Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-08-24
HURLED WITH
shetland SHELL
Japanese Squadron Might Have Cap
tured or Sunk All of the vlad.
ivostok Fleet
RuRIK COULD NOT KEEP UP
Other Vessels Terribly Injured and
Had to Make Repairs at Sea
Before Proceeding.
RuRIK COULD NOT KEEP UP

ST. Petersburg, Aug. lS.-Emperor
Nicholas has received a dispatch from
viceroy Alexien dated at Nladivostok
August IL, saying that the cruisers
Rossia and Gramb0i Of the Nladiyos.
tok squadron, returned to V~ladivostok
August lG. and communicating the
following report made by Rear Adj
miral lessen commander of the squad
ron:
AT dawn on August IA, the Rossia,
Gromaboi and Rurik arrived AZ miles
from and parallel with Fusan. and 80
miles from the northern lighthouse of
Tsu island. When to the westward,
| saw a Japanese squadron of amor.
ed cruisers, six miles to te north,
travelling parallel with our course.
This squadron consisted of four
vessels Of the Iwate type and were
putting on full speed. took a course
to the northward with a view TO at
tanning open sea, but the enemy, who
was Of superior speed, turned imme-
diatcly and took the same course. II
was therefore obliged to engage in
battle which commenced at ) o'clock
in the morning with a distance of 60
cables between the s%quadrons "a ca
bic length is 200 yardsJ.
In the straits Il the south We saw
a second-class cruiser Of the Naniwa
type coming TO join the enemy. At a
convenient opportunity, we rapidly
turned to the right. intending To APP
proach the Korean coast and by in
rrdasing our speed to II knots, we.
seemed 10 have an opportunity ot sue
ceeding. hut the enemy now observed
our intention and directed his course
toward us for the purpose of hinder
ing our design.
Hardly five minutes passed before
the Rurik left the ranks and signaled
that her steering geai was disabled.
rrplied: Steer with the engines,
and continued on my FORMER course:
! Seeing that all the Japanese cruiS-
crs were concentrating their fire on
the Rurik. all my subsequent maneu-
voring was exclusively with The object
Of enabling the Rurik to repair her
damaged ruddcr.
Il attracted II myself the cncmyS
FIRE in order Ia cover the Rurik, tAd-
miral lessen was ON The flagship Ros-
sia.l At this time saw two war
ships. one q second and the other a
third-clpss cruiser coming To join the
enemy.
THE Rurik hoistcd the signal can
not sicnr.' Some m%aneuNcTiug IN the
front line gave the Rurik a choice
Of going in the direction Of the ko-
roan gulf and Al : O'Clock the signal
was hnlstcd. Go east. The Rurik an
swcrCd the signal and took the requi-
site course at full speed as could be
seen from the waves from her bows.
Eventually the ROssia and the
GromOboi took n north-;ly course at
a distance of A. cables. The Rurik
kept a course approximately south
east at a distance of three miles. The
battle continued for two hours in this
manner.
we suffered considerable damage.
The ROssia had three tunnels pierced,
which prevented her from keeping up
good steam, and three of her boilers
were rendered useless. At $3.50 o'clock
the Rurik began to lag behind consid-
cradle and again turned her bows to-
ward the shore, at the same time
fighting against the two s~econd-class
cruisers, which had joined the enc
my's squadron. The Rurik soon at
torward began to get ont of sight.
vice Admiral Kamimura with four
arnlorcd cruisers kept steadfastly en-
gasing us in such manner as 10 keep
us from assisting the Rurik. While
the Rurik continued fighting We con
tinucd our efforts to attract the enc
my further north in the hope that the
Rurik would manage to dispose of
her comparatively weaker opponents
and that after repairing the damage
to her ruddcrs he would be able Ia
reach Nladivostok independently
Shortly before 10 o'clock the en-.
cmy's fire was the most terrific of the
Il DuAll't buAs w Oli II
whole japanese squadron left us af
ter the most deadly fighting, which
had lasted five hours
The Rossia had sustained IL holes
at her line and the Gromboi had six
Both cruisers lost more than half theil
officers and the losses among the mel
totaled 25 per cent. II appeared i'm
possible to renew the battle or to re
turn to the Rurik. which was nov
80 miles to the south.
Taking advantage of the calm. VI
stopped our engines and quickly com
menced TO repair the breaches in ouI
vessels so as TO enable us to procee,
to V~ladivostok Captain Berlinsky, o
the Rossia, was killed and several o
his officers were wounded. On boar,
the Gromboi, two %lieutenants wer,
killed and other officers were wound
ed. Both cruisers had 1876 men kill
ed and 800 wounded. Captain Berlin
sky was burie at sea-"
The report concludes by testifyin.
to the heroism displayed by all tn
Officers and men who, il says. SCENE,
TO have been made of iron, KNOWN
no fear or fatigue.
n personal examination of the dan
age done 10 the cruisers by the ia
panesc fire. Admiral AleXieff saws, 4
transmission the report c%onvinces hir
of the high courage and selr.sacrint
Ing efforts OF those who took part i
en- unequal battle against the super
T.