Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-27

subrnarfne mine before reaching the chan
mel and went down. Eight OF ner men
tenant Inutsuka. and sixteen of the twenty
four men in his crew were rescued "
torpedo boat
The Dash.
In his official report. from which havs
obtained the greater part Of this informa-
ton. the commander Of the fotilla says
that a storm sprang up suddenly about the
time the boats were starting-a southease-
orly squau with hail and rain and mist
and he signaled all of the vessels to with
draw and wait for more favorable condi-
tons: but the weather was 80 thick that
the signals were not seen. and, following
their original instructions, the commanders
Of the eight hulks made q dash Tor the mar
Dor. The searchlights usually operaieo
from the Notifications soon disclosed their
presence to the Russians. and during the
last thirty minutes Of their voyage they
were under a raking fire from the forts on
both sides and were constantly coiidlne
with mines in the water. 1t was miracle
that any OF them reached their DESTINATION.
But the Japanese on board went on about
their business as coOlly as If they were at
practice and no enemy were near. Even
the stohd and unsympathetic Russians were
thrilled with admiration at their GOODNESS
and daring.
The spirit which animated every man In
the expedition was expressed In speech
which Lieutenant Yuasa OF the Sagami
made to his men before starting:
LET every man set aside all thought OF
making a name for himself" he said, ana
let us all work together for the attainment
Of our object. 1t Is a mistaken idea OF
bravery to court death unnecessarily. Deatn
and fame are not our objects in this at
tempt. Our only object Is success. ana We
die in vain If we do not carry out our Or
Gers. You all know what those orders are
and what is expected OF us. II L am killed.
r fa,,fa afn will a
II he Is killed you will take your orders
from the chief warrant officer, and II he
dies, from the next in rank and so on I'M
til the last man. Keep cool. Do not De ex-
cited Do not hurry. And remember that
the last man may have to carry out our
orders alone"
No one knows what happened upon the
Sagami, except that the instructions given
to Lieutenant Yuasa were carried out liter
ally to the last. His hulk lies in the bot
tom of the channel. exactly where he was
instructed to place it. but9 every man on
board was lost. The report of his simple
little speech to his men was brought from
the Sagami by an aid-de-camp of the COM
mander of the fiotilla. who was so deeply
impressed that he wrote down the words
Immediately after hearing them.
Honored by Japan.
All of the men who participated in the
three expeditions. the dead IS well as the
living, have been promoted and decorated
by order of the emperor. 1t is an amiable
custom of the japanese 10 bestow decora-
tons and other honors upon the dead. The
government has also granted life pensions
varying from 800 to 500 yen $50 to $3.50 a
year upon the wounded and the families Of
the dead. The official report of the ad-
miral commanding was as follows:
'Of the eight blocking vessels. five were
sunk on entering the channel of the harbor.
and from this conclude that the entrance
has been completely blocked against the
passage of cruisers and battle ships
which proved to be the case.
THE expedition was event Of great
tragedy and herosm. and the casualties
compared with the two previous occasions
were much heavier Especially Is 1t mat
ter Of the deepest regret that we were I'M
able to rescue single man of the crews of
four vessels. even their last deeds of hero
ism being unrecorded. But 1 believe that
the conduct Of those loyal and gallant men
will be specially noted in the history of our
empire. The torpedo boat 1otilas and de-
stroyer fotfllas, which were ordered to res
cue the men of the blocking expedition. car
ried out their duties efficiently, fighting
against the rough weather and the enemy
until the following morning. Special praise
Is due to the torpedo boat flotilla, which
closely approached the harbor mouth and
rescued the crews of the blocking vessels"
This story ought to be known to every
sailor, and every soldier. in the world.