DALNY-PORT ARTHUR
183
The
other wharves of concrete blocks faced with granite to accommodate ships of various draughts up to 22 feet, these being in length 3,920 lin. feet. The narrowest of these wharves is 350 feet wide and the railway lines are brought right alongside the ship-berths. Behind these railway lines are situated roomy godowns of corrugated iron, which when finished will have a floor area of 100,000 square feet. The area of port territory is 132 acres on a horizontal plane by 18 feet above low water. The inner harbour is protected by a stone and concrete breakwater 5,950 feet long, the height of the breakwater above highest tides being 10 feet. deep water area of the harbour, inside the breakwater, is 500 acres. The wharves are lighted electrically and the channels by gas buoys. The entrance being very open, viz. 1,050 feet wide, shipping can enter the port at any time of day or state of tide. On the island of San-shantau, at the entrance to Talienwan Bay, a third-rate lighthouse with fixed white light is in course of construction and is being equipped with Popoff's wire- less telegraphic apparatus. On this island a quarantine station is situated for infected vessels, with hospital accommodation for 20 Europeans and 100 Chinese, with a resident doctor and military guard. For discharging heavy loads, the port has three steam floating cranes capable of lifting 50 tons each. For the docking of vessels a granite dry dock is provided 380 feet long, 50 feet wide at entrance and 18 feet on the sill, with extensive repair shops attached. A dock of 600 feet long, 90 feet wide and 30 feet on the sill is in course of construction and will be completed this year. All power for work shops, dock-pumps, lighting, etc. is supplied by a central electric power house of 1,000 N.H.P.
The European town is situated along the waterfront of the port and runs inland up a slope towards the hills on an undulating stretch of rocky country. The area of the town for Europeans is designed to accommodate 30,000 inhabitants and is separated from the Chinese quarter by a large natural park. The roads in the European town are macadamised and are 50 kilometres in total length. The town is of the radial or spider web design, the centres being on high points on which sites for important buildings are reserved. A part of the town is reserved for administrative buildings. where are situated the head office of the Construction Department as well as the Governor's residence. There is one European Hotel in this part of the town, another more central, and a new one is in course of construction. There is likewise a Russian church, post-office, international telegraph, and a telephone system connected with Port Arthur; two clubs also flourish. The Railway Company have built large airy hospitals with every accommodation for 200 patients; and apart from these, infectious wards are situated outside of the town. The Chinese Eastern Railway, of which Dalny is the terminus, is directly connected by rail with all the Manchurian, Siberian and European Railways as well as with the Shanghai-kwan line via Inkou. There is a branch line to Port Arthur through the junction station Nanglin, and a daily service of trains runs to the North and Port Arthur from Dalny.
The Japanese occupied Dalny on May 30. Previous to evacuating the City the Russians endeavoured to destroy all works likely to be useful to the enemy, but the Japanese official report affirmed that they found the docks and piers uninjured except the great pier which was sunk, and barracks and other accommodation had escaped destruction. Dalny at once became the base of their military operations against Port Arthur. No returns have reached us from Dalny for the Directory. Towards the end of 1904 the city was one huge hospital, where those wounded at Port Arthur were brought for treatment.
·
PORT ARTHUR
Lu-shun
Port Arthur, at the point of the "Regent's sword," or Liaotung Peninsula, was formerly China's chief naval arsenal, but was captured in the Japanese war and its defences and military works destroyed. In 1898 Russia obtained a lease of Port Arthur and Talienwan and has now fortified the former, making it into a great naval stronghold. It is connected by the Manchurian Railway with the Trans-Siberian Line, and was connected by cable with China in 1900. A number of dredging machines belonging to the Naval Department have been employed for the purpose of deepening and widening the western part of Port Arthur harbour, in order to provide anchorage
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.