The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-29

as a factor in sea fighting did not get a
chance in that war. Yet the agent for the
revolutionaries at present in New York,
who himself held a commission from the
Japanese War Office as an officer of artillery
at Pert Arthur. and who has that document
in his possession at the present time, says
that Dynamit. Jack commanded the
submarine that blew up the Petropavlovsk
and was also in command Of one Of three
OF the little sea daggers that operated in
the three days fight in Tsushima Straits.
O'Brien, he says, still has the official COM
mission given him at the outbreak of the
war by the Naval Office at Toxic, and
adorned with the seal of the Minister of the
Navy, who appoint d him an agent of the
Japanese Government TO purchase Holland
boats in America and transport them to
Japan. Later he was put in command Of
one OF the submarines.
The Holland boats were purchased in
New York, a fact which the papers at that
time sought to CONFIRM. They were shipped
to Seattle in sections over the Great Northern
Railroad. One Of the trains bearing the
submarines was wrecked in Montana. This
piece OF news was noted in press kilograms
at the time and the rumor was circulated
that the wrecking Of the train had been
accomplished by secret az ants of Russia.
The Holland boats were shipped from
Seattle on the Nippon Yusen kaisha boat
K~anagawa Maru. O'Brien went withfthem.
The sections of the submarines were sent
to the naval yards at Sasebo and Yokossuka
as soon as the consignment arrived in
Yokohama, When the war with Russia
brske out Japan possessed three of these
submarines. Others were added to this
feet before the close OF hostilities.
The part that O'Brien played as COM
mander Of one of these submarines is told
in detail by his friend, che American, from
south Russia. His story runs in this vice.:
shortly after Togo's feet took mp its
position outside Port Arthur, O'Brien's
subma rine and the two others in COM
mission we're ordered IN join the feet from
Sasebo, the westernmost naval station
in Japan. The submarines took up posi-
ton with the rest Of the feet OF Port Arthur.
en- Togo determined to attempt
to lure the Russian ships out of the inner
harbor he brought from the Inland Sea
ports a feet of merchantmen that had
been rugged up to represent light drauRht
cruisers. Old and obsolete gum had been
mounted on board. This feet, with the
submarine commanded by Dynamite Jack
trailing along in the rear, Togo sent in
toward the harbor mouth early on the
morning Of April 10.
You will remember that press dispatches +,
from Russian sources at the time said
that a Japanese fleet of thirty vessels an |
peared of the harbor on that day. Togo
didn Z have thirty vessels under his com |
mand at that time. What the Russians
saw from the forts was this fleet of mer-
chantmen which the Japanese had dis
guised az cruisers.
The T ussian fleet cam4 out and pursued
the Japanese boa some miles down the
coast. After the Russians had passed in
pursuit the submarine under Jack O'Brien
took up n position in the path of the Russian
feet. When Admiral Makarof saw on the
horizon a full feet Of Japanese vessels ap-
preaching he may h We realized that he had
been tricked. At any rate ne turned to
Renter the harbor. O'Brien's submarine
submerged and with only the periscope
out Of water waited for the feet
when the Petropavlovsk, which was the
largest and strongest battleship Of the
Asiatic squadron, came along O'Brien sank
his boat still further and came up alongside
the An keel of the battleship.
1T was at that spot in the hull that he
launched his torpedo. The charge ex-
ploded right under the engine room. The
engines and the powder mazagines were
both exploded by the torpedo stab and the
engines were practically blown right up out
Of the ship" -
In the light OF this new story Of the de-
struction Of the Petrop iviovsk il is iny ,
structive TO note that in The Sun of April
Is, 1904, a retired naval officer il quoted
in CONNIE t upon the Russian disaster a.
saying:
"The theory that the P~etropavlovsk
struck her own mines is impossible, and. the
theory that the Japanese planted mines
during the night attacks il absurd. They
could not anticipate her course. The sub
marines with their perisoopes could run into
the first narrow part of the outer channel,
and we know that tn, Japanese have sub
marines"
On the same date THE SUN printed a
,desI atch from Sc. Petersburg saying, o..
The, belief grows among the leadIinR
naval officials here that The destruction OF