enemy.

The Japanese gunners were firing with a rapidity that surprised even those
who had been in the action of 10 August, and with much more terrible
effect. In Captain Semenoff's narrative of the fate of the "Suvaroff" we
have a remarkably detailed description of the execution done by the
Japanese shells in this first stage of the battle. The opening shots went
high. They flew over the "Suvaroff," some of the big 12-inch projectiles
turning over and over longitudinally in their flight. But at once Semenoff
remarked that the enemy were using a more sensitive fuse than on 10 August.
Every shell as it touched the water exploded in a geyser of smoke and
spray. As the Japanese corrected the range shells began to explode on board
or immediately over the deck, and again there was proof of the improved
fusing. The slightest obstacle--the guy of a funnel, the lift of a boat
derrick--was enough to burst the shell.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF TSU-SHIMA
DIAGRAMS OF MOVEMENTS DURING THE FIGHTING OF MAY 27TH]

The first fair hit was on the side, abreast of the forward funnel. It sent
up a "gigantic column of smoke, water, and flame." Then several men were
killed and wounded near the fore-bridge, and then there was a crash beside
one of the quick-firers, and, the shell bursting as it penetrated the deck,
set the ship on fire. In the battle of 10 August the flagship "Tsarevitch,"
which had borne the brunt of the Japanese fire, had been hit just nineteen
times, but now that the "Mikasa" and her consorts had got the range hit
followed hit on the leading Russian ships. "It seemed impossible," says
Semenoff, "even to count the number of projectiles striking us. I had not
only never witnessed such a fire before, but I had never imagined anything
like it. Shells seemed to be pouring upon us incessantly one after
another.... The steel plates and superstructure on the upper deck were torn
to pieces, and the splinters caused many casualties. Iron ladders were
crumpled up into rings, and guns were literally hurled from their
mountings. Such havoc would never be caused by the simple impact of a
shell, still less by that of its splinters. It could only be caused by the
force of the explosion.... In addition to this there was the unusually high
temperature and liquid flame of the explosion, which seemed to spread over
everything. I actually watched a steel plate catch fire from a burst. Of
course, the steel did not burn, but the paint on