Although there was a dense fog on the morning of December 12, the commander of the Japanese detachment at Wuhu discovered, after a while, that four large steamers were anchored about three kilometres north of the city, At about 9 a.m., some of the ships suddenly began sending up black smoke, whereupon the commander, deciding that the enemy was trying to hide behind a smoke-screen,, ordered fire to be opened, and shells were seen to hit the forefront of the first and second ships.
The ships in the rear vanished down-stream, while one of the ships in front advanced towards the Japanese forces. As it drew near, the British flag was recognized, and the commander gave the order to cease fire. When the ship came alongside, it was discovered to be the Ladybird, a British man-of-war.
At about 10 am, the statement declares, one shell was fired in mistake at a ship flying a British flag which was proceeding down-stream. When the ship came alongside, she was identified as the Bee.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.