Yuen, was 5000
metres; on the Ting Yuen il was as
sumed to be $500. On our side the
firing now became general from The
main batteries, but it was about five
minutes before the japanese replied.
AS they opened fire, the Chinese quick
firing Hotchkiss and Maxim -Norden-
felt, three and six Founders, joined
in, and thence forward the conflict
was almost incessant. Like ours, the
rnemy's first shots fell short; but with
an exultant chuckle we noted that n
shot from one of our 12-inch guns had
struck one of the Japanese leading
ships.
The bridge of the Chen Yuen, al
though some thirty feet above the
water, was very soon soaked, as was,
indeed, the entire exposed surface on
the engaged side, by spray thrown up
by line shots that struck the water u
little short. Many of tho men at the
guns on deck were wet through, and
indeed the water was thrown on board
with such violence as to sting the face
and hands like hail. Every ono in the
coming tower had his ears stopped
with cotton, yet the din made by pro-
iectiles rafting up against the outside
of its 10-inch armor was u serious an
noyance.
During this early part of the en-
gagement the Chinese fleet as whole
kept their indented line, and preserved
intervals fairly well, steaming at about
six knots-the Chao Yung and Yang
! Wei being still out of station on the
extreme right. The Isl Yuen, with
her faint-hearted commander, Fong,
had bolted very soon after the enemy
had opened fire. At II. 45 we saw this
vessel about three miLes astern on our
starboart quarter, heading southwest
toward Port Arthur. She was followed
bya string OF Chinese anathemas from
our men at the guns. She reached
Port Arthur at 2 a. IN. next day (seven
hours in advance of the fleet, spread
ing there wild tale that we had been
overwhelmed by vast japanese ar
mada, etc.
Upon our arrival, Captain Fong
claimed that his entire battery had
early been disabled, and that he had
been obliged to run to save his de-
fenseless ship. But upon an examin-
alton of his battery by detail of line
and engineer officers, it was found in
perfect working order, excepting the
siX-inch sternchaser-the one project
lie which struck his ship having
passed beneath the trunnions, lifting
the gun from its seat. But this shot
had entered from the stern, having
evidently been received after the re-
treat had gun-admlnlstered, it
would seem, us contemptuous part
ing kick from the enemy.
Captain Fong's outrageous example
was at once followed by the comman.
der of the Kwan CHA, whose courage
was scarcely exceeded by his knowl-
edge Cf navigation; for, about mid
night, he ran upon u reef outside of
Ta-Lien- Wan, which he said was n
most unaccountable mishap, as he had
laid his course lin 100 mile run) "to
clear it by one and half miles I"
This vessel had not been struck at all,
but some days later was blown up by
her crew upon the approach of some
Japanese vessels. Our force had thus
early been reduced to eight vessels.
As the japanese fleet appr oached, it
steamed along our front from left to
right, at perhaps double our speed, and
each vessel could thus exchange shots