Instead of working as sailors do in any other navy, they preferred to stay aft with a pipe and drink. Only on one or ips was there anything like me one would expect on a man-of-war about to do battle. Of course, most of the men were reserves who had will and inclinations. They were ignorant and stupid. They had no knowledge of where they were going and very little of what they were out hero for. With such stupid men it was difficult to conceive how the Russians hoped to win. The fleet was WAITING FOR THE THIRD SQUADRON, which had probably joined by now. He would not say for certain that the junction had been effected, but he thought as much from what he had heard.
Admiral Rozhdiostvonsky was avery fine man. The officers generally. were a fine class of men, as different from their crews as cast from west. Their only fault lay in their disinclination for work—and in this one particular they resembled their men. Some were able to speak a Dit of German, others could converse in English, They were pleasant and nice to get on with. There Was a fortune lying at the feet of any man who could smuggle a cargo of beer and Schnapps, Of these two " necessaries" they wore short, and snotherarticle there would be arunon would be whisky, if it could be got through to them. One sailor came on board the Forsteck one day and offered as much as £1 for bottle of whisky. They were not allowed any drink on board, but he would smuggle it across. Unhappily, the Forsteck was not in position to supply him. During the coaling operations the sailors wandered all around the decks 'BEGGING WHISKY, TOBACCO, cigars or cigarettes, and other forbidden luxuries. They had no heart for war, said the chief officer of the Forsteck.
They were well supplied with coal and provisions, and were in no hurry to move. They were fully ready to leave, but there was no word of when they would leave, at the date of the Forsteck's departure. He knew where they going, but it was a secret that he was neither at liberty nor inclined to tell.
way over that difficulty would be: to write it down here," suggested the Morning Post" man offering his notebook, but the officer would not be drawn. "Tam not allowed to tell it to anyone," he repeated, and quickly drifted on to another subject.
The ships were well armed, but he neither saw nor heard of them being at practice.
When we left home," continued the officer, "we did not know that we were bound for the Baltic Fleet, and upon the fact being discovered at sea, it led to a good deal of trouble with the men. Some of them refused to work and such ut to Cape St. James, where orders were received to proceed at once to Camranh.
Coming to the question of cosling, the chief officer said the big warships could not swing their guns in far enough to permit the colliers alongside, and in these cases carling was accomplished by means of boats at the rate of about 250 tons per day. In the case of the other warships, the colliers went right. alongside and slung the bags on board. The colliern wore very fully loaded when they came out. In the big Hamburg-America boats even the first-class cabins were full of coal. The Ellerbeck had still 500 tons to discharge on the 5th inst.
Just before the Forsteck left, torpedo-boats were going to and from Camravh with dispatches—an evidence, the officer repeated, that the Third Squadron had probably arrived.
During their stay off the coast of Annam none of the officers or men of the Fleet wont ashore, Some of the officers wished to go hunting, but were not allowed to. There were no natives to be soon near the Fleet except few Chinese in sampans, who came to sell pigs, fish ete.
At Hon Kobe the ships layin three ti in the outer bay, 600 metres i each vessel. The nearest aral shore lay off at a distance of under two miles. The transports lay in two lines nearer the shore and the torpedo-boats closer in still—tess than half a mile. The flagships of Admiral Rozhdiestvensky and Admiral Vill wore anchored abreast of each other, to facilitate communication probably. Admiral—Rozhdiestvensky. had his flag on ove of the nowest and best battleships, while Admiral Vill's flag was on fine steam yacht. He was in charge of the transports. The cruisers lay towards the mouth of Van Fong Bay, and scouts were always on duty. During the stay of the Forsteck from 26th April till 5th May, the battleships went out only once.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.