The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-19
RUSS TELLS
 OF SEA FIGHT JeSSen'S Account of Battle
 Off Korea. JAPs' FORCE IS SUPERIOR Czar's Sailors Display the Greatest Her0ism. Cemmanaer of the vladivostok Squad ron Recoants the Loss of the
 Rurik and Damage to
 the Other vessels.
JAPs' FORCE IS SUPERIOR

viceroy Alexieff dated at vladivostok, August IT, saying that the cruisers Rossia and Gromoboi, of the vladivo- stok squadron, returned to Vladivostok l August 16 and communicating the fol- lowing report made by Rear Admiral lessen. commander of the sQuadron' At dawn on August IA. the Rossia, lGromoboi and Rurik arrived forty-two miles from and parallel with Fusan and thirty miles from the northern light house of Tsu Island.
 '-Then to the westwad I saw Jap anese squadron of armored cruisers SIX miles to the north travelling parallel with our course. This squadron con- sisted of four vessels of the Iwate
 class, and was putting on full speed took a course to the northward with view to attaining the open sea. but the enemy, who was of superior speed. turned and took the same course. was, therefore, obliged to engage in l battle. which commenced at o'clock in the morning with a distance of sixty cables between the two sQuadrons (A
 cable length is TOO yards)
 The Enemy Reinforced. "In the straits to the south we saw a second-class cruiser of the Naniwa type, coming to join the enemy. At a convenient opportunity we rapidly | preach the Korean coast. and by in- crcasing our speed to seventeen knots we seemed to have an opportunity of succeeding. but the enemy now observ- | ed our intention and directed his course l towards us for the purpose of hindef- | ing our design.
 Hardly five minutes passed before | the Rurik left the ranks and signaled that her steering gear was disabled. | v Atx. .axrfS. ax.4 tcontinued on my former course. | Seeing that all of the Japanese cruisers were concentrating their fire | on the Rurix. all my subsequent ma Iroeuver.ng was with the object of en- tabIfng the Rurik to repair her dam- aged ruddef. attracted to myself the enemy's fire in order to cover the Ru-
 rik. Admiral lessen was on the Ros- sia.) At this time I saw two war ships, one a second and the other a
 third class cruiser. coming to join the | enemy.
 The Rurik Disabled. The Rurik hoisted the signal Can | not steer.' Some manoeuvering in the front line gave the Rurik a chance of | going in the direction of the Korean gulf, and at 8 o'clock the signal was
 hoisted, Go easterly.' The Rurik an- swered the signal and took the re- quisite course at full speed. as could be seen from the waves from her bows. Eventually the Rossia and Gromoboi took a northerly course at a distance
 of forty-two cables. The Rurik kept
 a course approximately southeast at 8
 distance of three miles.
 The battle continued for two hours in this manner. We suffered consid- erable damage. The Rossia had three
 tunnels pierced which prevented her from keeping up good steam and three of her boilers were rendered useless. At 9:30 o'clock the Rurik began to lag behind considerably, and again
 turned her bows toward the shore, at
 the same time fighting against the two
 second class cruisers which had Joined
 the enemy's squadron. The Rurik soon
 afterward began to get out of sight. Cut on from Assistance. "Vice-Admiral Kamimura. with four
 armored cruisers, kept steadfastly en-
 gazing us in such manner as to keep
 us from assisting the Rurik.
 1 While the Rurik continued fighting,
 we continued our efforts to attract the
 enemy further north in the hope. that the Rurik would manage to dispose of
 her two comparatively weaker oppon-
 ents and that after repairing the dam age to her rudder she would be able
 to reach V1adivostok independently. Shortly before o'clock the enemy's
 fire was the most terrific of the battle
 but to our general astonishment the
 whole Japanese squadron left us after
 the most deadly fight which had last
 ed five hours.
 The Rossia had sustained eleven
 holes at her water line and the Gromo-
 boi had six. Both cruisers lost more than half their officers and their losses
 among the men totaled 25 per cent. "It appeared impossible to renew the
 battle or to return to the Rurik, which
 was now thirty miles to the south. The Breaches Closed. | Taking advantage of the calm we
 stopped our engines and quickly com
 menced to repair the breaches in our
 vessels so as to enable us to proceed to Vladivostok.
 | Captain Berlinsky of the Rossia
 was killed and several of his officers wounded. On board the Gromoboi two lieutenants were Killed and other officers were wounded. Both cruisers had 135 men killed and BOT wounded. Captain Berlinsky was buried at sea-" The report concludes by testifying to | the heroism displayed by all the off, cers and men. who, 1t says. seemed to U have been made of iron. knowing no , fear or fatigue. A personal examination made of the damage done to the cruiser by the Jap Ianese fire. Admiral Alexiem says, In transmitting the report. convinces him of the high courage and self-sacrihcing efforts of those who took part in an unequal battle against the superior
 forces of the Japanese.