100 



CHINA. 



can get within 10 miles of the forts. The Russian 

 Capt. Dubrowolski, as senior officer, was in com- 

 mand of the allied fleet of gunboats. On June 17 

 Japanese and British sailors and Russian infantry 

 took possession of the railroad station of Tongku 

 and wharves 2 miles from the forts. In the river 

 above the forts the gunboats and destroyers took 

 their stations the Russian Bohr, Koreetz, and 

 Gilyak, the French Lion, the German Iltis, and 

 the British Algerine, Whiting, and Fame. The 

 American Monocacy was there also, and was 

 utilized as a hospital ship. Outside,. 10 miles off 

 the forts, lay the British Centurion, Barfleur, 

 Orlando, Aurora, and Endymion, the French 

 D'Entrecasteaux, Jean Bart, Descartes, Pascal, 

 and Surprise, the Russian Sissoi Veliky, Rossia, 

 Demitri Donskoi, Makhimoff, Sivoutch, and Gre- 

 inmsehky, the Italian Elba and Calabria, the 

 German Hansa, Hertha, Gefion, and Kaiserin 

 Augusta, the Japanese Yoshimo-Kan and Marko- 

 Kan, the Austrian Zenta, and the American New- 

 ark. The Chinese Hai-Tien and Hai-Chu were 

 there, and when notified of the intended action 

 the admiral agreed to put out his fires. The 

 Monocacy had been ordered to observe a strict 

 neutrality, and took no part in the affair. The 

 Atago, besides sending landing parties ashore, was 

 likewise inactive. An armored train with a search- 

 light, manned by 100 men, was sent off for Tien- 

 tsin when night set in. 



The engagement was begun after midnight by 

 one of the Chinese forts firing on the Algerine, a 

 third of a mile distant, which replied directly, 

 and was promptly supported by the Russian gun- 

 boats moored in line a quarter of a mile beyond. 

 The Iltis, which had cleared for action days be- 

 fore and was the only vessel in perfect fighting 

 trim, sent in a few shells, and the Lion also. Most 

 of the forts took up the fire. The Iltis left her 

 moorings, and with all lights out steamed down 

 the river to the aid of the British and Russian 

 vessels. As soon as anchor could be lifted the 

 Lion followed. The six gunboats were then under 

 fire of all the forts at ranges averaging a mile, 

 and working all their guns. With the machine 

 guns in their tops they made it impossible for the 

 Chinese to serve the new Krupp quick firers 

 mounted in cavaliers over the high redoubts, but 

 the guns in the angles and the parapets could not 

 be seen, for the night was very dark. The Gilyak, 

 moving close to Taku village, lost many men by 

 rifle fire. When the battle began the British 

 destroyers Fame and Whiting steamed up the 

 river to the naval dockyard and captured the first- 

 class 32-knot German-built destroyers Hai-Lung, 

 Hai-Nui, Hai-Ching, and Hai-Hoba. They were 

 fully manned with Chinese crews, who jumped 

 upon the wharf and ran without striking a blow 

 or firing a shot. During the night the six gun- 

 boats, although their shells were well placed, 

 could do no more than hold in check the fire from 

 the forts, which was, however, ineffective. Many 

 of their guns had to be fired with extreme de- 

 pression from the high redoubts. The powder 

 charges were too light to carry the projectile to 

 its mark, or sometimes they were excessive. There 

 were no well-trained gunners among them. Yet 

 with all these disadvantages they might have won 

 the battle by their valorous persistency if their 

 shells had not boon worthless, most of them hav- 

 ing either no bursters, or fuses so defective that 

 they failed to explode. If only a part of the shells 

 had burst the six gunboats could not have stood 

 up under the fin- of two miles of fortifications for 

 six hours. When daylight broke, the Chinese 

 poured in a much more vigorous fire, and the 

 gunboats got under way on the flood tide all 



except the Gilyak, which received a heavy pro- 

 jectile on the water line. Steaming closer to the 

 forts and moving about rapidly to whatever point 

 invited attack, or passing up and down to deliver 

 their broadsides, the ships worked all their guns 

 with desperate energy. The Iltis had to be 

 beached, a heavy shot having pierced a boiler. 

 An explosion of a magazine in the largest fort 

 checked the Chinese fire for a time, but soon it 

 was renewed more fiercely than before. The 

 storming parties had reached the forts on the 

 north bank of the river, the Russians from one 

 side, the Japanese from the other. Yet it ap- 

 peared that the attack had failed. The heavy 

 guns of the south fort were brought to bear on 

 the gunboats, and when the storm of projectiles, 

 which exploded now better than before, was be- 

 coming too severe for the ships to live in, the main 

 magazine of the fort blew up, sending a blast of 

 fire, smoke, and debris a thousand feet into the 

 air. The concussion was so terrible that forts and 

 ships ceased firing, and as cheers arose from the 

 allies the Chinese fire was renewed with little 

 vigor, gradually slackened, and finally ceased. 

 When the storming parties entered the north 

 forts the garrison made no resistance, but was 

 leaving as fast as possible, and when the south 

 fort was reached, Chinese soldiers were seen flee- 

 ing across the plain. Many prisoners were taken, 

 and employed in removing the dead, nearly one 

 third of the garrison having been killed or 

 wounded. The guns were in good order, and 

 some of them had never been fired. The storming 

 parties, consisting of 200 Russians in the van, 250 

 English and 130 Germans forming the main body. 

 and 300 Japanese in the rear, had to advance 2 

 miles along a narrow road. The Russians were 

 checked by a heavy fire, and the British and Ger- 

 mans marching through paddy fields made little 

 progress in the mud. The Japanese, more accus- 

 tomed to such ground, found a better path and 

 passed the others on the double quick, entered the 

 north fort first, and drove the Chinese out at the 

 point of the bayonet. Their captain was killed 

 outside the walls, and their losses were 5 killed 

 and 4 wounded; the Russians, 18 killed and 39 

 wounded. In the river the Iltis was struck 8 

 times, the Gilyak received 4 shells, the Koreetz 

 4 and took fire, the Lion was struck once, and 

 the Algerine once. There were killed in the naval 

 action 18 Russians, 10 Japanese, 7 Germans, 1 

 Englishman, and 1 Frenchman. About 100 

 wounded were conveyed to Japan for treatment. 

 The allied naval commanders issued a proclama- 

 tion from Chifu stating that the powers were not 

 making war on the Chinese people, their only ob- 

 ject being to rescue their countrymen and to sup- 

 press the Boxers. 



The Taking of Tientsin. The Boxers and 

 Kansu troops that destroyed the railroad and cut 

 off Admiral Seymour's column proceeded to invest 

 the European settlements at Tientsin, which wcr 

 defended by about 3,000 men, with few machine 

 or other guns and a short supply of ammunition. 

 The besiegers had modern artillery, and after th< 

 fall of Taku the guns in the forts and troops 

 of the Pekin field force joined in the attack. 

 Three hours after the capture of the Taku forts 

 a determined attack was begun, which was kept 

 up day after day, burning most of the European 

 buildings and compelling the garrison and resi- 

 dents to retire to the British settlement. Tho 

 Russian troops endeavored to hold the railroad 

 station across the river, but withdrew on June} 

 19, having lost 7 officers and 1,50 men and shot 

 away nearly all their ammunition. Relief could 

 not be brought from Taku because the railroad 



