e till he rejoined them, but, to his
horror, as he recovered from the shock he saw the guns swing round and
point directly over the bow. He escaped being blown to pieces by dropping
through an open hatchway. Altogether during the fight the "Chen-yuen" was
on fire eight times.

Most of the Chinese crew fought pluckily, but there were some skulkers.
McGiffen tells how once, when there was something wrong with the revolving
gear of the barbette guns, and he went down into a recess under the
barbette to clear it, he saw a group of frightened men huddled in the
semi-darkness, and heard the voice of a Chinese officer saying: "You can't
hide down here. There are too many of us already." But he tells also of the
courage of others. The captain of one of the guns was killed as he prepared
to fire, the man's head being shattered by a shell, and his brains
scattered over the gun. Another man dragged the corpse away, took the
lanyard, looked along the sights, and fired without a moment's hesitation.
Tsao-kai, the gunnery lieutenant, was badly wounded and taken below. He had
brought his brother, a mere boy, on board for a holiday, and had him beside
him in the barbette. The boy remained there to the end, helping to pass up
ammunition, and apparently regarding the fight as an interesting game,
though he was the only unwounded individual in the barbette when the
battle ended.

McGiffen asserts that when the fight began the "Chen-yuen" had in her
magazine, besides a quantity of armour-piercing (almost solid) shot, only
three really effective shells for the 12-inch guns. Two of these were fired
early in the day. In the afternoon, in handling the ammunition, a third was
discovered. It was fired at the "Matsushima," Ito's flagship, and did
terrible execution. Ito, in his report, says that the incident occurred at
3.26 p.m., and that the shell came from the "Ting-yuen," but this appears
to have been a mistake. The shell dismounted a 5-inch gun, seriously
damaged two more, and exploded a quantity of quick-firing ammunition that
was lying ready near the guns. According to the Japanese official report,
forty-six men were killed or badly wounded. Unofficial narratives make the
loss even greater. One officer was simply blown to pieces. The flame of the
explosion set the ship on fire, and she was for a while in imminent danger
of destruction.

"The crew," writes Mr. H. W. Wilson, "with unabated gallantry and courage,
divided their attention bet