Dogger Bank incident The Dogger Bank incident ( also known as the North Sea Incident , the Russian Outrage or the Incident of Hull ) occurred on the night of 21 / 22 October 1904 , when the Russian Baltic Fleet mistook some British trawlers in the Dogger Bank area of the North Sea for an Imperial Japanese Navy force and fired on them . Russian warships also fired on each other in the chaos of the melée . Three British fishermen died and a number were wounded . One sailor and a priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire were also killed . The incident almost led to war between Britain and Russia . Incident . The Russian warships involved in the incident were en route to the Far East , to reinforce the 1st Pacific Squadron stationed at Port Arthur , and later Vladivostok , during the Russo - Japanese War . Because of incorrect reports about the presence of Japanese torpedo boat s , submarines and minefields in the North Sea , and the general nervousness of the Russian sailors , 48 harmless fishing vessels were attacked by the Russians , thousands of miles away from enemy waters . The incident arose from the fact that the recently developed torpedo boats of the European navies did have the potential to wreck large warships , and could also strike while nearly invisible . Torpedo boats created a psychological stress on sailors at war , and as early as 1898 , during the Spanish - American War , American warships had opened fire on ocean swells , trains on land , and rocks along the coastline , after sailors had mistaken them for Spanish torpedo boats . Accidents and rumours , which had also dogged the United States Navy during the war with Spain in 1898 , did not exempt the Russian fleet on their voyage , and there was general fear of attack among the sailors , with widespread rumours that a fleet of Japanese torpedo boats were stationed off the Danish coast , as well as talk of the Japanese having mined the seas and alleged sightings of Japanese submarines . To quell the fears of the crews , Admiral Rozhestvensky called for increased vigilance and issued an order that " no vessel of any sort must be allowed to get in among the fleet " . This soon led to an incident near the Danish coast unrelated to the Dogger Bank disaster , when fishermen bearing consular dispatches from Russia for the fleet were fired on , but escaped unharmed due to the poor standards of Russian gunnery . After negotiating a non - existent minefield , the Russian fleet sailed into the North Sea . The disaster of 21 October began in the evening , when the captain of the supply ship " Kamchatka " ( Камчатка ) , which was last in the Russian line , took a passing Swedish ship for a Japanese torpedo boat and radioed that he was being attacked . Later that night , during fog , the officers on duty sighted the British trawlers , interpreted their signals incorrectly and classified them as Japanese torpedo boats . The Russian warships then trained their searchlights on the trawlers and opened fire . The British trawler " Crane " was sunk , and its captain and first mate were killed . Four other trawlers were damaged , and six other fishermen were wounded , one of whom died a few months later . As the trawlers had their nets down , they were unable to flee and , in the general chaos , Russian ships shot at each other : the cruisers " Aurora " and " Dmitrii Donskoi " were taken for Japanese warships and bombarded by seven battleships sailing in formation , damaging both ships and killing at least one Russian sailor and severely wounding another , and fatally wounding a naval chaplain . During the pandemonium , several Russian ships signalled torpedoes had hit them , and on board the battleship " Borodino " , rumours spread that the ship was being boarded by the Japanese , with some crews donning life vests and lying prone on the deck and others drawing cutlasses to repel a boarding . More serious losses to both sides were only avoided by the extremely low quality of Russian gunnery , with the battleship " Oryol " reportedly firing more than 500 shells without hitting anything . The firing lasted for twenty minutes before the British fishermen observed a blue light being signalled on one of the warships ; this was the order to cease firing . Aftermath . The incident led to a serious diplomatic conflict between Russia and Britain , which was particularly dangerous due to the Anglo - Japanese Alliance . In the aftermath some British newspapers called the Russian fleet ' pirates ' and the Russian admiral Zinovi Rozhestvenski was heavily criticised for not leaving the British sailors lifeboats . The editorial of the morning ' s Times was particularly scathing : The Royal Navy prepared for war , with 28 battleships of the Home Fleet being ordered to raise steam and prepare for action , while British cruiser squadrons shadowed the Russian fleet as it made its way through the Bay of Biscay and down the coast of Portugal . Under diplomatic pressure , the Russian government agreed to investigate the incident , and Rozhestvenski was ordered to dock in Vigo , Spain , where he left behind those officers considered responsible ( as well as at least one officer who had been critical of him ) . From Vigo , the main Russian fleet then approached Tangiers , Morocco , and lost contact with the " Kamchatka " for several days . The " Kamchatka " eventually rejoined the fleet and claimed that she had engaged three Japanese warships and fired over 300 shells : the ships she had actually fired at were a Swedish merchantman , a German trawler , and a French schooner . As the fleet left Tangiers , one ship accidentally severed the city ' s underwater telegraph cable with her anchor , preventing communications with Europe for four days . The Russian fleet was barred from using the Suez Canal and British ports as a result of the incident . It thus proceeded around Africa , where it rendezvoused with German supply ships that had been hired to replenish its coal stocks at sea . The fleet then proceeded to the Sea of Japan where it was defeated in the Battle of Tsushima . On 25 November 1904 , the British and the Russian governments signed a joint agreement in which they agreed to submit the issue to the International Commission of Inquiry at the Hague . The commission completed its report on 26 February 1905 , in which it criticised Admiral Rozhestvenski for his decision to fire upon the British ships . However , it concluded that " as each [ Russian ] vessel swept the horizon in every direction with her own searchlights to avoid being taken by surprise , it was difficult to prevent confusion " . It concluded that " the opening of fire by Admiral Rozhestvenski was not justifiable " . It also concluded as follows : " the commissioners take pleasure in recognising , unanimously , that Admiral Rozhestvenski personally did everything he could , from beginning to end of the incident , to prevent trawlers , recognised as such , from being fired upon by the squadron " . The fishermen eventually received £66 , 000 from Russia in compensation . In 1906 the Fisherman ' s Memorial was unveiled in Hull to commemorate the deaths of the three British sailors . The approx . 18 feet high statue shows the dead fisherman George Henry Smith and carries the following inscription :