Bloody Sunrise

by Christopher Nicole

  ‘Little yellow men! But, honourable Prince, nil desparandum,’ Nicholas suggested, and told him of his conversation with Fisher.

  ‘Now that is promising. But it means we must wait for four years.’

  ‘Who can tell, honourable Prince? Much will depend upon developments. And besides, well within four years it will be known that we have those four ships coming along. I think it is promising. Now, sir, I must inform you of a personal problem.’ He told him of his meeting with Rashnikov.

  ‘It is quite impossible for you to fight a duel with the Russian, Admiral Barrett. Certainly here in England. There is no possibility of keeping it a secret, at least after the event. If you kill him, the Russians will make a song and dance about it. If he kills you, they will equally make a song and dance about it.’

  ‘I have accepted his challenge, honourable Prince. To refuse to meet him now would brand me a coward. And, by implication, the entire Japanese Navy. Do you not suppose the Russians will make a song and dance about that?’

  Katsura pulled his moustache. ‘If this “wife” of yours were not along . . .’

  ‘My wife has nothing to do with it, honourable Prince. She was not with me, last night. I would have encountered Rashnikov in any event.’

  ‘Very good. You must fight him. But it cannot happen on English soil. He will have to accept this, and be patient. We sail in three days time. He is welcome to come with us, and the duel can be fought on the quarterdeck of Hashidate.’

  ‘Supposing he will agree to that,’ Nicholas said.

  *

  Nicholas sent Hirada, now promoted Commander, as his second, and the young man returned looking distinctly hot and bothered. ‘The Russian says your conditions are unacceptable.’

  ‘Thank God for that,’ Elizabeth said.

  ‘His second is downstairs now, to discuss an arrangement acceptable to both parties.’

  Nicholas shrugged. ‘I had better see the fellow.’

  He went down the stairs, checked in consternation. The Russian lieutenant was tall, and handsome and auburn-haired; he took after his mother rather than his father.

  ‘My God!’ Nicholas exclaimed.

  Paul Rashnikov saluted. ‘Your excellency!’ Then his eyes drifted, and his face paled.

  ‘Paul?’ Elizabeth whispered from the top of the stairs. ‘Paul!’ she cried, and came running down, tripping over her skirts and having to be seized by Nicholas at the foot, before she went head over heels.

  Paul had gathered himself, and stood to attention. ‘Madame Barrett!’

  Elizabeth stood in front of him. ‘Paul! I am your mother!’

  ‘I have no mother, madame.’ Paul gazed at Nicholas. ‘My father is prepared to understand your reluctance to compromise your embassy by engaging upon British soil. He proposes that you and he, and your seconds, should cross the Channel tomorrow, and fight the duel upon a French beach. If you will not agree to these terms, he will brand you a coward.’

  Nicholas still held a half-fainting Elizabeth in his arms. ‘And if you refuse to acknowledge your mother, sir, I will brand you an unnatural child.’

  Paul Rashnikov’s face stiffened. But he gave Elizabeth no more than a glance. ‘Your answer, Admiral Barrett.’

  ‘Tell your father,’ Nicholas said, ‘that I will meet him on the beach, outside Calais, tomorrow morning at dawn. But you have not inquired my choice of weapons.’

  ‘Swords or pistols, Admiral. It will mean nothing to my father.’

  ‘The weapons will be Japanese swords, Lieutenant Rashnikov,’ Nicholas said.

  Paul Rashnikov gave a sharp intake of breath. ‘My father knows nothing of such weapons, sir. You are planning murder!’

  ‘Your father, Lieutenant, should have considered the possible choice of weapons before challenging me. As for what I am intending, you are absolutely right. I intend to kill your father.’

  *

  Paul withdrew, and Nicholas carried Elizabeth to her room. There was really nothing to be said, but now the entire Embassy was in a furore, and Nicholas was summoned before Katsura.

  ‘I shall cross the Channel tonight,’ he told his superior. ‘Hirada is now arranging for a boat. With your permission, honourable Prince, if you will wait for me in mid-Channel, I will rejoin Hashidate in mid-afternoon. Until then, I place my wife in your care.’

  ‘And if you do not come?’ Katsura demanded.

  ‘She will be even more in your care, as I shall be dead.’

  *

  Nicholas did not say goodbye to Elizabeth. Instead he caught the train to Dover to join Hirada, who had left immediately. The flag-captain had chartered a fishing smack, and in this they made the crossing during the hours of darkness, the smack skipper having agreed to wait for the outcome of the duel before seeking the Japanese cruiser; apart from being well paid, he was fascinated by the whole business, and especially the two huge swords Hirada was carrying.

  ‘Begging your pardon, your honour,’ he said. ‘You start swinging those toothpicks about somebody’s going to get hurt.’

  ‘That,’ Nicholas assured him, ‘is the general idea.’

  *

  They sighted Cap Gris Nez lights soon after leaving Dover, and were off the beach just before sunrise. The skipper dropped his anchor and put down his dory, in which Nicholas and Hirada were rowed ashore, to stamp through the gentle surf on to the beach. Then it was a matter of waiting, while the darkness turned to gray and then to full daylight.

  Nicholas looked at his watch, then stamped up and down some more.

  ‘Eight o’clock,’ Hirada remarked.

  ‘We must prove we were here.’ Nicholas went up to the foot of the cliffs themselves, clambered up above the high water mark, and with his short sword carved in the chalk a huge circle of the Rising Sun, adding his own name beneath. ‘Let’s see what he makes of that,’ he remarked.

  *

  ‘I am so glad,’ Elizabeth said, when they rejoined Hashidate. ‘You cannot blame me for feeling glad, Nicky.’

  ‘I do not blame you in the least,’ he told her. ‘I only regret the behaviour of your son. But Lizzie . . . you do realise that this business is a long way from being over?’

  *

  ‘An interesting adventure,’ Mutsuhito commented, having received Nicholas in private audience. ‘Do you put any value on your conversation with the man Fisher?’

  ‘I do, Your Majesty. I think he will be one day, quite soon, the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty. That means, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy. As such, his opinions will carry enormous weight.’

  ‘Our ambassador informs us that Fisher has many powerful enemies,’ Mutsuhito remarked.

  ‘He makes enemies, by the vehemence of his personality,’ Nicholas agreed.

  ‘But you still think he will rise to the top. Then we will accept your judgement, Barrett san. We will keep very much to ourselves for the next four years, and try to convince everyone that we wish only to live in peace with all the world. For this reason, we will give no publicity to your affair with Captain Rashnikov, much as it would please us to illustrate an extreme example of Russian cowardice.’

  ‘I agree with you entirely, Your Majesty. But . . . do you not consider that it would be in the best interests of your people if we were, actually, to settle down to living in peace with all the world? We have Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands. Have we not achieved enough?’

  ‘We have achieved a great deal, Barrett. And I hope you will believe us when we tell you that our sole ambition is to be able to live in peace with our neighbours. Unfortunately, we are not going to be allowed to do that. As your friend Fisher has so aptly put it, we are the bad boys of Asia. At the present time, we have no friends and no allies. There is not even anyone who supports our recent actions; that Great Britain opposed the other powers in their decision to take away from us the fruits of our victory over China is more because she opposes Russia becoming too strong in the Pacific than because she felt we were being robbed. Now what do we see? A
Russia busily fortifying Port Arthur, and openly establishing it as a great naval base. Who is she directing that strength against? Hardly China. It is against us. There is more. Our agents in St Petersburg tell me the Russians openly speak of crushing those impudent little yellow men, at the very first opportunity. Can you really expect us to sit back and wait to be hit by an overwhelming force? No, no, Barrett. We must prepare for war, while, for the next four years at least, being careful to give the Russians no casus belli, lest they strike before we are ready. But our preparations must be put in hand now. And this is what I wish to discuss with you. Admiral Prince Ito has intimated to me his desire to retire from command of the fleet.’

  Nicholas kept his face immobile with an effort. Ito was only fifty-five, younger than himself, in fact. No servant of the Mikado would ever ‘intimate his wish to retire’. The Admiral was in fact being sacked for his failure to annihilate the Chinese fleet!

  ‘He will, of course, be given every honour our country can afford,’ Mutsuhito went on, ‘in view of his great services and his victories over the Chinese, and we shall be pleased to employ him as our adviser in future events. However, he must be replaced.’ The stern features relaxed for a moment. ‘You understand that we cannot make you our Commander-in-Chief, Barrett.’

  Nicholas bowed; for just a moment he had allowed himself to hope. ‘I understand, Your Majesty.’

  ‘But I wish you to remain as chief-of-staff, at least until the Russian business is settled.’

  Nicholas bowed. He too wished to see the business settled.

  ‘We are therefore as of this moment promoting you Vice-Admiral.’

  ‘Your Majesty, I am overwhelmed.’

  ‘It is less than you deserve. Now we would like your recommendation for our fleet commander,’ Mutsuhito said. ‘We wish a man who will lead our fleets to victory, as Prince Ito did, but who will seek a more complete victory, when the opportunity arises, bearing in mind that the next naval battle we may have to fight will be against Russia rather than China.’

  ‘You need an experienced seaman, Your Majesty, and one, if I may be allowed to say so, who has been trained in the very highest traditions of the sea.’

  ‘Do we have such a man? Apart from yourself.’

  ‘I believe we do, Your Majesty: Captain Togo Heihachiro.’

  Mutsuhito frowned. ‘Is he not a Satsuma?’

  ‘He is, Your Majesty. But he did not support their rebellion. And he spent several years at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, England, and served with the Royal Navy. He is most certainly both our best trained, most experienced, and most talented officer.’

  ‘Togo Heihachiro,’ Mutsuhito mused. ‘Is he not the captain who sank the Kowshing, before the declaration of war?’

  ‘He acted in accordance with your orders, Your Majesty, which were to prevent any Chinese reinforcements reaching Korea. In doing that, he displayed his determination always to act in the best interests of Japan, regardless of personal considerations.’

  ‘Then obviously he is the man we are looking for,’ Mutsuhito said.

  *

  ‘Are you very disappointed?’ Elizabeth asked.

  ‘I’d be a liar if I didn’t say I was, sweetheart. But it never was a possibility. The Japanese are too proud ever to be commanded by a non-Japanese. And I am delighted for Togo. You know that he is my oldest living Japanese friend?’

  ‘Who will now be your superior.’

  ‘I do not think that will change our relationship in the least.’ He held her hand. ‘You do realise this is all part of our build-up for war with Russia.’

  She shuddered. ‘Yes. I do understand that. But Nicky . . . you must understand that it is not possible for Japan to conquer Russia.’

  ‘It was never possible for Japan to conquer China, my darling. But like the Chinese in Korea or Port Arthur, only more so, the Russians in Port Arthur and Manchuria are existing on the end of a very long logistical line. If we can inflict on them a few stinging defeats, eliminate their Pacific Fleet, and recapture Port Arthur, then we will force them to make a peace which will give us what we wish.’

  ‘Unless France and Germany interfere again.’

  ‘This time we’re hoping to have a counterpoise. Now, tell me, is all well at home?’

  He had reported to the Mikado almost immediately he had left the ship.

  ‘Ye-es,’ she said hesitantly.

  ‘Tell me. Aki seemed perfectly happy when she met us.’

  ‘I believe she is. But . . . there is a letter from Takamori.’

  Nicholas’s face stiffened.

  ‘He wishes to come to see us. You, at any rate.’

  ‘I do not wish to see him.’

  ‘Nicky . . .’

  ‘No.’

  She looked as if she would have said more, but changed her mind.

  *

  Elizabeth asked Aki to explain the situation to her brother. ‘He will take it badly,’ Aki said.

  ‘I am sure he will. We must hope, and pray, that they will be reconciled in the course of time.’ She looked curiously at the younger woman. ‘What is your opinion? About what your brother did?’

  ‘My brother did not act alone.’

  ‘I’m not sure that is an excuse.’

  Aki’s voice suddenly became a hiss. ‘A samurai does not need excuses. Nor does he make them.’

  Elizabeth decided not to repeat the conversation to Nicholas.

  *

  Togo Heihachiro shook Nicholas’s hand. ‘I wish you to know how grateful I am for your recommendation. The Emperor has told me.’

  ‘I hope he also told you that he asked me to recommend the most efficient and determined officer in the fleet.’

  Togo smiled. ‘And for that too, I thank you. And I know that I am only the second most efficient and determined officer in the fleet, Barrett san. But together we will achieve great things. Now tell me this: can we defeat Russia at sea?’

  ‘Not at the moment. But when we get those new battleships we can, certainly here in the Pacific.’

  ‘Tell me of the Russians. At least those we are likely to have to face.’

  ‘Well, of course, theoretically, it would be possible for Russia to transfer all of her capital ships from the Baltic to the Pacific. This would leave her defenceless in the Baltic, but this could be overcome if her alliance with France is as binding as we must assume. That would give her a ship-to-ship superiority over us. But it is quality that will count. For instance, they have ten vessels officially described as battleships. These vary from ten to twelve thousand tons, and have a main armament of twelve-inch guns, in varying dispositions. Four of these ships, known as the Ekaterina II Class, actually have six twelve-inch, as opposed to the more usual four.’

  Togo pulled his beard. ‘Then they are already more powerful than the ships we have on order.’

  ‘I do not think so. Most of their armour is eight-inch, and ours will have more than that. Most important, they have a maximum speed of sixteen knots. We are hoping for a couple more than that, too. However, the Russians also have building six new ships, all in the twelve thousand ton range.’

  ‘Six?’ Togo was startled.

  Nicholas nodded. ‘It is interesting that in their search for speed, three of these will be armed with ten-inch rather than twelve-inch guns. It is reported that they will make eighteen knots. But of course they will fire a lighter shell.’

  ‘What you are saying is that by the time we get our four battleships, the Russians will have sixteen.’

  ‘I believe there are three more on the drawing board, honourable Admiral. So it could be nineteen. But not one of them will approach ours in size or strength.’

  ‘Still, odds of virtually five to one are insurmountable.’

  ‘That is presuming they can concentrate their entire fleet here in the Yellow Sea. That is an extreme scenario, and in any event, we would have ample warning of their intentions.’

  ‘And how would we stop them, Barrett san?’
<
br />   Nicholas pulled his nose.

  ‘It seems to me,’ Togo said, ‘that we need to work out a very definite strategy to cope with this preponderance of numbers against us. I put this in your charge, Barrett san. I wish you to consider every aspect of the situation. Every possible aspect. And the use of every possible weapon. It goes without saying that this must be a top secret assignment. I would like your assessment of the situation as soon as possible.’

  Nicholas nodded. ‘May I ask for your over-all strategic intention?’

  Togo smiled. ‘Why, Barrett san, it is by any means that may be feasible, entirely to destroy all Russian naval power in the Pacific.’

  Chapter Thirteen – War

  The two Fuji Class battleships were delivered in 1897, but then there was a gap until January 1900, before the first of the really big ships, Shikishima, was completed. Both Togo and Nicholas were delighted, for they now possessed one of the most powerful fighting units in the world. As promised by Macrow, Shikishima displaced nearly fifteen and a half thousand tons, fully loaded, and was four hundred and thirty-eight feet overall length; her speed was eighteen knots, and she had a radius of five thousand nautical miles at ten knots. Her armament was tremendous. Again as Macrow had promised, in addition to her four big guns, she mounted fourteen six-inch and no less than twenty twelve-pounder quick-firing guns, as well as twelve even smaller guns, and in addition, five eighteen-inch torpedo tubes.

  Most impressive of all was her armour, which included a feature known as Harvey NS, a new design in decking, which sloped inwards from the belt rather than rose vertical, as in conventional ships, thus reducing the risk of penetration by enemy fire.

  ‘Barrett san,’ Togo said. ‘With twelve ships like this I could rule the world.’

  ‘Certainly the Pacific,’ Nicholas said, thinking of the Royal Navy, which already had twelve ships like this, and a great many more building.

  *

  But Japan didn’t have twelve fifteen thousand ton battleships, nor was there the slightest hope of getting them: there simply was no more money available. So that although Nicholas was fascinated when one of his Japanese designers came up with an idea for a battleship which would displace eighteen thousand tons, and be armed with twelve twelve-inch guns, a monster which would be able to blow any other vessel in the world out of the water – and which it was proposed to call Aki, which was very flattering – he was forced to decline. He did give the go-ahead to have Aki designed, but understood that she would have to remain at the planning stage for the foreseeable future.