THE CHINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894—95. 612 The boat had escaped without injury, and the result ofher work was that the end of the boom near the shore had been so damaged as to make the entrance near therocks wider and easier.

On themorning ofFebruary 4th Admiral Ito, with the main squadronandthe istor" Flying" squadron— in other words, with his eight best cruisers— steamed in towards the eastern entrance, leaving all his other ships well out to sea. He hoped thus to tempt Admiral Ting into coming out and attacking him. But the Chinese admiral made no move. A long-range bombardment of the islandfortsfollowed without any serious damage being done. Admiral Ito wasnow convincedthat the Chinese were waiting for a chance to slip out in the dark in the hopeof escaping to someof the southern Chinese give up their places in the attack. Eight boats got safely and silently inside the boom.

The story of what followed had best be told first from the point of view of a British officer who was serving on boardAdmiral Ting's fiV-ship, and then from that of theJapanese. There are so few detailed accountsin existenceof what it feels like to be torpedoed that the officer's narrative possesses a specialinterest. There can be no doubt of its authenticity. His name has not been made public,but his story is given at length in Lieutenant Armstrong's work on " Torpedo Warfare," one of the series of Royal Navy Handbooks editedby Commander Robinson, R.N. The writer,who is described as "an English officer of high attainments and one of Admiral Ting's most trusted officers," begins by THE CHINESE BATTLESHIP " TSI-YUEN."

ports, andhe gave ordersfor the torpedo flotillas to spare no effort to destroy the Chinese ships in the harbour. The first attack was made in the night— that between the qth and 5th of February.

The plan adopted was that as soon as the moon had set— that is, alittle after three a.m.— the ist Flotilla (the Kotaka and Nos. 7, 11, 13, and 23) should make a false attack on the boomat the western entranceinorder to divert the attentionof the Chinese from the real attack which was to be made through the gap at the mainland side of the eastern entrance by the 2nd Flotilla (Nos. 8, 9, 14, 18, 19 and 21") and the 3rd (Nos. 5, 6, 10, and 22)— ten boats in all. It was another fearfully cold night, and, as the boats ran in, the spray froze on the gear of their torpedo tubes,making it very difficult to keep them in working order. Two of the boats,Nos. 8 and 21, touched the rocks,and, though they were got off with some damage, they had to describing the precautions taken on board of the Ting-Yuen, in order to ensure the watertight doors being closed in case of attack. The ship lay anchored south of Liu-kung Island. No mention is madeof her beingfitted with torpedo nets; soit would appear that this kind of protection wasabsent. He then goeson to describe what occurred after the moon set on the night that the Japanese boats camein. "It was," he says, " about sour o'clock in the morning. Alarmrockets from our guard boats to the south of I-tao wereseen. Presently firing took place from some of our ships. We ourselves opened fire, but what the object was Icould not distinguish. After a time we cc.isea firing, andjust thenIsaw a dark object,probably about half a mile away. Fire was opened on it.

andIran up the standard-compass erection to get a better view. Through my glassesI»« ;!

double-funnelled torpedo boat coming end on to us on our port beam. When she was about 300