The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-08
CORkED THE HARBOR
Togo Describes One of His
tory'S BraVest Acts.

TOKYO, May 7.-Vice Admiral To-
COS official recital of the latest engage
ment off Port Arthur, which was re-
ceived here today, shows that the Jap
anese have blocked the entrance to
the harbor. On Tuesday morning,
after the blockading f1otilla had been
scattered by gale and the command
er of the fotilla had signalIed in vain
that the attempt be abandoned, pend
| ing the moderation of the storm, the
crews of the separate ships proceeded
to the work on their own desperate
initiative. They forced their way in
the face of the Russian fire, which
was more deadly than ever before over
the field of mines. Many of these ex-
ploded, yet five out of the japanese
blockading ships were damned into the
inner channel and now prevent egreSs
from the harbor to all craft excepting
small boats.
This attack exceeded all its prede-
cessors in desperation, and the courage
displayed by the volunteer crews is
equal to that shown in any event in
the war history of the world. Although
Vice Admiral Togo again avoided dam
age to a single one of his vessels, the
attack proved to be expensive in lives.
The blockading fiotiHa consisted of
eight StOne-laden merchantmen. They
were escorted by the gunboats Akafi,
Commander Fuguimoto and Choikai,
Commander Iwamura; the second tor
pedo boat destroyer AotiIla, under the
command of Commander. Shida; the
third torpedo boat destroyer fiotilla,
Commander Tsuchiya; the, fourth flo
tiIIa, Commander Nagai; the fifth flo
tilIa, Commander Mano; the ninth tor
pedo boat f1otilla Yashima; the tenth
torpedo boat flotilla, Commander Otauf
and the fourteenth torpedo boat f1otilla,
Commander Sakurai.
The bIoekading vessels and their es-
cort left the main squadron for Port
Arthur on Monday evening. They en-
countered southeasterly gale, and
by II o'clock at night the seas were
mountainous, and it was found impoS-
sible to keep the steamers together
Commander HayaShi, who was in COM
mand of the expedition, observed the
inpossibfIity of keeping the flotilla in
tact and signalled it to abandon the
attack. These signals were repeated
! until 2 o'clock in the morning. but they
failed to reach the vessels of the eX-
petition, which were swept apart by
the tempestuous seas and proceeded
| separately to the mouth Of the harbor.
| Upon arriving there the MlkaWa Maru,
one, of the merchantmen, saw that the
enemy was firing upon the fourteenth
torpedo boat flotilla.
The men on board the Mikawa Maru
| thought the other steamers had reached.
the harbor mouth, and they steamed
boldly in. She was followed closely
| by another of the merchantmen, be-
| lieved to be the Sakura Maru.
The Russians had fires burning at
| the mouth of the harbor and they used
| also many powerful Searchhg1ts on the
| invading Japanese vessels. They
| poured an incessant fire into the chan
/ mel
( ,.4 Coo 1,-to ,,va.z ~, comma nd
I of the Mikawa Maru, unhesitatingly
/ forced his ships into the channel,
| rammed his way through the booms
| and reached the center of the inner
entrance. Here he anchored his YES
| sci and then blew her up. She sank
| Immediately.
| Another steamer, supposed to be the
| Sakura Maru, then came to anchor
near a projecting rock at the mouth
| of the harbor and sank. Following the
| Sakura Maru came the TotmoIa, Toni
do Maru and Otaru Maru, the Sagami
| MaFu and Aikoku Maru and the Asa
gawo Maru. These six steamers adj
| vanced to the mouth of the harbor.
The Russian fire now became highly
| effective, while a number of Sunken
| mines which were struck by the steam
ers began to explode. These explosions
| caused heavy casualties among the
| Japanese on board the ,blockading YES
]
| This turned her stem to the eastward
| and she sank athwart the passage,
| blocking nearly one-half of the en-
trance to the harbor.
| When the Yedo Maru reached the
mouth of the passage and was lowering
her anchor, her captain, commander
| Takayangi, was shot and Killed. Sub
Lieut.. Nagata succeeded to the COM
mand. He anchored the Yedo Maru
and sank her. Two other stone laden
steamers, believed to be the Otaru
Maru and the Sagami Maru, then en-
tered the mouth of the harbor and
sank The Aikoxu Maru struck a mine
five cable lengths from the mouth OF
| the passage, which exploded and
caused her to sink. The lieutenant OF
this vessel. Uchida, Chief Engineer
Aokf and eight men are missing
A steamer, thought to be the Asa
| gawo Maru, which appeared to have
had her rudder broken, blew herself
up at the foot of Golden Hill and sank
there. Vice Admiral Togo. in his re-
port, says:
"The undertaking, when compared
with the last two, resulted in greater
casualties to our side. Owing to the
inclemeney of the weather and the in
creased preparations for defense COM
pIeted by the enemy we could save
none of the officers or the crews Of
the Chotaru Maru, the Sagami Maru,
the Sakura MaFu or the Asagawo
Maru.
1.-THE destroyer and the torpedo boat
fIotiIlas, besides resisting the enemy
bravely, fought against wind and
| waves. The torpedo boat fotilla ap-
+ preached close to the mouth of the
harbor and rescued more than half the
men. Torpedo boat No. 81 had steam
| pipe broken by a shell and was dis
abled, but her consort. torpedo boat
No. 20. went to her assistance and
towed her away. Three of the crew Of
No. g. were wounded. The destroyer