THE CHINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894—95 566 which rose the tall masts of the cruisers, there flickered and flashed a continual blaze from the guns. But at first the range was badly judged. The shells hit the water just ahead of the Chinese lines,some of themricocheting over the decks. Tlae water thrown up in great geysers was carried over the ships, and in a minute everyone on deck on McGiffen's ship was drenched to the skin.

the cruisers. The captain of the Hiyei, seeing that if he directly followed his consort he would fall across the bows of the Ting-Yuen took a bold course. He turned sharply, and ran down the lane of water between the two big ships. They held their fire at first, lor to use their big guns would have been to risk damaging each other, but as the Hiyeicleared them they poured a destructive fire into her at a range of only a few hundred yards. She got through, but only with serious loss and considerable damage. Tvvo torpedoesweredischarged at her,but bothmissed her. TheAkagi, which had also fallen astern of the cruisers,and was no longer protected by them, was badly damaged by the Chinese fire, one of her masts going over the side. The Saikio Maru kept further out. She was attackedby the Chines-; torpedo boats, but their torpedoes missed her, and they were driven off by the quick-firing guns of the vansquadron, which,on thesignal 0!

AdmiralIto,had rounded out to the assistance of the weakerships.

The range wasnowabout a mile. TheJapanese fleet was sweeping past the Chinese on a course that would take it just outside Ting's right wing. All the ships were in action, and both sides were feeling the effect of the fire. But already it was evident that in sheer hitting power theJapanese had an enormous advantage. For one shot the Chinese could fire they were able to get off at least a dozenin the same time.

While as yet therewasno seriousinjury toany of Ito'sships, the rainofexplodingshells was telling heavilyon Ting's ships. The Chinese admiral paid the penalty of having left his weakestships on the wings. The Japanese squadron came sweeping round his right, pouring their fire into the Chinese cruisers, while the main squadron ran across their bows, thus taking them between two fires. The two ships on the extreme right, the Chao - Yung and the Yang-Wei, were terribly damaged by this concentratedfire, and the former burst into flames. The twoironclads in the centre of the Chinese Line had steamedforward as if to close withIto's main squadron, and had received a heavy fire from the powerful batteries of the Japanese. Their armoured barbettes received no injury beyond deep dents from the glancingandbursting shells, but the unarmoured parts of their superstructures were fairly riddled, and fires broke out here and there, and were only extinguished withdifficulty.

Thebattle nowbecame a cannonade at arange offromoneto twomiles, thespeedoftheJapanese allowing them to choose their owndistance; the two squadrons— the van squadron led byRear-Admiral Tsuboi in the Yoshino, the main squadron by Ito in the Matsushima— steaming to and fro past the Chinese right, closing on each other as they approached it, and opening out again as they turned back. It was going badly with the Chinese. Tlae Yang-Wei, enveloped in flame and smoke, and withher crew making ahopeless attempt to put out the fire, steamedaway from the battle on the right. The cruiser Chi-Yuen, which had made a plucky attempt to ram the Yoshino, was sinking, her waterline torn with bursting shells. The torpedo squadron, cut up badly by the Japanese fire, with steam-pipes riddled and decks strewn with dead, had taken refuge in shallow water. On theleft the Tsi- Yuen and the Kwang-Chin had taken to flight. The Tsi- Yuen, whichhad onlybeen partlyrepaired after her fight at Asan, hadreceived fresh injuries. Three of her best guns were disabled, and a German officer who was on board says she was practically helpless. As she left the fight she gotin collision with her consort, the Yang- Wei, which was drifting ashore, burning fiercely from stem to stern. The Lai-Yuen wasalso on fire,and left the tight, getting away inshore, and then headingfor Port Arthur. Her crew were able to drown her magazines andkeep her afloat. Her sister ship, The Chinese line had now lost its first formation and had become an irregular crescent of ships, many of which masked each other'sfire. Ito had signalledto the van squadron to turn to port,and was concentrating the fire of his ships chiefly on the Chinese right, which he meant to destroy before closely engaging the heavy ironcladsin the centre. His swift cruisers wereable to work together splendidly, but the two old ironclads, the Fuso and the Hivei, could not keep up with them, and these and the unarmoured Akagi and Saikio Maru were for a moment in serious danger of being crushed by the two large Chinese ironclads. The Fuso evaded an attempt to ram her, and rejoined