From Libau to Tsushima: A narrative of the voyage of Admiral Rojdestvensky's fleet to eastern seas, including a detailed account of the Dogger Bank incidentPolitovskii, Evgenii Sigizmundovich
History
From Libau to Tsushima: A narrative of the voyage of Admiral Rojdestvensky's fleet to eastern seas, including a detailed account of the Dogger Bank incident
Politovskii, Evgenii Sigizmundovich
Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905
It is a time of alarms. We constantly meet various steamers,
principally under the English flag. The _Oleg_ continually approaches
to question them. This morning we met two English cruisers. One of them
saluted, and the _Suvaroff_ answered.
This was early. I woke up, hearing the firing. "Now," I thought, "they
have begun." I looked out of my port and went to sleep again. When
our signalmen first saw the English cruisers, they decided it was the
_Diana_ coming to join us. One of them was rather like her. Perhaps
the English cruisers help the Japanese to look after our fleet. We saw
seven clouds of smoke, but they quickly disappeared behind the horizon.
They were evidently seven ships. A steamer flying the English flag
met a detachment of our cruisers scouting, and signalled, "Have seen
Japanese torpedo-boats. Beware, and look out for attacks to-night."
I am pleased that I was able to send you a letter and telegram. I do
not count on receiving an answer to the latter.
The _Orel_ will not stay long at Saigon. Probably you will receive my
last letter in April, or in the beginning of May, when we shall be at
Vladivostok, or----!
_March 30th._--General coaling has been going on from early this
morning. If we had continued our voyage we should have been at Kamranh
about two o'clock. Now we cannot get there before to-morrow.
There is no communication between the ships. There is a great scandal
in the _Alexander III._ She indicated that she had about 900 tons of
coal, but in reality it proved to be only 350.
Gradually everything is coming to an end. Cigarettes and matches are
scarce. I obtained a piece of soap to-day, and there is only one left.
When the coaling finished, the fleet proceeded. I did not leave the
_Suvaroff_. Several times in the course of the day merchant vessels
passed the fleet. I make out that we shall reach Kamranh by dawn
to-morrow. We shall anchor there later.
The depth of the fairway will be sounded and searched. Although the
soundings of this bay are shown on the chart, they do not trust them
entirely. The search will be for fear that the Japanese have laid
down mines. It will not be an unnecessary precaution. The bay has two
entrances. At one of these a temporary boom will be made in order that
the Japanese may not creep up to our ships that way.
10 p.m.--A sailor was buried at sea to-day. It is an extraordinary
thing that it again happened in the _Oslyabya_. They have a great many
deaths in that ship.
The charts with the soundings of Kamranh proved very inaccurate. One
officer informed the staff that he had grounded there in some ship. The
depth of the spot was shown in the chart as great, whereas in fact it
was slight.
While they are sounding and searching to-morrow all the ships will
coal, in order not to waste time.
Birds are flying round the ships. A heron and a dove fell from
weariness near the _Suvaroff_. The heron was drowned, but the dove was
rescued by a cutter loaded with coal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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