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قراءة كتاب Under the Dragon Flag My Experiences in the Chino-Japanese War

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Under the Dragon Flag
My Experiences in the Chino-Japanese War

Under the Dragon Flag My Experiences in the Chino-Japanese War

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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despatch-boat's name—was a handsome testimonial to the accuracy of their aim.

Lieutenant Hishidi and I had many conversations, chiefly during his watches, and our talk generally turned on the war and nautical matters. Of the Chinese he spoke with unmeasured contempt, certainly not undeserved, and said that the Japanese fleets and armies had no misgiving as to the result of the struggle; they felt able, against such opponents, to do anything and go anywhere—"aussi loin que mer et terre puissent nous mener," was his emphatic expression.

"We have been making this war for a long time," said he, "and we feel sure of what we can do."

I remarked on the extraordinary rapidity with which a nation, closed like the Japanese, up to within thirty years since, to European trade and European ideas, had adopted and assimilated the system of Western civilization.

"Yes," he replied, "we can learn, and we have learnt, because we saw that the knowledge would give us a great advantage in our own part of the world."

He had been in France, and expressed great admiration of French ship-building and French seamanship, and seemed doubtful when I maintained that British seamen would in case of war assert their superiority over the French ones just as decisively now as they ever had done in the past—and of naval history in general Hishidi had a good idea.

"You might," he said, "as your navy is so much larger than theirs."

But I pointed out that our naval triumphs had seldom been gained by superior force—"although," I admitted, "we certainly have now double the force of any other European power, on which account none of them dare attack us singly, as they know that if they did, the majority of their knocked-out tubs would be towing up the Downs in a very brief space of time. But numbers apart, the British sailor of to-day can still do more with a ship than a Frenchman. The conditions are certainly completely changed, but the best seaman will make the most of the new order."

He shook his head dubiously, and said he should like to see a war between England and France.

"Well," said I, "you may live to see that and not be an old man. You may live to see a war between England and half the rest of the world, and see England get the best of it. It has happened once or twice before."

On another occasion we were talking about Russia, when Hishidi remarked—

"Russia wants China."

"Russia wants everything," said I.

"Ah, that is what they say of you," replied he.

I once asked him what he thought of the torpedo.

"Well," said he, "the torpedo is as yet far from being thoroughly understood. It is very uncertain in use, though when it takes effect invariably deadly. Gun-fire should be able to neutralize it, that is, to keep it at a distance, for once struck, no sort of construction could resist the explosion of two hundred pounds of gun-cotton against the hull under the water line; water-tight compartments would be of no avail against such devastation. Vessels of the cruiser type, fast, and with a heavy quick-firing armament, are best suited to cope with torpedo-boats, which would find it difficult to get to close quarters with such craft. Warships have lately been built with a considerable increase of length, which of course increases a torpedo's chance of striking by giving it a larger target. Moderate size, no overloading with armour, speed, good coal supply, and as many quick-firing guns as can be mounted—that is my idea of the best type of warship at present. The policy of building monstrous ships is doubtful, when they can be sunk by a torpedo-boat. Under such conditions, it seems to me that ease and rapidity of manoeuvring is of more advantage than gigantic weight of ordnance and armour, because after all the torpedo's attack is directed against a part which nothing can render invulnerable."

Such is the substance of my conversation with the lieutenant, but despite the charms of intellectual intercourse, I soon began to get desperately weary of my detention. Day after day the Itsuku cruised about, sometimes in company with other craft, sometimes alone. The enemy kept well out of sight, and few events occurred to chequer the monotony. Once we sighted two Chinese gunboats not far from Chefoo, and the Japanese varied the day's drill and gun exercise by shelling them into Wei-hai-wei. They ran ignominiously and never made the least show of fight. Had the Itsuku been a faster vessel, she would undoubtedly have captured or destroyed one of them. Her maximum speed was under sixteen knots. On another occasion, off the western coast of the Liaotung, we came upon a fleet of junks, craft engaged in coast trade, I presume. Their crews ran them ashore and escaped, whilst the Japanese fired the stranded junks with shells, the officers amusing themselves by sighting the guns and betting on the shots. When a satisfactory bonfire had been created we steamed away.

This sort of thing, I have said, went on for more than a month. The gunboat's cruising-ground was chiefly about the mouth of the Pechili Gulf, now under the frowning forts of Wei-hai-wei, and now opposite Port Arthur on the other side. There did not seem to be any regular blockade of the Gulf, though Japanese warships were constantly hovering about. The Chinese fleet, I believe, confined itself to the modest seclusion of Wei-hai-wei harbour, and was not to be tempted outside. Once I asked Hishidi when they meant to assail Wei-hai-wei and Port Arthur?

"Oh," said he, "we are waiting our time; it has not come yet."

British war-vessels were frequently in sight, but to my requests to be put on board one of them, or at least to be brought before a Japanese admiral, the commander of the Itsuku—I have completely forgotten his name—turned a deaf ear. October wore away, and any termination of my captivity seemed as distant as ever. I was obliged to put an end to it on my own initiative. One evening—the fourth or fifth of November it would be—we were outside Port Arthur. At dusk the gunboat anchored, and a boat was despatched on some errand of reconnaissance. A point of the coast was less than a mile distant, and as I leant over the bulwark in the fore-part of the vessel, it struck me that I might easily swim off to it, if I could get into the water unobserved. Under Webster's tuition I had become an excellent swimmer. I looked round; I was apparently not under notice, and there was no light near where I was. My mind was made up at once. I stole as far forward as I could, and watching my opportunity, and steadying myself by the cathead, I made a leap for the cable, intending to climb down it to the water. A leap in the dark is proverbially a dangerous thing; the vessel perversely veered away as I sprang, and instead of catching the cable I soused into the water with a loud splash. The sentry on the gangway heard it, ran forward, and emptied the magazine of his rifle at me as I swam away, but by diving and swimming under water out of the direct line of advance, I managed to evade the bullets. A boat was soon down and in hot pursuit, but I had had a good start, and they were at a loss for my true direction at first. I struck out vigorously and made good headway, but had the disadvantage of swimming in my clothes; moreover, the water was frightfully cold, and began to chill me to the bone. I could tell, however, that the tide was strongly in my favour, and I believe I should have escaped the boat's notice, but that the people on shore, hearing, I suppose, the rifle-shots, turned on an electric search-light to see what was going forward. I was still a good quarter of a mile from the shore, and the boat was nearly as

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