y were all dressed with flags. The
decks had been strewn with sand, to prevent accidents by men slipping,
and flooded with water from the fire hose to minimize the danger of fire.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF THE YALU 1. THE JAPANESE ATTACK]

[Illustration: BATTLE OF THE YALU 2. END OF THE FIGHT]

The fleets were now rapidly closing. McGiffen, the American officer of the
"Chen-yuen," was impressed with the "holiday aspect" of the scene. "The
twenty-two ships," he wrote in an account of the battle, "trim and fresh in
their paint and their bright new bunting, and gay with fluttering signal
flags, presented such a holiday aspect, that one found a difficulty in
realizing that they were not there simply for a friendly meeting."

When the range of the leading Japanese ship--the "Yoshino"--was just 5400
metres, or something less than 3 1/2 miles, the Chinese admiral fired one
of his heavy barbette guns at her from the "Ting-yuen." The shot fell
short, throwing up a great fountain of foaming water. The guns of the other
Chinese ships roared out, and the line was wrapped in smoke, but the
gunners had not the range in most cases, and their shooting was everywhere
bad. Untouched by the hostile fire, the Japanese fleet came silently on.

At first the Japanese line had been heading directly for the Chinese
centre. It now altered its course, ship after ship, the "Yoshino" leading
the line so that it would pass obliquely across the right front of the
enemy, and beyond the extreme right of his line, the wing of Ting's fleet
that was furthest from the shore. At a range of about two miles, the
"Yoshino" began replying to the Chinese fire with her bow guns and her
starboard battery, and the other ships opened as they reached the same
range. Thanks to McGiffen's narrative, we know what was the impression made
on the few skilled observers in the Chinese fleet. The advancing line of
hostile cruisers was wrapped in a dense cloud of smoke, out of which rose
their tall masts. Through the smoke came a continual flicker of the long
red flashes of the Japanese quick-firers. To men used to the old guns the
rapidity of the fire was something startling. But the Japanese had just
missed getting the range. The showers of shells were falling ahead of the
Chinese ships. The sea in front of their bows was a mass of spurting
columns and fountains of foam, and some of these geysers of sea-water shot
up so close ahead that they splashed over the Chine