The great war in England in 1897 . day. I was at that time on duty, and suddenly, tomy surprise, detected a number of ships. By the aid of ourglasses, the captain and I found to our dismay that a numberof the most powerful vessels of the Eussian Fleet were bearingdown upon us ! All our other vessels had made the samediscovery, and I must confess that the meeting was somewhatdisconcerting. The strength of the Eussian ironclads was suchas to cause our hearts to beat more quickly. To engage thatgreat force meant certain defeat, while it was necessary thatour Admiral off INfarseilles should know o
The great war in England in 1897 . day. I was at that time on duty, and suddenly, tomy surprise, detected a number of ships. By the aid of ourglasses, the captain and I found to our dismay that a numberof the most powerful vessels of the Eussian Fleet were bearingdown upon us ! All our other vessels had made the samediscovery, and I must confess that the meeting was somewhatdisconcerting. The strength of the Eussian ironclads was suchas to cause our hearts to beat more quickly. To engage thatgreat force meant certain defeat, while it was necessary thatour Admiral off INfarseilles should know of the whereabouts ofthis hostile squadron, therefore we resolved to get away. Butalthough we altered our course and put on all speed, we were,alas! unsuccessful. At last we determined at all hazards tostick to our guns so long as we were afloat, and as the first ofthe Tsars ironclads drew^ within range, one of our 22-tonnersthundered. The white smoke, driven forward, tumbled overour bows. We had spoken the first word of battle •. CHAPTEE XXI. A NAVAL FIGHT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. HE great naval force of the Tsar, with which wewere now face to face, continued LieutenantIngleton in his narrative, consisted of thenew battleship Fetropavlovsk of 10,960 tons,with a speed of 17 knots ; the great turret-ship Dvenadsat Jpostoloff of 8076 tons; thetwo new barbette-ships Kama and Vologda of the Cizoi Velikytype; the Tchcsm6 of 10,181 tons, the Ghcorghy Pohyednosetsof 10,280 tons, and the powerful Tria Sviatitdia of 12,480tons; the two enormous new cruisers Tiumcn and Minsk, bothof 17,000 tons, and running at 20 knots; the Vladimir Mono-mach of 5754 tons; the armoured gunboat Olvazny, and thenew rams Admiral Scniavine and Admiral Uschakoff, withthirty torpedo boats, including the Kodor, licni, Anakria, andAdlcr, the latter being able to run at 274 knots. Against such a gigantic force as this our small force ofvessels °and torpedo boats presented but a sorry we had
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