170
THE NAVAL INQUIRY
RE "HIPSANG."
The finding of the Naval Court at Shanghai, touching the loss of the 8.8. Hipsang, is as follows:-
That the steamship Hipsang was sunk by being shelled and torpedoed by a Russian torpedo-boat destroyer, number 7, name unknown, on July 16th, 1904. Position approximately Lat. 38.55.30 N. Long. 120.57.30, E.
That the master was a fully experienced officer, and having been in command during the Franco-Chinese war, and the Chino-Japanese war, and also during the present war, he was fully cognisant of the ordinary established usages of war as regards belligerent and neutral vessels. That there was no contraband on board the Hipsang, and the only passenger was one Russian merchant besides twenty-two Chinese; there was no Japanese on board.
That the master appears to have navigated his vess 1 in a seamanlike and proper manner, and to have acted in a correct manner when challenged by the Russian destroyer, in so much that he stopped, went full speed astern, and when the way was off the ship, again stopped the engines; and further, when he was challenged he at once made known his nation- ality. When the casualty was inevitable the master appears to have done all in his power to save life.
That the officers and crew appeared to have carried out their duties to the last moment and to have used their utmost endeavours to save the lives of the passengers, the loss of life being reduced to one passenger.
That the vessel appears to have been sufficiently manned and seaworthy at the time of the loss.
That the Court desires especially to direct the attention of the Board of Trade and the Foreign Office to the fact that the steamship Hipsang was proceeding with due cantion between Newchwang and Chefoo on a correct course, and that without any just cause or reason, was sunk without any warning by being torpedoed, and that the loss of life was due to shell fire, prior to the act of torpedoeing the, vessel, and that these acts were done by a Russian torpedo-boat destroyer, name unknown, but numbered 7.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
objects floating on the water, and, if mines, avoid striking them. Thought of danger from either Russian or Japanese men-of-war fire never at any time occurred to me.
$1
་་
"
1
|
|
At 4.15 am. on the 16th July Iron Island was abeam bearing East by the standard com. pass, and distant 1 miles. I then altered the course to S. by E., and went down off the The weather being beautifully clear bridge. for miles all round the ship and the land boldly distinct, only Iron Island had a small cloud resting on its summit, and a long way ahead there was an appearance as though a fog bank was making up from the southward. At about 4.20 a.m.-I at that time being in my room and going to fill my pipe-I heard the sound of a shot fired from somewhere to the westward of at once put my pipe down and ran the ship. out of my room to the bridge ladder, meeting the second officer half-way down the ladder, and who said words to this effect, "A torpedo-boat has fired a shot across the bow, sir." I answer ed with words to this effect, "All right, sir, hoist the ensign up," and running up on the bridge and across to the telegraph stand, I rang stop on the engine-room telegraph. I had no sooner done so, than another shot was fired from a torpedo-boat destroyer that was on our starboard side abaft the beam. I at once rang full speed astern on the engine-room tele- Then another was fired from the graph. torpedo-boat destroyer, and then another and another-the intervals between the shots not being a long one-and as one shot passed close behind me on the bridge, hitting some- thing which I believe was the chart-table, I then realised that the torpedo-boat-destroyer was firing at the ship, so I called out to the chief heard on the lower bridge: officer whose voice
Mr. Smith, get the boats out, or words to that effect, and also called out to a lot of the Chinese who were crowding into the small working-boat that was always carried hanging in the davits, to get out of the boat so that she could be lowered down into the water. Meanwhile the torpedo- boat destroyer was firing at the ship—but how many shots I cannot say, as I did not count them-and she then fired what I believe was a torpedo-anyhow the ship was struck in the stern by either a shell or a torpedo, and there was a vibration felt, and she began to sink by the stern. Before the ship was struck by this shell or torpedo. the English ensign was up and flying from the flagstaff aft, and I had re- cognised the Russian ensign on the torpedo- When the way was nearly off boat-destroyer. the ship. I rang "stop" on the engine-room telegraph; and then recognising that the ship was doomed, the idea of life-belts for the Chinese came into my mind, so I ran down into Given at Shanghai this 23rd day of August, the saloon to one of the cabins where they had 1904.
been kept, but found that others had been before The judgment we have taken from the
Still seeing two. I snatched these up, and Here are Shanghai Mercur ·
some salient noticing a big carving-knife as I passed the features of Captain R. C. D. Bradley's evidence, pantry door, picked it up to cut away the lashings of some of the boats. Running out of as reported by the N.-C. Daily News.
Tie s.s. Hipsung having hove her anchors up the saloon, I threw the life-belts at some of the and mana ed to turn head down stream under Chinese, and then clambered up on the boat- steam, proceeded from the anchorage at New-skids and started in cutting adrift the starboard chwany down river towards the Newchwang Bar under the charge of pilot Lawrence. The passage down the river and across the bar was managed without stoppages, and the pilot was disembarked outside of the Newchwang Bar at about 4.45 p.m. I (the Captain) then took some azimuths by the sun to check the errors on the courses that would take the ship down the coast during the night, and then the ship going full- speed ahead, at about 5.10 p.m., I set the course S. W. 8. by the standard compass, which would be S. 33 deg. W. true. At about 11.15 p.m. Beef Point was abeam, either 2 or 3 miles off (I do not remember which), and as the ship-owing to a strong ebb tide-bad come down the coast at a much greater rate over the ground than
had estimated that she would travel, I then rang" half-speed" on the engine- room telegraph, and altered the course to S. by W. W. nothing S., which would be 8. 17 deg. W. true, and would be I expected a true course of S. 18 deg. W. The reason why I reduced speed to "half speed" when off Reef Point was because, having received notices from the Chin- ese Imperial Maritime Customs that floating mines had been seen on the open sea, and that some had been seen in the neighbourhood of Iron Island, I wanted to have good daylight when getting down to Iron Island so that I could see
That the Court, in pursuance of the powers' vested in it by section 483 of 57 and 58 Vict. chap. 60, orders that the sum of £8.10, being the costs of the proceedings before the said Court, be paid by Messrs. Jardiue, Matheson and Co., at whose request the Naval Court was summoned, and they are hereby ordered to pay the said amount accordingly.
me.
|
then
rope
board.
+
on
[September 5, 1904. the chart-room; collared hold of the dispatch box, to get it and myself back on board the torpedo-boat destroyer. The Russian captain orders in Russian, the gave some
cast Was
off, and the destroyer from backed away
the Hipsang, which Then was raising her bow out of water. the ipsung raised her bow right out of the water to near the No. 2 hold, and the funnel was engulfed; and she then slid down stern first and disappeared beneath the wat r, leaving some wreckage and the starboard life-boat I think floating bottom up about to above the spot where she had disappeared. As some of us on the destroyer then noticed a Chinaman on a piece of wreckage, and what looked like another one on another piece, I asked the captain of the destroyer to steam towards them. He did so, and on the way I saw one of the Hipsang's boats floating, full of Chinese Before we got to
came all the Chinese where the lipsang went down this boat came alongside and
Then the second officer and some of the Russians got into the boat and pulled to- wards the wreckage. They rescued two Chinese, one of whom was severely wounded in the legs. Then the ship's boat having been passed astern and the painter secured, the Russian torpedo- boat steamed towards the mainland towing the Hipsang's boat astern of her. We passed close along the north shore of Reef Island and then headed for Pigeon Bay. Whilst on the bridge of the torpedo-boat destroyer, I asked Russian captain what he meant by firing on a defenceless merchant ship flying the British flag. He answered words to this effect: "Why I told him I did stop you not stop? the engines as quick as I could get to the telegraph, and I then tried to explain to him that a single screw steamer going at full speed ahead could not be brought to a standstill in an instant of time by her engines; that I rang
• stop' on the engine room telegraph as quick as I could after he had fired the first time, and that I almost immediately after (as he fired again) sang "full speed astern," but that of course the propeller could not bring the ship to a standstill at once, as the ship was bound to carry good headway for a minute or two until the backing power really began to take effect, and that he should have made allowance for that sort of thing, and then found out who we were and where we were bound to.
forward life-boat, so that she could float off when the ship sunk. I then cut through three of the gripe lashings of the next boat aft, but could not cut through the fourth lashing because of a wire-seizing. Finding that I could not cut it through, I threw away the knife and jumped down on deck, and then noticing that the torpedo-boat destroyer had come along side the ship on the starboard side by the fore rigging, and that the people were getting over the rail and on board of her, I began hurrying the Chinese along the deck towards the fore part. Most of them being on board the des- troyer, the officers and engineers began calling out to me to come on board the destroyer; so having hoisted a young Chinese woman over the rail who had caused me some delay, and got her caught hold of by some of the people on the torpedo-boat destroyer, I got down a rope on to the bridge of the destroyer, where the captain was. The Russian captain then asked me if I had got the ship's papers. To which I answered words to this effect," By Jove! no; clean forgot all about them; but I'll jolly soon get them." And I started back to get them. officer wanted to go, saying "Captain, let me go"; but I would not let him; so getting up the side again, I ran along the main deck and across, and up on to the lower bridge and into
The chief
19
the
After a
good deal of talk on that subject, he then asked me why the ship's lights were not burning I told him that they were burning and burning brightly, and that the ship had particularly good lights. He also asked me why I had fired од his ship. I told him that I had not fired on his ship, and that it was ridiculous of him to imagine that anyone on board the Hipsang could have fired at his ship, his ship being a man-of- war, and that anyhow it was commonsense that merchant seamen caught on the hop as we were, wouldn't think of firing at anybody, but with the ship sinking under their feet would only We spoke a good think of saving their lives. deal together almost constantly on the way to Pigeon Bay, and he asked me if I would have some coffee and spirits, but I did not wish any. He was kindly and courteous in his manner, and struck me as being not only a brave man, but a He deplored war, as being a kind-hearted man. terrible thing. His officers also were very kind, supplying spirits to those that needed some, and clothing also, and having the wounded attended to and bandaged and given something to eat.
I think it must have been about from 6.15 to 6.30 a.m. when we landed in Pigeon Bay, and I think the following is a fairly correct list of the survivors, the wounded, and those that lost their lives: 7 Europeans unwounded; 69 Chinese unwounded; 9 Chinese wounded; 3 Chinese killed and since died on board; 1 Chinese missing (probably killed on board); 1 Chinese drowned by the capsizing of the small boat alongside the ship.-90 people in all.
•
I think it must have been about 9.30 a.m.
when we were all mustered together, Europeans and Chinese, and we then had to walk across country to Port Arthur, an escort of armed soldiers walking with us, some walking before, some along the sides of our column and some behind; a covered cart followed for any that could not walk the whole distance; and the wounded being carried in the rear It was a long, on ambulance stretchers.
we were not hot and dusty walk, but
•
•
1-
Page 10潺
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.