The San Francisco call., 1904-12-07
Port Arthur Fleet
Bombarded by
Japanese.
GreatDamageDone
to Vessels in the
Harbor.

MOSCOW, Dec ga special dis
patch from Vladivostok says that
steamship which has just arrived there
from Shanghai reports that the Jap
anese armored cruiser Adzuma has
been blown up and sunk by mine.
The Adzuma, also referred to as the
Azuma and Adsuma. was built at st.
Nazalre, France, and was launched IN
1901 She carried four eight-lnch
guns, twelve six-inch guns and twenty
four smaller rapid-fire guns, had Ave
torpedo tubes and a complement OF
4Sz men.
The cruiser is said to have been
sunk north of the Miaoto Islands.
The Miaoto Islands are in the Lao
tie Channel, between the kwantung
Peninsula, on which Port Arthur is
situated. and the Shantung promono-
tory.
TOXIC. Dec. 6.-The following re-
port has been received from the head
quarters of the japanese army before
Port Arthur:
On December our naval guns Con
2OS-Meter HID combarded the enc
my's ships. The battleship Pobieda
was struck six times. On a vessel OF
the type of the battleship Retvizan
and on eight other ships sixteen of our
shells took effect.
On Monday. December 8, follow
ing the same plan, we hit the Pobieda
seven times, the battleship Poltava
eleven times. and the Retvizan eleven
times.
AT about 3 O'Clock on the afternoon
or the same day one of our shells
struck a magazine south of Paiyu
Mountain. This caused a heavy ex-
plosion and a confiagration followed,
which was not extinguished for TWO
"0n the same day our heavy guns
were directed against the enemy's
ships. The battleship Peresviet was
struck twice. Two more shells were
lodged on other ships. A vessel of the
type of the battleship Poltava was OBJ
served TO be on fire, and for one hour
sent out great volume of smoke.
The attacking operations against
Sungshu Mountain and the forts TO
the eastward are carried on day and
night. Two 36-milIimeter quick-firing
guns were captured on Sunday, De-
cember 4, on the half-mOon counter
scarp of Rihlung Mountain"
The effective bombardment of the
russian battleships in Port Arthur
was one of tie results of the capture
OF 2O3-Meter Hill. Up to that time
the warships had been able to seek
shelter from the Japanese fire under
Peiyu Mountain, but the capture of
-20S-Meter Hill on November 1880 en-
abled the Japanese to train their guns
OH the Russian vessels, with the re-
suit that number of them have been
set on fire and the others must either
put to sea or suffer irreparable dam
age.
The Russians are nightly attacking
2O3-Meter Hill at Port Arthur, in a
determined effort to retake it. The
japanese are increasing the defenses
of the position and have succeeded so
far In repelling all assaults. The Rus
slams have suffered the heavier losses
and it is estimated that they have
sacrificed 5000 men in their effort to
recapture the ground which the Jap
anese are confident in their ability to
hold. Observations indicate that
the garrison is feeling the effects of a
shortage of men.
The works against Sungshu Noun
tain and the forts to the eastward
are progressing speedily and all indi-
cations point to an early general as
sault, although the date it will be
made Is kept secret. 1t is expected
that the next general assault will
prove successful