The times., 1898-05-15
BATTLE OF TIE YALU
Graphic Account of a Great Ma
val Conflict.
FOUGHT THREE YEARS AGO
First Contest Between Modern Rat
Who Was in the Thick of the
Fight-The Chinese Were Badly
Beaten.
CReprinted from the Century Magazine, August,

(Reprinted from the Century Magazine, August,
1867
About 10 o'clock on the morning of Sep
tember 10, 1894, the Pei Yang squadron.
commanded by Admiral Ting Ju Chang.
arrived at Ta-Lien-Wan. Here we found
| four alphabetical gunboats and four
torpedo boats, besides five chartered mer-'
chant vessels which were busily embark
ing troops. The day was spent in coalng
| the fleet. Toward dark another char
tered steamer arrived from Port Arthur
with eighty Krupp field guns, 400 ponies
and 500 artillerymen About midnight
the embarkation was completed and
shortly before a. m. Sunday the 16th)
the fleet, consisting of eleven warships,
four gunboats and six torpedo boats,
weighed anchor and proceeded to convoy
the transports to the Yalu, arriving off
the mouth of that river without incident
in the afternoon. The convoy, escorted
by the four gunboats and four smallest
| torpedo boats. with the Ping Yuen and
Ikwang Ping. crossed the bar, and went
up the river some fifteen miles. where
the decentralization was begun and car
/ ried on all night.
| The next morning (Monday) the memo
rable September II, was a beautiful day,
a light breeze gently ruffiing the surface
of the water. The forenoon was passed
as usual. AT 9:15 each ship went to gem
/ eral quarters. cleared for action and for
/ an hour exercised the crew at the guns,
+ no one dreaming that the results OF our
framing were so soon TO be tested.
The Chen Yuens forenoon routine.
/ drills and exercises, had been carried out
and the cooks were preparing the midday
meal when the smoke from the enemy's
/ ships was sighted by the lookout men at
the masthead They were made almost
simultaneously from several vessels, and
before even a signal could be made from
! the flagship the bugles throughout the
/ fleet were sounding merrily the Officers
! CALI and action" Columns of dense
! black smoke shooting upward from our
/ tunnels told that in the depths of each
vessel the stokers were spreading fires
and using forced draught with closed
/ stOkeholes, were storing up every energy
in the boilers, that breath might not fail
/ when most needed in the coming fight.
These black pillars of smoke must have
Signaled our presence to the enemy: for
their smokes now Increased in volume
and height showing that they also had
put on forced draught, and, like our
selves, were preparing for the contest.
For weeks We had anticipated an engage
ment, and had had daily exercise at gen.
erai quarters, etc, and little remained to
be done. There were woeful defects in our
ammunition supplies, as viii be seen; but
had we kept the seas for a year longer
before lighting there would have been inn
provement in that respect. since the re-
sponsbility for the neglect lay in Tien-
Tsin. So the fleet went into action as well
prepared as it was humanity possibly for
it TO be with the same officers and men,
handicapped as they were by official cor
ruption and treachery ashore.
In far less time than is taken to read
these lines signal had been made from
the Ting Yuen to weigh Immediately
and never We're cables shortened in and
anchors weighed more speedily. The
old Chao Yung and Yang Wei, being al
ways longer in Weighing anchor. were
I left astern, and afterward, pushing OH
10 gain station. probably gave to the
fleet a seeming wedge-shape formation
for a short time. thereby giving rise to
the report widely circulated, that we
used that formation in advancing to the
attack Our actual formation, which
has Justly been criticised was an intend
ed or zig-zag line. the two ironclads in
the center Our fleet consists now of ten
ships viz: Ting Yuen Ciagship). Chih
Yuen Tsi Yuen and Kwan CHA, forming
the left wing; and Chen Yuen, Lai
Yuen. King Yuen, Ching Yuen, ChaD
Yung and Yang Wei. forming the right
wing Il will be noticed that the right
wing as such. was stronger than tho
/ left or admirars. But the enemy ap-
preaching from left to right. would thus
receive the fire of our eight best ships.
before they could attack the ChaO YunS
and Yang Wei justly considered our
lame ducks" The Ping Yuen and
Kwang Ping, with the two torpedo boats
Foo Lung and Tso Yih, did not join us
until the fight was well under way. This
gunboats and the other torpedo boats
did not appear at all
The Japanese formed into two squad
rons: The flying squadron, consisting of
the Yoshino (hag), Takachiho Naniwa
and Akitsushima. lead, followed by the
principal squardon composed of the Ma
sushima alag of Admiral Ito, command
er-in-cheO, Itsukushima, Hasisdate.
Chiyoda Fuso and Hiyei. On the unen-
gagged side were the ASagi and Saikio.
These twelve Japanese ships, forming
apparently a single line and preserving
station and speed throughout most beau
tifully, could not but excite a feeling of
admiration. Our fleet must also have
presented an imposing appearance TO the
enemy.
/ The fleets closed on each other rapidly.
Nv crew was silent. The sublieutenant in
the military foretop was taking seXtant
angles and announcing the range, and eX-
hibiting an appropriate small signal flag
AS each range was called the man at the
guns would lower the sightbars, each
gun captain. lanyard in hand, keeping his
gun trained on the enemy. Through the
ventiiators could be heard the beats of
the steam pumps, for all the lines of hose
were Joined up and spouting water, so that
in case of fire no time need be lost. The
range was about four miles and decreaS-
ing fast "Six thousand metersi' Five
thousand eight hundred'-"six hundred -
, five hundred''-"five hundredi Five
thousand four hundred!'' The crisis was
. rapidly approaching. Every mans nerves
were in a state of tension, which was
greatly relieved as a huge cloud of white
. smoke belching from the Ting Yuen' 5
star;board barbette. "opened the ball" Just
as the projecitle threw up column of
white water little short of the Yoshina
a roar from the Chen Yuen's battery sec
onded the fagship's motion. 1t was ex-
actfy 1920 p. m. The range as found on
the Chen Yuen was $500 meters; on the
Ting Yuen it was assumed to be $780,
T On our side the firing now became gen.
2 eral from the main batteries, but 1t was
| about five minutes before the Japanese
replied. AS they opened fire the Chinese
quick-firing Hotchkss and Maxim Nor
: denfelt three and six Founders joined in,
. and thenceforward the conflict was al
most incessant. Like ours. the enemy s
: first shots fell short; but with an exultant
chuekle we noted that shot from one
of our 12-inch guns had struck one of the
japanese leading ships. The bridge of
the Chen Yuen, although some 80 feet
above the water, was very soon soaked,
as was indeed. the entire exposed surface