London vid Bombay, 7th May. Though not officially admitted, it is believed at St. Petersburg that Port Arthur is isolated-and the har-hour sealed.
Admiral Alexeieff and the Grand Duke Boris left hurriedly to escape being cut off.
The smallest possible force has been left at Port Arthur, which is provisioned for one year.—Reuter. Tokio, 7h Muy.
It is officially announced that the latest attempt to block Port Arthur was made on the 3rd instant under the direction of Commander Hayashi, Owing to the heavy weather, signals were made to postpone the enterprise, but the order was not received.
Eight steamers made a rapid dash, five of them being sunk in the entrance, closing the passage to cruisers.
This latest. enterprise, compared with the two previous ones, was more serious, resulting in heavy losses. Only half the crews of the blocking vessels were saved, While engaged in saving the crews, torpedo boat No. 67 was disabled by the enemy's fire, but was successfully towed out. The damage to the torpedo-boat Aotaka was very slight.—Our own correspondent.
The Japanese Consul-General has kindly communicated to us the following official telegram received by him on Saturday night Admiral Togo reports that the combined fleet effected the third blocking operation at Port Arthur on the 3rd instant. The gunboats Akagi and Chokai (614 tons each), the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th destroyer flotillas, and the 9th, 10th, and 14th torpedo-boat flotillas, with the steamers, started on the 2nd inst. A strong wind which soon arose greatly hindered the movement, and the commander ordered the operation to be stopped, but the order did not reach them, and eight steamers proceeded and made a each for the harbour, despite the enemy's searchlights,. fortress fire, observation mines, and mechanical mines. Five steamers gained tke harbour mouth, especially the' Mikawa Maru and Totomi Maru, which broke the boom and -reached the farthest point inside. 'I'he entrance may be considered effectively blocked, at least to cruisers and battleships. Tiree other steamers sank before reaching the mouth of the harbour. Our flotillas remained till the morning, and rescued half the crews of the sunken steamers. Torpedo-boat No. 67 had her steampipe hit and was disabled, but was towed away by No. 70. The Aotaka had her port engine damaged, but is safe. The casualties on board the flotillas were three men wounded and two killed, No other damage was done,"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.