Page:Semenoff V. The battle of Tsu-Shima.pdf/75

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
38
THE BATTLE OF TSU-SHIMA

ing in mind the Japanese custom of concentrating their fire on the flag-ship, he believed that both he and his ship were doomed to destruction in the first decisive engagement. But, in spite of this, he never for a moment lost his invariably buoyant and cheery manner. He joked, chaffed, and eagerly threw himself into all the little details of daily life on board, while now (I really believe) he was, inwardly, much amused, picturing to himself the anger and disappointment of the Japanese in the event of our actually slipping past them.

But the Japanese “got the 200,000th chance,” and more.

At dawn on 27th May, about 5 a.m., the auxiliary cruiser Sinano Maru almost ran into our hospital ships, and it was due to this that the whole fleet

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.