What a Naval Battle is Like

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7844, 23 May 1904, Page 3

What a Naval Battle is Like

Terrible Scenes on a Cruiser

The Port Arthur journal, Novy Krai.., 'describing the sodno oni board the Eussian cruiser Bayan, which distinguished herself during the bombardment of Port Arthur by the Japanese at the beginning of April, says :—

" The bursting shells bowled overman after man, until the decks were slippery with blood. Amidst this hell the captain stood unmoved in the conning tower, calmly telephoning his orders to the captains of the guns. His wonderful coolness had a remarkable inilucncc on all the officers. *' The cock-pit was soon crowded with wounded, thirty-nine men being brought down before the fight ended. Amidst the crash of the guns, .■the hiss of the'- ?ly'in(g , projectiles, and the thunder of their explosions, the smashing of splinters, and the din of the working engines, the surgeons laboured quietly among the wounded on the hospital operating table. Although some of the men suffered frightful agony, few groans were heard, in spite of the fact that anaesthetics were only administered in one case. ,~

" When the battle ended and the enemy began to draw off, the officers on the bridge cheered, the cheering extended down to the hold, the stokers and even the wounded joining in. " The captain signalled ' Full speed ahead !' after the retreating Japanese, but they had not gone far before the flag-ship signalled tho Bayan to return."