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Page 9
CHAPTER III
It was dark long before we got back to the bay where we had anchored
the _Columbia_, and we might have found it impossible to make out her
whereabouts if Webster had not hoisted lights to guide us. When again
aboard we got up steam and stood out to sea. We should have run for
the Yellow Sea at once but for the presence of the Chinese agent, whom
we had had no opportunity of transferring from the _Columbia_. A
motion to throw him overboard was negatived, and we resolved to hold
on for Port Arthur, where we could get rid of him without going much
out of our way. Besides, we felt curious to see if any further
encounter would take place between the hostile squadrons. Such,
however, was not fated to be the case. The Japanese allege that they
intended to renew the attack in the morning, and tried with that view
to hold a course parallel with that of the retreating Chinese, but
lost them during the night.
We reached Port Arthur on the 19th, and having obtained a pilot,
entered the harbour. We found there only two of the vessels belonging
to the defeated squadron, the _Ping Yuen_ and the _Kwang Ting_.
The former did not seem much injured, but the latter had evidently
suffered heavily, the port bow being partially stove, the upper works
demolished, and the armouring tremendously battered and dinted.
Shortly after casting anchor in the West Port, I lowered a boat to
take Lin Wong ashore. In the dockyard he ascertained that a fast steam
launch was to leave for Tientsin with despatches within two days, and
he arranged to take advantage of her departure to regain that port,
from which, it will be remembered, he had come on board the
_Columbia_. As he seemed well acquainted with Port Arthur, I got him
to take me round, and show me as much of the place as could be seen in
the two or three hours of leisure at my disposal, for the _Columbia_
was to trip her anchor again in the evening.
The general features of Port Arthur, or, to give it its native name,
Lu-Shun-Kou, must be tolerably familiar to all who have followed the
course of the war. A glance at the map shows its position, at the
southern extremity of the Liaotung Peninsula, commanding, with the
formidable forts of Wei-hai-wei on the opposite tongue of land, near
Chefoo, the entrance to the Gulf of Pechili. Although now the
principal arsenal and naval dep�t of the Chinese Empire, it is of
quite recent creation, only having come into note since 1881, in which
year it was decided to establish a naval dockyard. Up to then it had
only been used as a harbour for junks employed in the timber trade and
carrying cargoes from the Yalu to ports in the Pechili Gulf, or from
the south to Niuchang and West Chin-chou. Native contractors having
made an extensive bungle of the job, it was entrusted to a French
company, and by them completed. Since then the place has increased,
from an insignificant village of sixty or seventy mud houses and a few
shops, to a town of over a thousand dwellings, as well as two large
theatres, two temples, and a number of banks and inns. The population
at the time of the Japanese incursion was about 5000 or 6000, in
addition to a garrison of about 7000. The port is very spacious and
commodious, and dredgers have worked assiduously for several years
past to deepen the entrance to it. The bar has been deepened from
twelve feet to about twenty-five feet to enable permanent moorings to
be laid down for men-of-war. The dock basin, called the East Port,
covering an area of thirty-two acres, has been constructed well behind
the signal bluffs to the right of the entrance, the West Port, or
natural harbour, opening just opposite round the long, narrow spit of
land called the Tiger's Tail. The basin has a depth of twenty-five
feet at low water. There are large and numerous wharves and quays,
fitted with steam cranes, and connected by a railway with the
workshops, which contain all the most modern machinery and engines.
The dockyard, and in fact a considerable portion of the town, is
supplied with fresh water conveyed by pipes from a spring about four
miles to the north. There is a smaller dock for torpedo boats, and a
torpedo dep�t on shore where those weapons can be tested and
regulated. The entrance to the port is defended by torpedoes and
submarine mines, although, as I noticed, some of the latter had been
so badly constructed and adjusted for depth as to show above water.
For defensive purposes nature and art have combined to render the
place exceedingly strong. Ranges of hills, varying from 300 feet to
1500 feet, surround the port and town almost completely, offering
scope for fortification of the most formidable character, advantages
which, as far as construction goes, have been well utilized, massive
and lofty stone forts occupying every point of advantage. I believe
they are of German construction. They bristle with heavy Krupp and
Nordenfeldt guns. The elevation on the coast varies from eighty feet
to 410 feet. The land defences, though newer than those seaward, are
less powerful; the heaviest guns, of 21 and 24 centimetre, are in the
latter. Everywhere the forts are supplemented by trenches, rifle-pits,
and open redoubts or walled camps.
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