declaration of war. On the coast there were the Chinese
cruiser, "Tsi-yuen," and a small gunboat, the "Kwang-yi." On 24 July the
two ships had gone to sea to look for, and give their escort to, some
transports that were expected with reinforcements from China. In the grey
of the morning on the 25th they fell in with, and were attacked by, three
of the swift protected cruisers of the Japanese fleet, the "Yoshino,"
"Akitsushima," and "Naniwa Kan." The fight was soon over. The gunboat was
sunk, and the little cruiser was attacked at close quarters by the "Naniwa
Kan," whose shells riddled her weak conning-tower, killing all within it.
The "Tsing Yuen" fled, pursued by the "Naniwa," whose commander, by the
way, was Captain Togo, famous afterwards as the victorious admiral of the
Russo-Japanese War. The "Tsing Yuen" made good her escape, only because the
chase brought the "Naniwa Kan" on the track of the transport "Kowshing,"
and Togo stopped to dispose of her by sending her to the bottom.

This incident made the Pekin Government nervous about the fighting
qualities of their ships. And then they were afraid that if Ting went to
sea with all his ships, the Japanese fleet would elude him, and appear with
an expeditionary force at the mouth of the Pei-ho, capture the Taku forts,
and land an army to march on Pekin. They therefore ordered Admiral Ting to
collect his fleet at Port Arthur, and watch the sea-approach to the
capital.

The Japanese were therefore able to land their troops in Korea without
interruption, and soon overran the peninsula. When they were advancing to
capture Ping-yang, the Chinese began to concentrate a second army to defend
the crossing of the Yalu River, the entrance into Southern Manchuria. It
was now evident even to the Pekin mandarins that the Japanese plans did not
at this stage of the war include a raid on the Pei-ho and the Chinese
capital, so Admiral Ting was at last allowed to go to sea, in order to
protect the movement of transports along the western shores of the Korean
Bay to the mouth of the Yalu.

On 14 September five large steamers crowded with troops left Taku under the
convoy of six Chinese cruisers and four torpedo boats, bound for the mouth
of the Yalu River. Next day, as they passed Talienwan Bay, near Port
Arthur, they were joined by Ting with the rest of the fleet. On the second
day they safely reached their destination, and the troops were disembarked.
And early on the 17th Ting aga