The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-27
DID NOT BOTTLE UP FLEET
DARING EXPLOIT OF JAPANESE
 NOT FULLY SUCCESSFUL.

Vessels Sunk to Block Entrance to Port Arthur Harbor Did Not Reach Right Positions-One Russian Torpedo at sunk--BeIlsf That Japanese VIII Af-
 tempt Landing Very soon.
 Washington. Feb. 26.-The Japanese legation has received cablegram from
 Tokio under to-day's date giving an
 account of the intellectual attempt made
 by the Japanese to blockade the mouth
 of the harbor at Port Arthur and also a
 brief account of the attack by the Jap-
 anese on Port Arthur yesterday morn ing. As a result of the attack yesterday
 the cablegram says, one of the Russian | torpedo boats was destroyed. The text of the cablegram is substan tially as follows
 Vice Admiral Kamimura reports on the 18th of February the following: Ae- cording to the report from the torpedo
 fleet which was sent for the purpose of
 rescuing the crews of the steamers sent to block up the harbor at Port Arthur
 the Hokoku Maru on the left side of the entrance of the harbor, near the | lighthouse. and the Bashiu Maru out
 side the entrance were sunk purposely by the Japanese by explosion. The Ten shin Maru, the Buyo Maru and the Jin- sen Maru sunk themselves on the east
 Of the Lao Te Ehan. All the crews of
 these steamers were picked up safely. Our destroyers and torpedo fiotilla are
 unharmed. On the night of the 24tT our
 destroyers again went on a scouting
 cruise near Port Arthur, Dalny and l Pigeon Bay.
 sOn the dawn of the 18th our main squadron approached Port Arthur and bombarded the enemy's men-of-war l and the forts from a distance. We saw | the Novik. the Askold and Bayan flee in= into the harbor, it thus being ap- parent that the blocking operation had l not much effect.
 Our squadron then fired into the harbor and saw flames and considerable
 smoke. While our cruisers were thus engaged in firing we saw one of the
 enenly''s torpedo boats destroyed. We withdrew after fifteen minutes shelling. Our squadron received no damage. Ad-.
 miral Togo is still on the scene" Toko, Feb. 26.-Vice Admiral Togo's attempt to bottle up the Russian fleet at Port Arthur by sinking fleet of stone laden merchant steamers in the mouth
 of the harbor, evidently failed, though the venture caused no loss of life and the vessels lost were not of great value. Five ships were prepared by Vice Ad- miral Togo for the attempted blockade.
 Four are reported to have been sunk but the fate Of the fifth is unknown here. It is presumed that it withdrew with the other Japanese vessels. The l five vessels were filled with stones SC.
 as to make the obstruction permanent
 and were manned by volunteer nler-
 chant crews. It was impossible to se- 1 lect naval officers and sailors on &C.,
 count of their great rivalry to partici-
 pate in the daring venture
 | Accompanied by four battleships, nine 1 cruisers, and numerous vessels of the 1 torpedo fotilla, the stone laden steam
 CTS reached Port Arthur on Wednesday. While the fleet engaged the shore bat teries, the steamers made dash for the mouth of the harbor, directly under
 the Russian guns.
 l Details of the attack have not been received, but 1t is evident that the Rus 1 sian fire sank the steamers before they
 reached the points planned for their laundering by the Japanese.
 l It is said that all the crews of the | four vessels escaped in boats and were picked up by the Japanese torpedo boat
 destroyers. The report that two of the torepdo boat destroyers were sunk by the Russians is denied.
 1 The naval department has received a brief despatch from the commander l of one of the torpedo boat destroyers
 saying that no lives and no warshiDs J were lost and that no damage was in 1 flicted by the Russians. Pending the re-
 ceipt of the official report of Vice Ad-
 niral Togo, the naval department de-
 clines to make any announcement re-
 garding the affair.
 ] The five merchant vessels which were
 prepared for sinking were the Jinsen
 Maru 1881 tons; the Tien Tsin Maru, 1 2,943 tons; the Hokoku Maru, 2,776 tons; the Buyo Marus, 1,6O9 tons, and the
 Banshik Maru, 1899 tons. Each carried 1 five men, two steering and three firing l and running the engines.
 l St. Petersburg, Feb. 27--2 a. m.-A copy of telegram from Viceroy Alex I jeff to the emperor has just been given
 out. It is dated February 25. The | place whence it is sent is not stated. but
 is supposed to be Mukden. The message | is as follows:
 "A squadron of the enemy's vessels,
 numbering sixteen, approached the for
 tress at about Il o'clock this morning | and opened bombardment on the cruisers Askold, Bayan and Novik, which were in the outer harbor, and
 also on the fortress. The firing contin-
 ued for half an hour. Then our cruis-
 CTS went into the harbor. The enemy l fired for several minutes on one of our ' 1.a +o y11..