Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-01
CHATTER XIV.
Tho Vanished Fleet.

| at which he had hoped and striyen to be
present was going forward
For over a year the question which had
| been agitating many an English mind
was this: Is our weight of metal in Chi
nese waters enough? Is 1t commensurate
with possible contingencies? Is 1t not too
hopelessly small?
| This anxiety had been somewhat allayed
by the spectacle of ship after ship of the
| British nayy-the Barfieur. the Bonaven-
| ture, the Hannibal the Gibraltar-steam-
| ing away in mysterious haste to the east
| On the other hand. they had not steam
| ed away alone; they had followed-they
chad essn Ship. host os Russia
France and Germany, all hasting east
ward. eastward. as II in the sweep OF
some law of gravitation, all with the
/ of mystery, and furry, and design.
| Heavy Russian ornaments like the
Vladimir Monomach had hurried after
| French craft like the Pascal. and German
| 10000 tons to her Chinese navy was made
by Russia alone in her ships. the Rossiya,
} the Cissoi Veliki, the Navarin.
/ This eastern fever had infected even
nations not precisely In the running
Away in the sweep of the Chinese current
| went battleships from Italy, from Aus
| tria, from America
| were gravid with the navies OF the world
China herself, by way Of pantomime.
| had been building cruisers at the vulcan
dockyards at stettin; and at that very
time was promenading the boulevards OF
the seas. quite like one of the chic. with
the new Hi-Chi. Hi-Tien and Hai-shen.
| The H-Chi had q speed Of twenty-four
| knots, and was cruiser carrying an
| armament as heavy as many vessels twice
her displacement.
| The fleet of Japan was in prime fight
| Ing order, modern. as smart as 1t was
/ 49, q
| of the fleets In Chinese waters put to-
| gether
Was England's weight of metal SUM-
cient? This was the question.
| The fact was that England had ceased
| to be acutely anxious when 1t was once
| known that her weight was greater than
that of any two Of the European nations
| combined.
She had added $1,000 tons. in round
| numbers. to her former Chinese squad
| ron: Russia $4,000; France, 1000. But
| all told. she had concentrated l26,Ioo tons
| in those waters, whereas Russia's total
| was only $4,000 and Frances 26.OOO. IL
| followed, therefore, that Britain had
preponderance of some 17,100 tons over
these two.
! This had seemed enough, considering
| that some of Russia's terra-cotta-colored
ships were old-fashiened.
| 1t was hardly remembered that there
| was Germany, too, with weight OF IT,
| 900 tons, in Chinese waters. Russia.
France and Germany. together had pre-
ponderance over Britain of 10000 tons.
| The fact was sufficiently impressive In
| itself; but 1t had not been terrifying.
| even to those who remembered the pos
| sibility of the German element being hos
| tile to the British. when they also re-
membered the splendid fleet 0f-Japan.
| Here was an additional element of 300
| 600 tons-all on the side Of Britain.
For was not Japan the friend of Eng
| land? Were not their interests Identical?
| The Britain OF the east and the Britain of
| the west-how natural that they should
stand shoulder to shoulder
But there was one question in conneo-
| ton with this queer, outland1sh, yellow
ally of England, the correct answer to
which would have sent as great a shock
| through England, could she have known
| 1t, as she had ever received In her his
| tory. The question was this: Where on
earth. during the early part of April. 1899.
did the allied feet in eastern waters get
their supplies of coal?"
We have stated that England and ia
pan, by a clever deal, had, weeks before,
effected a corner In all the Welsh and
other coal in the east.
Yet on the morning of the 10th of April
the whole allied navy, which some little
| time before had been almost immobilized
for lack of steam fuel, and had been hid
| ing and lodging, each ship for herself, all
about the northern Chinese coasts, now
steamed gallantly past Quelpart In search
of the British fleet, supposed to be some
where in the neighborhood of Chemulpo.
They were steering northwest; Maya
Sak1 lay EOutheaSI, they were. therefore,,
coming from Japan Could 1t be that from
Japan they had obtained this coal2
And where was the feet of Japan? For
two days Vice Admiral Sir Edward Sey-
mour had been expecting 1t, by previous
arrangement, to appear off Chemulpo.
But as yet 1t gave no sign.
The vice admiral was not at first pre-
cisely anxious: for his only ground of
suspicion that anything was. wrong in
China was the fact, reported to him at
Hongkong six days before, that all COM
munfcation between that Island and the
mainland had mysteriously ceased Yen
How had left the Englishmen on Hong
kong alive, having no desire to have
every Chinese port shelied by British
guns. Hence. when the vice admiral
coaled and started northward hurriedly
on receipt of a telegram from Toxic stat
Ing that the allied feed had managed to
procure some coal and was steaming
eastward upon Japan, he had no suspi-
cion OF the massacre. His reply to Toxic
was that he was starting northward at
once, and would avoid an engagement
until the junction of the two fleets; and
he instructed the Japanese fleet to join
him at Chemulpo.
But at ChemuIpo he received a shock
There was no white man in the place
All he could suppose was that there had
been a rising in the town and the white
men killed.
But he hardly attached any political i'm
portance to the fact Such things were
common in China
He waited with perfect confidence for
the Japanese fleet.
The next morning he received a cable
dispatch from Nagasaki to Fusan. and
brought 200 miles on mule-baek to Che
mulpo. 1t was as follows:
The allied fleets, plentifully supplied
with coal, are about to steam eastward
in search of you. Japanese feet Will fol-
low"
Steam eastward Supplied with coalr'
"Will foIlow!" Certainly, now, II ever
man was puzzled ii was the British COM
nander-in chief.
For If the enemy were steaming east
ward supplied with coal that meant jap
anese treachery. But If Japan were
treacherous and had Joined the allies,
why on earth did she take the pains to
warn the British of their advance?
And why ''wiir' follow? They should
! have set out according to the vice adj
mirafs instructions. long before. If they
had not already set out they were treach-
erous; but IL they We're treacherous why
did they give this warning of It, instead
| of taking the advantage of surprise?
That they were not neutral seemed
proved by the fact that they were fol
| lowing" at all.
The vice admiral's brow was a heavy
cloud of care. He decided that the mis-
sive was hoax. then that that was Inn
possible, then again that 1t was hoax.
He sent an expedition of bluejackets