BOTTLING UP PORT ARTHUR

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2, 14 January 1905, Page 37

BOTTLING UP PORT ARTHUR

A.ia Accomt of the Fsirst Attemp by ONE OF THE £ PARTS CI PANTS Edlited and Translated by Adachi Kinnosuake

It was a little past midnight of the nineteenth day of February, 1904—-ten days since we had paid our first respects to the Russian men-of-war at Port Arthur. We were made to understand from Russian sources that the first visit of ours was rather unexpected and altogether impolite. We had been thinking of mending our ways and doing something a little more handsome.

In that midnight hour of the nine teenth we gathered together five old ves seis for their own funerals —for the bot

tling Up of Port Arthur. When the unpleasantness between Nippon and Russia was a certainty in the minds of a certain circle of our Government —was. in fact, a matter of a few days —we made up our minds, without consulting the pleasure of Russia, to have the supreme command of the sea for at least a few days—as many days as it would take to transport the main portion of our army from the concentrating bases of our home ports to Korea and Manchuria. We simply had to have it. Xow. the most comfortable way of attaining this result was to persuade our good Russian friends to be bottled up in Port Arthur. The narrow neck of the Port Arthur Harbour —what a pointed temptation from geography! It was on’v necessary to see it to hear the message from the gods rather plainly. A few old tubs, discreetly buried in that narrow neck, would afford the Russian vessels the distinction of becoming the “fleet in being.’’ So they were ready, the five ships—the Tenshin Maru, Hokoku Maru, Ninsen Maru, Bushu Maru and Buyo Maru.

It would have been much better if we could have loaded these vessels with rocks: we did not have time. So we had taken a large quantity of coal that was at hand and filled our old vessels with it. Aboard the Asama, just before we took to the doomed vessels, Commander Yashiro gathered together the five men who were to represent the Asama on this desperate expedition. Commander Yashiro took from a case the huge silver cup that had been given him by the Crown Prince. He filled it with pure cold water. He offered it to the five men. and said: “I am about to send you, gentlemen, into death. He who returns from it is a favoured child of fortune. You have offered your lives that your country might see the mouth of this hostile harbour sealed. I wish I had a hundred children of my own blood. For them I cannot hope for a prouder distinction than to be in your place. When I send you forth on this mission it is, indeed, like sending my own children to death. To you, gentlemen. is given the opportunity of achieving one of the most heroic feats known to men. The work is worthy of a brave man. 'With all my heart I congratulate you on your outgoing. If. unhappily, one of you lose his right hand, try to accomplish what you have started to do with your left. If both of your arms are torn from you you have your feet. Always remember that it is imperative for you to obey strictly the orders of your commanding officers. Permit mo to add also, that I know that you start on this journey without the slightest idea or desire to return to us. Nevertheless, as one of the men who have given their lives to their homeland, would you allow me to say that it is not well to look upon life lightly. It is not enough that you should

win glory with your death. Neither are ; ou going out from me to-night because it is your pleasure to scent the history of our navy’ with the fragrance of an heroic deed. AT that I would beg you to allow me to emphasize is that you shall accomplish your duty. If it takes life the life must be given. If it does not take it then certainly life should not be given. Other things should never enter your mind; always let it be remembered that the one thing in your mind rnd heart is the accomp’ishment of tlie work for which your country is sending you out tonight.

“Be always confident that Heaven is with you: that life and death are the things that are left to the pleasures of the gods. Whatever you do you should act with that serene composure of your soul, which is the only thing that is becoming to men intrusted with a great work. Good-bye.’’

That evening, a little before six o’clock, in the reception-hall of the Mikasa, there were gathered together for dinner a number of commanders at the invitation of Admiral Togo and Admiral Kamimura. Altogether there were forty of us. and the dinner was given in honour of the commanders of the vessels that were to be sunk at the mouth of Port Arthur. Admiral Togo rose with his cup. As usual, he was genial, quiet. He simply said: “Sakannarukana!” (It is rather difficult to petrify the poetry and grace of Fuji, the peerless; neither can you translate this one word of the Admiral with which he toasted the majesty of the undertaking.) This single word of the Admiral, pronounced with the gentlest of tones, fell upon us like cloven tongues of fire, of Biblical memory. There was a voting officer seated be=ide me. Turning to me, he remarked: “That toast of the Admiral makes me fee! as if someone had suddenly pickled my’ soul in red pepper.” Most certainly’ one could hardly hope to select a word that would have been more becoming for the feast—the final feast in which some of us were bidding farewell to life. All eyes were centred upon the Admiral: some of them were misty already. Under the intense gaze, however, the features of Admiral Togo’s face were calm, half-smiling. After the historic toast there fell a silence upon us all. I do not remember how long it lasted. Later. Commander Alima—who was to take the supreme command of the expedition—rose in answer to the Admiral’s toast. If it were within human possibility, if we could only pay for this work with our lives, the work was to be a success—that was the drift of his brief speech. Every one of us present swore to himself that he would either see the work accomplished or never return. On the eighteenth all arrangements were made. It was decided to call for volunteers. Only seventyseven men were needed to do the work. The call for volunteers was communicated to every warship through its commanding officer. Within a few minutes of the publication of the invitation for volunteers there were 2000 men who answered it. There was no little confusion aboard every vessel. The call specified for 77. and many of the men. desperately’ anxious to undertake this work, and fearing that there would be such an overwhelming number of men who would offer themselves for the service, wished to put themselves forward with a striking emphasis on the sincerity of their desire. These bit off a finger, after the time-

honoured custom, and with their blood wrote the petition to be taken as one of the seventv-seven.

At eight o'clock of the morning of the 20th of February we were escorted out of the base by the united fleet with due ceremony. It was splendid and imposing—especially impressive to all of us who left all hopes of life as we steamed out of the naval base. At noon on the 21st we reached our rendezvous. It was planned that there we should at once proceed with the removal of those men from the vessels who were not to take part in the bottling-up operation. The weather was ugly, however, and we were forced to postpone it for one day. On the following day. that is. the 22nd of February, the weather had improved considerably, and at once we proceeded to transfer the men to the Kinshu Maru. It was 6 o'clock in the evening when we weighed anchor. We turned our bow in the direction of Port Arthur. The twenty-third! Tlie heavens were as clean as if an invisible hand had wiped them of every stain. Far out near the centre of the Yellow Sea we suddenly came upon the united squadron of our navy. So beautiful was the water, so kindly the sky. that it was not difficult for us to dream of boating on the Shinagawa under a canopy of blossoming cherries. At five in the evening of this day we parted from our scfuadron again with due ceremony. The Tenshin Maru led us in line ahead. At 7 o’clock in the evening we steamed along the Ento. The sun. which had been hanging like a great, ripe, red fruit, fell finally into the waves. Through the dusk of the falling day we saw the half-moon float out above us. Tn my young days T have heard my elders say many a time that when Suketsune was picking his way along the path in search of the camp where slept his mortal enemy the ghost of his beloved rose from the gloom of night in the shape of a moon, and beckoned him on to the right camp; and the moon, which stood above our heads, gave us the impression of being a silver embodiment of a sovereign genius of our nation, beckoning us in the direction of Port Arthur. At 8 o’clock the waves were quiet and the moonlight was pure. T was standing on the bridge at the time. The poetry of this quiet, moonlight night made me dream. T summoned all our men not on duty to the bridge. I said to them, pointing in the direction of Port Arthur: •That is the place, my men. where tonight we shall bury ourselves alive, that we may become henceforth the guardian spirits of our homeland. The sea that had been stormy until yesterday is. as you see. like a mirror-lake. The moon, which we could not see for many days, is sailing through a cloudless sk’ . We have good reason to thank the heavens for the beautiful setting they have given us for our burial. T propose, therefore, that we shall drink the final cup of pure water in parting from life.” And right bravely every one of us took a cup of cold water to his lips, and the moon fell into our cups, and the distance was melting in front of us. Tt was 11.30 o’clock at night. All of a sudden we saw the flash of searchlights from two hostile vessels. They must have been out on scouting duty. We made to the south of Liaoteshan without being discovered, and there we received the communications from the torpedo-boat flotilla. It was 2.30 a.m. of the twentv-fourth

day of February. Suddenly we came upon two Russian destroyers. Between us was about 400 metres. They must have iieen the scouting boats. They passed us by at that close distance, ami. strangely enough, without paying the slightest at tention to us. It is difficult to imagine the reason of their indifference. They made no sign of recognition; they never signalled us. Some of the men among us made frivolous remarks about them, but others gravely said that Heaven, which is always with the brave and with those who try to do right, had been with us in this war. and that these Russians must have had their senses paralysed so that they could not recognise the approach of hostile vessels within 400 metres. At that time the moon had fallen below the horizon. Fleecy clouds swept the sky. Tlie weather was ideal for the operation. Then we saw. for the first time, in the direction of Port Arthur. nervous shiftings of powerful searchlights. Very soon the first report of cannon broke the silence. Unquestionably the Russians had discovered our destroyers, which formed the vanguard to attract the hostile fire. Three-thirty a.m. Five vessels of ours at fu’l speed, which, after all. did not exceed eight knots, steamed towards the entrance of the harbour. The searchlights on the heights of Port Arthur examined the direction of the Liaoteshan closely. Tt seems, then, that the enemy was not quite deceived as to the intention of the approach of our torpedo-boats from the opposite direction. We were under the Manzushan. when we came suddenly into the full glare of the enemy’s searchlights. As soon as we were discovered twelve, eight and six inch shells from all the guns of the Russian fleets and the forts crowning the heights commanding the entrance to Port Arthur searched us every inch. We ran parallel to the searchlights for some distance, and they gave us cross-fire. There was nothing surprising in this performance. It was nothing more than we expected. Our vessels made steadily for their objective. Everywhere the water rose in a thousand fountains. When you think of it. it is almost miraculous how few shells we received at that time. Suddenly 1 saw upon the bridge of the Tenshin Maru the bursting of a huge shell: the vessel was instantly on fire. That was the ves sei which carried the commander of this expedition. From where I stood it seemed as if everybody upon the bridge was killed. It seemed very probable to me at that time that Commander Arima must have been shot to pieces. Tn an in st.int I saw another shell explode on the Hokoku Maru. Like the Tenshin Maru. the vessel was on fire, but the shell evidently did not damage her steering-gear or the engine. She went steadily on with out losing speed or control. Thicker than ever the hostile shells liegan to fall. At that time T saw the Buyo Maru. which was in front of our vessel, behave very strangely: something must have happen ed to her: she seemed to be sinking very rapidly. I thought that the Buyo Maru must have struck a mine. T dodged to starboard: in so doing I exposed the broadside of my vessel to the hostile fire. At that moment a shell reached our rudder and carried it away completely. My vessel was out of control, and began to bead against the shore. We reversed the engine: we dropped the anchor. We did.

In fact, everything that could be done either to stop or change the course of the vessel; but it was too late. I heard * man who was standing not far from me gay: “Even Kusuno Masashige received some arrows.’' (Now, Kusuno Masashigc is the father of Nippon patriotism. Today he has a shrine, and the people worship him as a god of the patriots.) Soon our vessel was aground. When I saw the uselessness of further efforts I decided to do the best thing under the circumstances: I gave orders to blow up the ship and to lower all the boats. We made towards the Liaoteshan Promontory. All this time the hostile guns were playing upon us. It was about 4.45 in the morning. The forts saw our boat and blazed away at us, but without any result. We made our way in the direction of Liaoteshan. because that was the place where our torpedo-boats were to wait for us and pick us up. When we reached the neighbourhood of Liaoteshan we saw the melting shadow of our torpedo-boat flotilla making for the horizon. Desperately we rowed our boats in pursuit of them. As the light of day increased we hoisted a white piece of cloth; we shouted to them; we did everything we could to attract their attention; but the more desperately we rowed in the direction of the disappearing torpedo-boats the farther away we •eemed to get from them. Through a blunder, at the time when we were transferring our men into the boat, we lost a sack of provisions which we meant to take along with us. There was nothing to protect our men from the eold. I said to those around me: “When we started, as you know, we took the final farewell to life. Do not be disappointed ; we have all the promising signs of seeing our expectations fulfilled. Our fate'is altogether with Heaven, and it is becoming, on the part of men who think only of performing their duty to their country, to take whatever comes to pass with perfect composure. We shall do our best to reach our naval base. At the present time the wind is against us. It might change at any moment.” And so jro headed due south. It was 9.20 a.m. At about ten o’clock an island hove in sight. Mists which were awakening from their soft dreams in the first light of the morning had obscured its profile. For all the world it looked to us like the ghost of a forlorn hope. The wind was rising gradually, and we were rowing against the tide. The boat we were in was too light to weather a storm. For *ll the world we were as a swallow flying in the face of Providence. After the healthy excitement of the sealing operations there was a decided lull. Our stomachs were empty. To keep us awake we sang national hymns and all the songs of childhood that we could gather from our memories. In spite of shouts, in spite of all the sedate and correct and oft-repeated jokes that we revived with shameless persistence, sleep at last seemed to lay her merciful hands upon us all. I saw the helplessness of our situation. Our last hope of rescue was in reaching the island in front of us. “If the sweetest concords of musie of our childhood’s Bongs would not do,” I said to myself, else has to be done.” So I seized a stick that was beside me and raised a veritable pandemonium of discords by beating it against the side of the boat. At last we gained a little harbour over tbc angry waves which were trying to foil us. It was 2.30 in the afternoon. After we started on the twenty-first, for four days and nights we had never slept a wink. For two days we had two dumplings a piece wherewith to fight starvation, until at last relief came.