The _Retvizan_, torpedoed, had a hole on the port side over forty feet in length, and twenty in depth. Seven compartments were full of water, and as she lay beached the tide rose and fell in her holds. The bodies of a number of drowned sailors were in the filled compartments, and not recovered until after many days. The Russian engineers put a patch of wood over the hole, covered it with tarpaulins, and started to pump out the ship. When the depth of water inside had been reduced several feet, the pressure outside was so great that the patch burst in, and the ship filled again. The services of a Scotch engineer were then requisitioned. He found the appliances at Port Arthur primitive in design and wanting in quantity. The port was even short of hose. The authorities also opposed the suggestions he made for salving the ship. He wanted to make a hole in the side of the vessel above the water line, so that instead of having to pump up the water thirty feet, five would suffice. This proposal was negatived, as was also one for removing the turret guns, the anchors, cables, and other heavy gear forward in order to lighten the ship. Ultimately some of his suggestions were tried, and the ship was refloated. The _Tesarevich_ had been torpedoed on the starboard quarter, had lost the propeller and boss, and though not sunk was kept afloat only by constant pumping. There was no dock at Port Arthur large enough to take the big warship, and but for the advice of a Hollander she could not have been repaired at all. He suggested that a deep hole should be excavated on a mud bank in the harbour, the vessel backed into the hole, then mud walls built up amidships, and the water from the excavated hole pumped out, thus leaving that half of the vessel which needed repairs in a dock of mud, and the fore part in the shallow water of the harbour. This plan was tried with success. A new propeller was sent by railway from St. Petersburg and the vessel repaired, seaworthy, and in good fighting trim eventually escaped to Kiaochow, where the German authorities detained her until the war should end. So far the war had proved several things; one was that a modern battleship is practically indestructible both by torpedoes and shell fire unless sunk in deep water. The tremendous poundings some of the ships received caused damage which made the vessel resemble a wreck, but in a few days, or weeks at most, the ship would be out of dock, spick and span, in fine fighting trim, and to all appearances equal to new. Even the _Retvizan_, lying beached and waterlogged, used her guns with effect at that time, and was ultimately patched up and made as fit as any ship of the fleet.