Yho "Now York Independent" published in its issue of the 27th of July a lengthy Aescription of the Battle of the Japan Sea by a Jap: i board the Mikass, Admiral Togo's Nag: This interesting contribution, which was translated by Mr. Adachi Kinnosuke, is to the following [was looking into the south-west. The sky Utero was quite as uncertain as propheey; the wind coming out from that direction was rapidly freshening into gale. It. was about four o'clock la the Afternoon of the 26th of May, 1905. Through our scouting squadron we were aware of the enemy's movement, and His Majesty's, fleet, which was made up of almost every ship of consequence in the Nippon Navy, rode at anchor at the rendezvous. We knew thnt x great day was about to pass into history, and the Mikaas once again was to have the distinction of flying upon her halyard the pennant of Admiral Togo. Out of the grey sky gradually the shades of ovening fell upon us, and ibscomed very muches ifa storm were to ride the Corean Straits all night long.
Alittlo before the East began to open itsfoyes on the following day—at about hlf-past five in the morning, to be preciso—tho Mikasa received a wireless message. "It said: 'Hostile ships are sighted." Briof, and' indeed that was a -message we had expected every moment. All the same, I doubt if the message of the sudden death of my mother falling ut of the sky could cause so great an emotional storm as I felt at this announcement from our scout.
And the Mikasa unfurled the battle flag. At the same time she signalled to the vessels of the fleet: " Wagakuni no som mo kono ikkyo ni ari; she shi sore doryuku scye!" (The existence or death of our country hangs upon this action both officers and men, do your utmost!)
We were busy for about one hour following the signal. On ships wore about to start upon their red bridal; we were about to play a game with no less stake than the life of the land of the gods and the honour of the Hinomara flag. Although we had spent many months in preparation for the day which seemed to be upon us at Inst, we wished to add a few finishing touches. About half-past six, standing out to sea a little over five knots, the Mikasa to the rest of the fleet, forth at speed." The Shikishima led the principal squadron, the Faji, the Asahi, the Nisshin and the Kasuga following in the order mentioned. Heeling the main squadron, the Izumo led the second squadron, with the pennant of Vice-Admiral Kamimura floating upon hor. The fourth squadron followed, with the Naniwa at the head, Both the destroyer and torpedo-boat flotillas accompanied us. Another message came to us from our scouting squadron; it read: "It soams that the enemy is making for the east channel" It was about nine o'clock; the Mikasa: had joined the fleet and was leading the first The day was clearing but foggy, and the wind was stronger than ever, and more than once the waves washed th foredeck of the Mikusa. From portholes also water and spray dashed in, At times so great was the inrush of the soa that in a certain section of the ship there was more than a foot of water, through which mon had to wade with Is before they could feed the guns. One sailor stumbled and fell in the "Are you lurt—soriously?" asked a "Pho shell is dry, sir," was the answer of the sailor.
And this aboard the Mikasa, which as you know, a ship of fifteen th tous, Far astern the cruiser sq we saw from where we stood torpetloflotillas. One can ima; Yo us they appeared autumnal leaves tlirtin, with something which seemed to be much more dangerous than fire—the anger of the sea.
"Only the mad would venture upon this sea on a torpedo-boat," I heard one of my comrades say.
"Wo are capable of a greater madness even than that,' someone retorted.
That is to say, under some circum-ances—when the life and honour of the imperial land call us out to sea, for example.
We had no prophets aboard the Mikasa, and none of us knew what. fate had in store for us on that her own parade day. We had with usa worker of miracles called Admiral Togo. And that made west of us quite content. We know that only a rather unexpected good humour on the part of luck would alford us time for lunch, and in the service of His Majesty's navy we wore expected to learn a fow things besides putting our entire trust on that happy god called chance. So it came to pass that we found an unusual plenty of rice in our morning meal.
All was ready; the men were at their station; to them only a signal was wanting. We steamed leisurely in the direction of Okinoshima. Meanwhile per was given to thornen to take thei rest after their own fashion—at their posts. And I look upon this rest as one of the most effective preparations made for the battle. In my round of inspec-Thad the pleasure of seeing those men—they had worked hard since five that morning—taking their ease according to their sweet pleasure. At every gun a few shells were gathered ready for ssu immediate call. And a number of our good sailors mistook the shells for pillows. 'The sight might have scandalls: ed the arms factories all over the world, and if they could only listen' to the "music of sleep" upon those shells, they would have been overwhelmed on their success in making soft pillows, As for me, who was nob a manufacturer of ammunition, the high snoring of our mon had a prophecy that was quite pleasing to us.
Moving about amid the all-absorbing rest of our mon, I felt sure that the day was to be ours. At any rate, you know, quite as well as I, that nothing could have told the tale of the iron nerve of those mon better than their childlike sleep within the hour or tivo of what they all know would be the groutest naval battle since the birth of sober-minded history, and upon which hung the destiny of their beloved Jand.
Wo steered oast-south-oast, than shifted to south-west. The fog began to kidnap the horizon. Very soon the Teushima rose before us in her robe of silken fog, looking for all the world like a vision of blessed Arabian memory.
THE APPROACH OF TH RUSSIAN FLEET, All this while our scouting squadron had kept in touch with the enemy, steaming, in fact, almost parallel to their course and always out of range of their guns and always trying thei prettiest to keep out of thoit vision a well, And on the Mikasa we roceived from time to time messages of the enemy's a proach through the wireless telegraphy. The enemy could have disturbed and interrupted our com. munications, but they seemed quite indifferent. They must have. despised our strength at the Tsushima Straits heartily, for on that ground alone can one in their carelessness in Uis respect, as in many others. S: eadily they came, and it is impossible to restrain our admiration for this desperate courage of the Russians, for this lordly arrogance which seemed to say to us: " After all, you are Asiatics, are you not?" Te was about one in the afternoon that we were thrilled st the first sight of our long-expected gues, There were about thirteen or fourteen thouser between us, and the hostile ships pencilled their silhouettes against the dream-like curtain of fogs like the skeletons of phantom ships, I sade out four battleships and, in addition to them cruisers, and coast defence ships, tothe number of twelve, and there seemed to be a number of other ships—lichter cruisers and
They seemed to be heading north-cast in transports, perhaps trailing to the rear. double column line ahead, and steaming at the speed of about twelve knots. At the first sight of our main squadrons the enemy seemed to falter a little. Soon, however, I saw them head boldly tewaed us. Now we were already within ton knotsjof the Russians. We saw Okinoshima to south-east; we were about to enter into the effective range of fire. The wind, which was blowing fiercely out of the south-west, smote us full in the face, and naturally the same wind gave wings to the Russians, who were coming
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.