_Chapter XI_
CAPTAIN WINSTANLEY
Captain Winstanley slowly opened his eyes and stared at the low ceilingof his cabin on the white oil-paint of which the sunbeams, enteringthrough the porthole, were painting numerous circles and quiveringreflections. Slowly he began to collect his thoughts. Could it have beena dream or the raving of delirium? He tried to raise himself on hisnarrow bed, but fell back as he felt a sharp pain. There was no mistakeabout the pain--that was certainly real. What on earth had happened? Heasked himself this question again and again as he watched the thousandsof circles and quivering lines drawn by the light on the ceiling.
Winstanley stared about him and suddenly started violently. Then it wasall real, a terrible reality? Yes, for there sat his friend Longstreetof the _Nebraska_ with his back against the wall of the cabin, in adripping wet uniform, fast asleep.
"Longstreet!" he called.
His friend awoke and stared at him in astonishment.
"Longstreet, did it all really happen, or have I been dreaming?"
No answer.
"Longstreet," he began again more urgently, "tell me, is it all over,can it be true?"
Longstreet nodded, incapable of speech.
"Our poor, poor country," whispered Winstanley.
After a long pause Longstreet suddenly broke the silence by remarking:"The _Nebraska_ went down at about six o'clock."
"And the _Georgia_ a little earlier," said Winstanley; "but where arewe? How did I get here?"
"The torpedo boat _Farragut_ fished us up after the battle. We are onboard the hospital ship _Ontario_ with about five hundred othersurvivors."
"And what has become of the rest of our squadron?" asked Winstanleyapprehensively. Longstreet only shrugged his shoulders.
Then they both dozed again and listened to the splashing and gurgling ofthe water against the ship's side and to the dull, regular thud of theengine which by degrees began to form words in Winstanley's fever-heatedimagination--meaningless words which seemed to pierce his brain withpainful sharpness: "Oh, won't you come across," rose and fell the oilymelody, keeping time with the action of the piston-rods of the engine,"Oh, won't you come across," repeated the walls, and "Oh, won't you comeacross," clattered the water-bottle over in the wooden rack. Again andagain Winstanley said the words to himself in an everlasting, dullrepetition.
Longstreet looked at him compassionately, and murmured: "Another attackof fever." Then he got up, and bending over his comrade, looked out ofthe porthole.
Water everywhere; nothing but sparkling, glistening water, broad, blue,rolling waves to be seen as far as the eye could reach. Not a sign of aship anywhere.
"Oh, won't you come across," repeated Longstreet, listlessly joining inthe rhythm of the engines. Then he stretched himself and sank back onhis chair in a somnolent state, thinking over the experiences of thenight.
So this was all that was left of the Pacific Fleet--a hospital ship witha few hundred wounded officers and men, all that remained of AdmiralCrane's fleet, which had been attacked with torpedo boats by AdmiralKamimura at three o'clock on the night of May eighth, after Togo haddestroyed Perry's squadron.
It had been a horrible surprise. The enemy must have intercepted thesignals between the squadron and the scouts, but as the Japanese had notemployed their wireless telegraph at all, none of the Americanreconnoitering cruisers had had its suspicions aroused. Then thewireless apparatus had suddenly got out of order and all furtherintercommunication among the American ships was cut off, while a fewminutes later came the first torpedo explosions, followed by fountainsof foam, the dazzling light of the searchlights and sparks from thefalling shells. The Americans could not reply to the hostile fire untilmuch, much later, and then it was almost over. When the gray light ofdawn spread over the surface of the water, it only lighted up a fewdrifting, sinking wrecks, the irrecognizable ruins of Admiral Crane'sproud squadron, which were soon completely destroyed by the enemy'storpedoes.
Kamimura had already disappeared beyond the horizon with his ships, notbeing interested in his enemy's remains.
"Oh, won't you come across," groaned and wailed the engine quite loudlyas a door to the engine-room was opened. Longstreet jumped up with astart, and then climbed wearily and heavily up the stairs. The entiredeck had been turned into a hospital, and the few doctors were hurryingfrom one patient to another.
Longstreet went up to a lieutenant in a torn uniform who was leaningagainst the railing with his head between his hands, staring across thewater. "Where are we going, Harry?" asked Longstreet.
"I don't know; somewhere or other; it doesn't matter much where."
Longstreet left him and climbed up to the bridge. Here he shook hands insilence with a few comrades and then asked the captain of the _Ontario_where they were going.
"If possible, to San Francisco," was the answer. "But I'm afraid theJapanese will be attacking the coast-batteries by this time, and besidesthat chap over there seems to have his eyes on us," he added, pointingto port.
Longstreet looked in the direction indicated and saw a gray cruiser withthree high funnels making straight for the _Ontario_. At this moment asignalman delivered a wireless message to the captain: "The cruiseryonder wants to know our name and destination."
"Signal back: United States hospital ship _Ontario_ making for SanFrancisco," said the captain. This signal was followed by the dull boomof a shot across the water; but the _Ontario_ continued on her course.
Then a flash was seen from a forward gun of the cruiser and a shellsplashed into the water about one hundred yards in front of the_Ontario_, bursting with a deafening noise.
The captain hesitated a second, then he ordered the engines to stop,turned over the command on the bridge to the first officer and wenthimself to the signaling apparatus to send the following message:"United States hospital ship _Ontario_ with five hundred wounded onboard relies on protection of ambulance-flag."
A quarter of an hour later, the Japanese armored cruiser _Idzumo_stopped close to the _Ontario_ and lowered a cutter, which took severalJapanese officers and two doctors over to the _Ontario_.
While a Japanese officer of high rank was received by the captain in hiscabin in order to discuss the best method of providing for the wounded,Longstreet went down to Winstanley.
"Well, old man, how are you?" he asked.
"Pretty miserable, Longstreet; what's going to become of us?"
Longstreet hesitated, but Winstanley insisted: "Tell me, old chap, tellme the truth. Where are we bound to--what's going to become of us?"
"We're going to San Francisco," said Longstreet evasively.
"And the enemy?"
Longstreet remained silent again.
"But the enemy, Longstreet, where's the enemy? We mustn't fall into hishands!"
"Brace up, Winstanley," said Longstreet, "we're in the hands of theJapanese now."
Winstanley started up from his bed, but sank back exhausted by theterrible pain in his right arm which had been badly wounded.
"No, no, anything but that! I'd rather be thrown overboard than fallinto the hands of the Japanese! It's all over, there's no use strugglingany more!"
"Longstreet," he cried, with eyes burning with fever, "Longstreet,promise me that you'll throw me overboard rather than give me up to theJapanese!"
"No, Winstanley, no; think of our country, remember that it is in soreneed of men, of men to restore the honor of the Stars and Stripes, ofmen to drive the enemy from the field and conquer them in the end."
At this moment the door opened and a Japanese lieutenant entered,carrying a small note-book in his hand.
At sight of him Winstanley shouted: "Longstreet, hand me a weapon ofsome sort; that fellow----"
The Jap saluted and said: "Gentlemen, I am sorry for the circumstanceswhich compel me to ask you to give me your names and ships. Rest assuredthat a wounded enemy may safely rely on Japanese chivalry. If you willfollow the example of all the other officers and give your word of honorno
t to escape, you will receive all possible care and attention in thehospital at San Francisco without any irksome guard. Will you be so goodas to give me your names?"
"Lieutenant Longstreet of the _Nebraska_."
"Thank you."
"Captain Winstanley, commander of the _Georgia_," added Longstreet forWinstanley.
"Will you give me your word of honor?"
Longstreet gave his, but Winstanley shook his head and said: "_You cando what you like with me; I refuse to give my word of honor._"
The Jap shrugged his shoulders and disappeared.
"Longstreet, nursed in San Francisco, is that what the Jap said? ThenSan Francisco must be in their hands." At these words the woundedcaptain of the _Georgia_ burst into bitter tears and sobs shook the bodyof the poor man, who in his ravings fancied himself back on board hisship giving orders for the big guns to fire at the enemy. Longstreetheld his friend's hand and stared in silence at the white ceiling uponwhich the sunbeams painted myriads of quivering lines and circles.
At one o'clock the _Ontario_ came in sight of the Golden Gate, where thewhite banner with its crimson sun was seen to be waving above all thefortifications.
* * * * *
While the Japanese were attacking San Francisco early on the morning ofMay seventh, their fleet was stationed off San Diego on the lookout forthe two American maneuvering fleets. The intercepted orders from theNavy Department had informed the enemy that Admiral Perry, with his bluesquadron of six battleships of the _Connecticut_ class, intended toattack San Francisco and the other ports and naval-stations on thePacific, and that the yellow fleet, under command of Admiral Crane, wasto carry out the defense. The latter had drawn up his squadron in frontof San Francisco on May second, and on May fifth Admiral Perry had leftMagdalen Bay. From this time on every report sent by wireless was readby harmless looking Japanese trading-vessels sailing under the Englishflag.
The first thing to be done on the morning of the seventh was to renderMagdalen Bay useless, in order to prevent all communication with distantships. A trick put the station in the enemy's possession. Here, too,there were several Japanese shopkeepers who did good business with theirstores along the Bay. Early on Sunday morning these busy yellowtradesmen were suddenly transformed into a company of troops who soonoverpowered the weak garrison in charge of the signal-station. TheJapanese cruiser _Yakumo_, approaching from the North, had been paintedwhite like the American cruisers, and this is why she had been taken, asthe reader will remember, for the armored cruiser _New York_, which wasactually lying off San Francisco assigned to Admiral Crane's yellowfleet. The _Yakumo_ was to prevent the two destroyers _Hull_ and_Hopkins_ from escaping from the Bay, and both boats were literally shotto pieces when they made the attempt. This action hopelessly isolatedthe maneuvering fleets.
By eight o'clock in the morning Togo's squadron, consisting of theflag-ships _Satsuma_, the _Aki_, _Katou_, _Kashimi_, _Mikasa_ and_Akahi_, and forming the backbone of the Japanese battle-fleet, hadsucceeded in locating Admiral Perry's squadron, thanks to interceptedwireless dispatches. The Japanese refrained from using their wirelessapparatus, so as to avoid attracting the attention of the Americansquadron. The unfinished message sent at nine o'clock from Magdalen Baytold Togo that the surprise there had been successful, and a littlelater the order to strengthen the American advance, sent in the sameway, enabled him to ascertain the exact position of both the main groupof cruisers and the scouts and lookout ships. Similarly it was learnedthat the latter were extremely weak, and accordingly Togo detached fourarmored cruisers, the huge new 25-knot _Tokio_ and _Osaka_, and the_Ibuki_ and _Kurama_, to destroy the American van, and this he succeededin accomplishing after a short engagement which took place at the sametime as the attack on Perry's armored ships.
The _Denver_ and _Chattanooga_ were soon put out of business by a fewshells which entered their unprotected hulls, and the five destroyers,which were unable to use their torpedoes in such a heavy sea, werelikewise soon done for.
Under cover of a torrent of rain, Togo came in sight of the Americanships when the distance between the two squadrons was only 5,500 yards.
At the moment when Admiral Perry's ships emerged out of the rain,Admiral Togo opened the battle by sending the following signal from the_Satsuma_:
"To-day must avenge Kanagawa. As Commodore Perry then knocked with hissword at the gate of Nippon, so will we to-day burst open SanFrancisco's Golden Gate."[1]
The signal was greeted with enthusiasm and loud cries of "_Banzai_!" onboard all the ships. Then the battle began, and by the time the sun hadreached its zenith, Admiral Perry's squadron had disappeared in thewaves of the Pacific. The first eleven minutes, before the Americanscould bring their guns into action, had determined the outcome of thebattle. The ultimate outcome of the battle had, of course, beenaccelerated by the fact that the first shells had created such fearfulhavoc in the fore-parts of three of the American ships, quantities ofwater pouring in which caused the ships to list and made it necessary tofill the compartments on the opposite side in order to restore theequilibrium.
Admiral Kamimura was less fortunate at first with the second squadron.He was led astray by the wrong interpretation of a wireless signal anddid not sight Admiral Crane's fleet till towards evening, and then itwas not advisable to begin the attack at once, lest the Americans shouldescape under cover of darkness. Kamimura, therefore, decided to waituntil shortly after midnight, and then to commence operations with hiseight destroyers and apply the finishing touches with his heavy guns.
Admiral Crane's squadron consisted of six battleships--the three newbattleships _Virginia_, _Nebraska_ and _Georgia_, the two older vessels_Kearsage_ and _Kentucky_, and, lastly, the _Iowa_. Then there were thetwo armored cruisers _St. Louis_ and _Milwaukee_, and the unprotectedcruisers _Tacoma_ and _Des Moines_, which, on account of their speed of16.5 knots and their lack of any armor, were as useless as cruisers aswere their sister ships in Admiral Perry's squadron. One singlewell-aimed shell would suffice to put them out of action.
It was a terrible surprise when the Japanese destroyers began the attackunder cover of the night. Not until dawn did the Americans actuallycatch sight of their enemy, and that was when Kamimura left the field ofbattle, which was strewn with sinking American ships, with his sixpractically unharmed battleships headed in a southwesterly direction tojoin Togo's fleet, who had already been informed of the victory. Thework of cleaning up was left to the destroyers, who sank the badlydamaged American ships with their torpedoes. The hospital ship_Ontario_, attached to the yellow fleet, and a torpedo boat fished upthe survivors of this short battle. Then the _Ontario_ started for SanFrancisco, while the leaking _Farragut_ remained behind.
The Americans had been able to distinguish, with a fair degree ofcertainty, that Kamimura's squadron consisted of the _Shikishima_, thebattleships _Iwami_ (ex _Orel_), the _Sagami_ (ex _Peresvjet_), and_Tumo_ (ex _Pobjeda_), all three old Russian ships, and of the two newarmored cruisers _Ikoma_ and _Tsukuba_. Then there were the two enormousbattleships which were not included in the Japanese Navy List at all,and the two huge cruisers _Yokohama_ and _Shimonoseki_ which, accordingto Japanese reports, were still building, while in reality they had beenfinished and added to the fleet long ago.
The circumstances connected with these two battleships were ratherpeculiar. The report was spread in 1906 that China was going to build anew fleet and that she had ordered two big battleships from the docks atYokosuka. This rumor was contradicted both at Pekin and at Tokio. TheAmericans and everybody in Europe wondered who was going to pay for theships. The trouble is, we ask altogether too many questions, instead ofinvestigating for ourselves. As a matter of fact, the ships were laiddown in 1908, though everybody outside the walls of the Japaneseshipyard was made to believe that only gunboats were being built. Wehave probably forgotten how, at the time, a German newspaper called ourattention to the fact that not only these two battleships--of theEnglish _Dreadnought_ type--but also the
two armored cruisers buildingat Kure ostensibly for China, would probably never sail under the yellowdragon banner, but in case of war, would either be added directly toJapan's fleet or be bought back from China.
And so it turned out. Just before the outbreak of the war, the SunBanner was hoisted quietly on the two battleships and they were giventhe names of _Nippon_ and _Hokkaido_, respectively; but they wereomitted from the official Japanese Navy List and left out of ourcalculations. How Pekin and Tokio came to terms with regard to these twoships remains one of the many secrets of east Asiatic politics. Thegenerally accepted political belief that China was not financiallystrong enough to build a new fleet and that Japan, supposedly on thevery verge of bankruptcy, could not possibly carry out her _postbellum_programme, was found to have rested on empty phrases employed by thepress on both sides of the ocean merely for the sake of running a story.There has never yet been a time in the history of the world when war wasprevented by a lack of funds. How could Prussia, absolutely devoid ofresources, have carried on the war it did against Napoleon a hundredyears ago, unless this were so?
In the redistribution of our war vessels in the Atlantic and the Pacificafter the return of the fleet from its journey round the world, the NavyDepartment had calculated as follows: Japan had fifteen battleships, sixlarge new ones and nine older ones; in addition she had six large newand eight older armored cruisers. We have one armored cruiser and threecruisers in Manila, and these can take care of at least five Japanesearmored cruisers. Japan therefore has fifteen battleships and ninearmored cruisers left for making an attack. Now if we keep twosquadrons, each consisting of six battleships--the _Texas_ amongthem--off the Pacific coast and add to these the coast-batteries, themines and the submarines, we shall possess a naval force which the enemywill never dare attack.
Japan, on the other hand, figured as follows: We have two squadrons,each consisting of six battleships, among which there are six that aresuperior to any American fighting ship; these with the nine armoredcruisers and the advantage of a complete surprise, give us such ahandicap that we have nothing to fear. As a reserve, lying off SanFrancisco, are the ironclads _Hizen_ (ex _Retvisan_), _Tango_ (ex_Poltawa_), _Iki_ (ex _Nicolai_), and the armored cruisers _Azuma_,_Idzumo_, _Asama_, _Tokiwa_, and _Yakumo_. Besides these there are thetwo mortar-boat divisions and the cruisers sent to Seattle, while thearmored cruiser _Iwate_ and two destroyers were sent to Magdalen Bay.All that remained in home waters were the fourth squadron, consisting offormer Russian ships, and the cruisers which would soon be relieved atthe Philippines.
The enemy had figured correctly and we had not. The two battles of theseventh and eighth of May were decided in the first ten minutes, beforewe had fired a single shot. And would the Japanese calculation have beencorrect also if Perry had beaten Togo or Crane Kamimura? Most decidedlyso, for not a single naval harbor or coaling-station, or repairing-dockon the Pacific coast would have been ready to receive Perry or Cranewith their badly damaged squadrons. On the other hand, the remnants ofour fleet would have had all the Japanese battleships, all the armoredcruisers and a large collection of torpedo-boats continually on theirheels, and would thus have been forced to another battle in which, beingentirely without a base of operations, they would without a doubt havesuffered a complete defeat.
Our mines in the various arsenals and our three submarines at the MareIsland Wharf in San Francisco fell into the enemy's hands like ripeplums. It was quite superfluous for the Japanese to take their steamerfor transporting submarines, which had been built for them in England,to San Francisco.
Nothing remained to us but the glory that not one of our ships hadsurrendered to the enemy--all had sunk with their flags flying. Afterall, it was one thing to fight against the demoralized fleet of the Czarand quite another to fight against the Stars and Stripes. Ourblue-jackets had saved the honor of the white race in the eyes of theyellow race on the waves of the Pacific, even if they had thus far shownthem only how brave American sailors die. But the loss of more than halfour officers and trained men was even a more severe blow than thesinking of our ships. These could not be replaced at a moment's notice,but months and months of hard work would be required and new squadronsmust be found. But from where were they to come?
Only a single vessel of the Pacific fleet escaped from the battle andthe pursuing Japanese cruisers: this was the torpedo-destroyer _Barry_,commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Dayton, who had been in command of thetorpedo flotilla attached to Admiral Perry's squadron. He had attemptedtwice, advancing boldly into the teeth of the gale, to launch a torpedoin the direction of the _Satsuma_, but the sea was too rough and eachtime took the torpedo out of its course.
The badly damaged destroyer entered the harbor of Buenaventura on thecoast of Colombia on May eleventh, followed closely by the Japanesesteamer _Iwate_, which had been lying off the coast of Panama. Grindinghis teeth with rage, Dayton had to look on while a Colombian officer inragged uniform, plentifully supplied with gilt, who was in the habit ofcommanding his tiny antediluvian gunboat from the door of a harborsaloon, came on board the _Barry_ and ordered the breeches of the gunsand the engine-valves to be removed, at the same time depriving the crewof their arms. The Japanese waiting outside the harbor had categoricallydemanded this action of the government in Bogota. This humiliatingdegradation before all the harbor loafers and criminals, before thecrowds of exulting Chinese and Japanese coolies, who were only toodelighted to see the white man compelled to submit to a handful ofmarines the entire batch of whom were not worth one American sailor, wasfar harder to bear than all the days of battle put together. And evennow, when Admiral Dayton's fame reaches beyond the seas and the name ofJames Dayton is in every sailor's mouth as the savior of his people,yes, even now, he will tell you how at the moment when, outside theStraits of Magellan, he crushed the Japanese cruisers with hiscruiser-squadron, thereby once again restoring the Star Spangled Bannerto its place of honor, the vision of that grinning row of faces exultingin the degradation of a severely damaged American torpedo-boat appearedbefore him. It is only such men as he, men who experienced the horrorsof our downfall to the bitter end, who could lead us to victory--suchmen as Dayton and Winstanley.
[Footnote 1: Perry, the American commodore, with a fleet of only eightships, forced Japan to sign the agreement of Kanagawa, opening the chiefharbors in Japan to American trading-vessels, in the year 1854.]
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