;t>i CHAPTER VI.

THE NAVAL BATTLE OK THE YALU.

THE next great event of the war was the naval battle off the mouth of the Yalu River,called by-the Japanese the battle -of Hai-yang Island. Early in August Admiral Ito, with the Japanese cruiser squadron, had appearedoff Wei-hai-wei and Port Arthur,and exchanged a few long-rangeshots with the seaward forts. The object of this cruise was to reconnoitre these ports and to make sure that While Yeh was holdingPing-yang, a second army was being assembled on the Yalu River. It was mainly- composed of troops from Manchuria, who were marched to the rendezvous by land. Reinforcements from Pe-chi-li and Northern China had been assembled at Tien-tsin and Taku, and these were sent on to the Yalu camps in the second week of September. Admiral Ting's squadron was ordered to escort Admiral Ting and the Chinese northern squadron were not outside the Gulf ofPe-chi-li. After this expedition the Japanese fleet remained on the Korean coasts to protect the various expeditions that were disembarkingtroopsfromJapan. In the first days of September it escorted the thirtytransports onboardof which the reinforcements under Marshal Yamagata wereconveyed from Hiroshima on the Inland Sea of Japan to Chemulpo, theportofSeoul. The Admiralthenproceeded to the mouth of the Pingyang Inlet, and sent some gunboats up the Ta-tung them to their destination. The transports, five large steamers, with 4,000 menon board, left Taku on September 14th. With them went six cruisers and four torpedoboats of thenorthern squadron. As they passed Ta-lien-wanon the15th (the day of the battle of Pingyang), they were joined by Admiral Ting with his heavier armouredships. The whole fleet then steamed to the mouth of theYalu,where the troopswere disembarked next day, and on the morningof the17th Ting,having accomplished his object, started from the Yalu to take his fleet back to CAPTAIN TING, IN COMMAND 0E THE "CHI-YUEN."

(Photo:Lawand Sons,Keivctsstle.s River to co-operate withGeneral Nodzu's army in the attack on Ping-yang. When they got up the river the battle was over, and the city was in the possessionof the Japane Aifmiral Ting, who believed that if he met the Japanese he wouldbeat them,was from the beginning of the war eager to assume the offensive. He proposed to put to sea and fall upon the enemy's transports off the Korean coast, but the Pekin Government would not hear of any such daring enterprises. They were in such a state of nervous anxiety about a possible Japanese raid on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li that they ordered Ting to remain strictly on the defensive,and use his fleet merely to guard the sea approachesto the capital.

Ta-lien-wan and Port Arthur.

Admiral Ito, after sending his gunboats into the Ta-tung River on the 14th, had startedfor a cruise in the northern part of the Yellow Sea. He left his torpedo boatsin the Ping-yangInlet, andJapanese accounts explain that he did this because he did not know the Chinese fleet was at sea, and did not anticipate a battle. His object apparently was merely toreconnoitre the mouth of the Yaluand obtain information as to the Chinese positions on itsbanks. Considering thathe hadin his fleet the swiftest cruisers then to the Eastern seas, it is curious that he made no effort to observe Ting's movements, and was quite ignorant of his position. Thus, on the morning of Monday, September 17th, the two 3C