The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-12-19
RUSSIAN SAILORS
ARRANT COW ARDS
Yankee Tars Point to Refusal to
Answer Fire Of Jap
.4lskSaa,, Ships.

Washington, Dec. s10.-The pounding !
which the Russian ships in Port Ar
| thur have received from the Japanese
without the semblance Of reply from
the inert Muscovite cruisers surprises no
one in the navy department.. That is
all Russian ships and Russian sailors are
good5, for. The secret files of the naval
intelligence office, if they could be
placed In the hands Of the reader, would
show that that assertion is not whit
above or below the truth.
| The files to which reference is made
are composed of the reports made by the
American officers who observed the fight
in the harbor of Chemulpho, Korea, last
spring between the American built Var
lag and Korietz, flying the Russian flag,
and the Naniwa and Akutashima Of the
Japanese navy.
their crews before they had suffered
1.-THE of the damage that would have
been required to put an American ship
manned by American sailors out Of bust
ness: The Korietz was not damaged at
all before her sea cocks were opened
and she was sent to the bottom.
The Variag was scuttled after she
had been hit seven times. Not one of
the shots which took effect in her ought
to have made her commander even
think of giving up the ship.
The most serious Of the seven shots
I
Of the port eight-inch piece aft and
killed the crew Of that gun and then
ricocheted across the deck and killed
or wounded all the members of the star
board piece. The port gun was put out
Of the fight, but the starboard one was
all right and ought to have done lot
of execution, as it would had it been
worked at all.
/ " Blame for Failure.
The blame for such lamentable per
formance on the part Of the American
built cruiser rests not altogether on the
captain Of the ship. The supposedly
confidential reports show that there was
3 mutiny on the Variag before her cap
Russian officers did not report the mu:
- tiny but the American officers
sistance when the Variag quit
! fighting did report it. The only evidence
they have of such an occurrence is that
afforded by t the fact fact that when they y
the kind that only officers are per
mitted to have-were lying about the
deck as if they had been used in a vai1
effort to drive the panic str cken ant
The American officers delicately hint
ed that they would like to know fo1
certain that their impressions as tx
what had happened were supported by
the facts, but the most eloquent thing
the Russian officers offered for thei]
enlightenment was a series OF shrug
OF the shoulders.
Should Have Fought.
The idea of the American officers VIII
saw the fight is that the Variag, bein}
a 23-knot ship and from five to si'
I knots faster than the best of the Rus
sian ships, could have steered directl,,
for the center of the Japanese squad
ron, using her forward guns all the tim
and have rammed at least one Of tn
herself. Instead Of that she permitte
the slower Japanese to lie off at a dis
lance Of 5000 yards and pepper ava
at her. At that distance the guns
,, the Korietz never came into range.
The Japanese used only their. eigh
and ten-inch guns. It was too far fo
for their rather weak secondary batter
les. 1t was also too long range ia
the very strong secondary battery OF tn
:. Variag. The American view is that tn
/ Varaig, knowing that the odds wer
against her, should have moved in clos
enough to have brought all her guns t
bear upon her antagonists instead {
accepting battle at a distance Of thre
marine miles.
But the fact that stands out with II
most glaring distinctness is that tt
common Russian sailor will not fgh
He has so little patriotism that he
willing to quit before he is hurt enoue
to mention the fact. To show no
stanch craft the Variag was after tt
I fight was over it may be mentioned tn:
it took five hours to sink her after q
the wounded had been taken off.
+ other words, there was not wound
her hull that in the least endangere
her buoyancy. Her engines were n
T hit at all, and the only way she cou
be put out of business was to open h
sea cocks and let in the water.