Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-27

and was unable to move freely. fire
broke out on the vessel. which finally sank.
The Yangwei was greatly injured by
the japanese shells, and fire broke out,
but she was enabled to move about until
she stranded.
The Chih-yuen's condition was much like
the Chao-yung's She sank. did the
King-yUen.
The Ting-yuen suffered greatly. The
whole of her barbette was fire, and the
vessel was enveloped in flames. the fire
lasting two hours
The Lai-yuen was also set on fire. but
she did not lose freedom of movement.
The Chen-yuen continued firing. until the
end of the battle. The Kwang-chia when
f1eeing from the fight, struck on a danger
Gus reef outside Talienwan and later in
order to avoid the possibility of her cap
ture. she blown up by the Chinese,
Some other of the Chinese feet were mors
or less injured.
An interesting feature of the great battle
Fought in the Yellow sea was made possible
by the fact that the Japanese feet had
greater speed that that of the Chinese
This greater speed allowed them to circle
around the Chinese ships, that were formed
as a wedge, with the big battle ships at the
apex. and advancing with the apex as the
head of the column.
Circled Around Chinese Ships.
The Japanese would make a greater circls
when opposite the big battle ships In order
to avoid their guns, coming into closer
range when opposite the smaller vessels,
which had less dangerous guns. At times
the Chinese We're in such close quarters as
to cause them danger from their own guns.
Great valor was shown on the Chinese
ship Chih-yuen. which, upon seeing that Il
was detached and was being given a deadly
fire by Japanese ship, attempted to ram
her. but before she could do so the ship
was sunk by the fire of the Japanese
The "a of rc;
yuen was accused of cowardice by signal
ing that he was crippled and taking his
ship out of the fight at the beginning Of
the battle. The head of this cowardly
perial order. The captain of the Kwang-
CHA followed the example of Fong. and
very early got his ship out of the fight.
After the battle there were 252 Chinese
wounded In the vessels that returned to
Port Arthur. The injuries of most of these
men were slight But the result of the bat
tie on the Chinese side was the killing of
100 men on the ships that survived and the
killing and drowning of over coo who per-
ished in the Chih-yuen. Kink-yuen and
Yang-wei that We're sunk. On the Ting
yuen the loss was seventeen. and on the
Chen-yuen fifteen dead.
Unskillful and Cowardly.
Among the foreign population in Hong.
kong, where there was opportunity to gain
information as to the happenings on board
the Chinese ships their defeat in this naval
battle was regarded as the result of lack Of
skill in the handling of the fleet and cow
ardice The Chinese did not as a whole
display that valor. skill and presence Of
mind that marked the Japanese. Most of
them appeared to fight because they had
to, and did not enter into the spirit of the
contest. When the battle was over very
little effort was made to quickly put the
feet in order.
The victory of the Japanese over the
Chinese in the Yellow sea proved to be an
inspiration to the navy of the victors. and
gave them the confidence of the Japanese
people which made the task of continuing
to build up the navy much easier than it
had been at a time when the Japanese
doubted the ability of their officers and the
worth of their men-of-war.