at 7 o'clock on the evening of april 12 our destroyer division of eight ships went out, in beautiful weather, to do a long reconnaissance. by 10 the weather had rapidly changed for the worse, and the sky was overcast. a thick sea mist covered the water and it was hailing. in such a night there was nothing to prevent the japs getting within half a cable of the place without being discovered. notwithstanding the little practice our men had had at sea in peace-time, they were not at all put out by the weather. those who assert that russians do not make good sailors, lie: all they want is good leaders. by midnight our destroyers drew near a group of islands, and here the fog and murk of the pouring rain were so thick that it was impossible for the vessels to distinguish one another. around were solid darkness and deathly silence, broken only by the beat of the engines. owing to the fog, the proximity of the islands, and the rocky nature of the coast, the division kept at low speed, being only able to get its bearings by the cries of the gulls roosting on the shore hard by. about midnight among the islands the strashny lost touch with the rest. at 2 o'clock she made out some lights, and thinking them to belong to her division, steamed slowly towards them, only to be met as dawn broke by a sudden broad[pg 33]side. instead of being with our ships, she was in the middle of six japanese destroyers and two two-funnelled cruisers.
returning the fire, the commander ordered 'full steam ahead' and made for port arthur; but it was too late. the enemy had everything in their favour—numbers, strength, and speed. the strashny was overhauled and riddled. but though captain urasovsky, who was commanding, and all the crews of the bow guns were killed almost at once, and she was soon full of dead and dying men, the engines still worked. she had not been deprived of her life, her mobility—and she moved. life was dear to every man aboard her, and they fought like devils. lieutenant malaeff, upon whom the command had now devolved, was everywhere—now forward, now aft—giving orders and encouragement. in him the desire to live beat strong, and a faint hope of assistance or of escape made him disregard the slaughter all around him, the enemy's increasing fire—all else but the main chance. sub-lieutenant akinfieff fell wounded in the side; the crew were falling fast. the swish, crack, and whistle of shells was mingled with the groans, prayers, and shrieks of the wounded.
choosing a favourable moment, malaeff fired a torpedo from the stern tube at the nearest cruiser, and hit. she heeled over and stopped, and the other cruiser and two of the destroyers went to her aid. things now looked better, as only four destroyers were left against the strashny. encouraged by what malaeff had done, torpedo-man cherepanoff dashed to the other torpedo-tube; but he had not got hold of the firing-lever when a shell struck the torpedo and exploded it, with awful results. engineer-mechanic dmitrieff was blown in half, and every man near was killed. the engines stopped. the japs also stopped, and continued firing at a range of 80 yards. akinfieff, who up till now had been still able to give[pg 34] orders, was struck by another shell. the last 47-millimetre gun was disabled; the vessel was penetrated below water-line, and must sink. convinced that there was no chance, malaeff raised the head of his dead comrade dmitrieff, kissed him, then returned to the crew. 'better die than surrender,' he said, and, going to the quick-firer, which had been taken off a blocker, he fired point-blank at the enemy.
the fire of this little gun brought down the bridge of one of the destroyers and the funnel of another. the japanese, infuriated at such dogged resistance, mercilessly shelled the strashny. malaeff fell, wounded in the temple. the little vessel, her deck a-wash with blood and loaded with dead and dying men, began to settle. suddenly the enemy ceased fire and were seen to be sheering off: the smiely had put out from liao-tieh-shan to the rescue. but it was too late, for the strashny sank, leaving behind but a trail of crimson bubbles and some wounded struggling in the water. of four officers and forty-eight men only five were saved, picked up under a heavy fire by the bayan, which had come out.
the danger for the bayan while rescuing the wounded increased every moment, for the fire of six big ships and a destroyer division, which had come up, was now concentrated upon her. but our fleet dashed upon the scene, the petropalovsk leading, and the remainder in single column after her. getting into battle formation, and being joined by the bayan, the fleet steamed towards the enemy, and, opening fire, drove them off. in the distance, more than hull-down, could be seen the enemy's main fleet, consisting of eighteen ships: both of his divisions were moving towards liao-tieh-shan to concentrate. our fleet had turned and begun to change front under the protection of the guns of the fortress, when suddenly a great column of water shot up by the stem of[pg 35] the petropalovsk, and there boomed forth the dull sound of a submarine explosion, followed immediately by a second and louder report. the whole of the centre of the huge battleship was enveloped in a sheet of flame and a cloud of yellow-brown smoke. her stern rose high out of water and her screws glistened in the sun as they whizzed round, racing. in a minute and a half the petropalovsk had ceased to exist: where she had been was cold, dirty water, flecked with foam.
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admiral makharoff.
the explosion was witnessed by many, and was signalled to the harbour from golden hill, so the town received the awful news almost at once; but no one knew any further details, nor wished to believe that makharoff had perished with his ship, and i shall never forget the consternation in the harbour as reports were anxiously awaited. at last the captain of an incoming destroyer shouted through his megaphone: 'the petropalovsk has gone down, and with her the admiral: they are searching for his body.'
and what was the cause of this catastrophe? on the preceding night the admiral had been on the diana, which was doing duty in the outer roads. some small ships were sighted from the cruiser behind flat cape. makharoff thought they were our destroyers, and despite convincing proofs that they were not, he would not open fire. they were japanese laying mines, one of which destroyed the petropalovsk and injured the pobieda.
and so perished the gallant admiral whose command of the fleet had in an incredibly short time done wonders, and who, had he been spared, might have changed the whole course of after-events.
