'In reporting the above-mentioned state of the fleet, and in stating that all my thoughts and desires are aimed towards carrying out the Tsar's orders and your wishes, I consider it my duty to represent the following facts: 'Our fleet, and particularly my squadron, not being able to steam faster than thirteen knots (_Sevastopol_ and _Poltava_), cannot possibly get through to Vladivostock without a fight, and the result of a fight is not hard to foresee, even if the ships were better than the enemy's in point of fighting--_i.e._, straight shooting. Even supposing that the fleet steams out of Port Arthur without accident through the mine-fields, which have become more dangerous during the last month, as the enemy have constantly been laying mines (our dredging flotilla, though it has daily trawled, is very weak, has few pinnaces, and what with the destruction of a dredger, a port barge, and two destroyers, has not been able to do much), it is impossible for it to escape notice. Our greatest speed is only thirteen knots. 'The enemy would meet us in three or four divisions: 1. Division of battleships and armoured cruisers 6 ships 2. Division of fast second-class cruisers and one first-class cruiser (_Yakuma_) 5 ships 3. Coast-defence battleships and one armoured cruiser (_Tokiwa_) 7 ships 4. Several divisions of destroyers and small torpedo craft. 'We cannot take the initiative in action, as the enemy, having superior speed, can steam away if they do not wish to fight, and can accompany us until it suits them to engage in battle--_i. e_: '(_a_) When our fleet is some seventy miles from Arthur. '(_b_) When they can concentrate all their force. '(_c_) When they are occupying a favourable position with regard to the sun and the sea. 'As on August 10, the real fighting would again probably commence in the afternoon; and each of the enemy's ships which were seriously injured would be able to fall out for repairs or to make the land without risk, at a time when each of our ships falling out of action, though only temporarily damaged, might become a prize to two, three, or four of their vessels, or at best might run on to a neutral coast, or steam into a neutral port, and be interned for the rest of the campaign.