Before the news of the battle of Port Arthur had fairly reached the eyes of the Western world came the more tragic story of the destruction of the “Variag” and the “Korietz” in Chemulpo Harbor. Admiral Uriu, commanding six Japanese battleships, six cruisers, and twelve torpedo craft, appeared off Chemulpo and demanded the surrender of the two Russian ships. Captain Behr of the “Variag” and Captain Roudnoff of the “Korietz” refused to surrender, and on the morning of February 9, the “Variag,” with bands playing, steamed out of the harbor to meet the hopeless odds. She met the Japanese fleet eight miles out, the enemy using long-range 12-inch guns, and pounding away at distances which made the “Variag’s” batteries harmless. Ten large projectiles riddled the cruiser, and in fifty minutes not a gun could be worked, the ship was on fire, engines crippled, and 109 officers and men of a complement of 540 lay dead and wounded on the decks. The “Variag” crept back into port, her crew was removed to the British cruiser “Talbot” and the French cruiser “Pascal,” and she was set on fire. Three hours later, the “Variag,” after only eighteen months’ service, was at the bottom, a shattered and blackened mass of steel. The “Korietz” was a slow gunboat of only 1,200 tons, mounting one 6-inch gun and two 8-inch guns, with no armor protection. She was untouched, but after the fight her commander decided to destroy his ship, because Admiral Uriu had promised to renew the attack at four in the afternoon. Precisely at four o’clock, two deafening explosions came from the “Korietz.” As the smoke cleared, where the “Korietz” had been, only bits of wreckage and about four feet of her funnel could be seen. On the day after the Russian ships had been destroyed a division of the Japanese army was thrown ashore at Chemulpo. The landing was made in perfect order. The army was dependent for nothing upon the port. A large force was sent to occupy Seoul, and within two days Japan was in complete control of the most advantageous strategic bases of Korea. [Illustration: THE RUSSIAN SHIPS AT CHEMULPO BEFORE THE BATTLE ] [Illustration: THE RUSSIAN GUNBOAT “KORIETZ” AT THE MOMENT OF THE EXPLOSION ] [Illustration: THE RUSSIAN CRUISER “VARIAG” ON FIRE AT CHEMULPO ] DESTRUCTION OF THE “VARIAG” AND “KORIETZ” IN THE HARBOR OF CHEMULPO [Illustration: FUNNEL OF THE GUNBOAT “KORIETZ” ] [Illustration: TOPMASTS OF THE CRUISER “VARIAG” ] WRECKS OF THE RUSSIAN WARSHIPS IN CHUMULPO HARBOR [Illustration: JAPANESE SALVAGE CORPS WORKING ON THE WRECK OF THE “VARIAG” AT CHEMULPO ] [Illustration] [Illustration] THE NIGHT LANDING OF THE JAPANESE TROOPS AT CHEMULPO