Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1904 — CZAR’S GREAT LOSS. [ARTICLE]

CZAR’S GREAT LOSS.

Disaster at Fort Arthur a Stunning Blow to Russia. Both in tlie actual losses inflicted and in its moral effect tlie catastrophe which resulted in the death of Vice-Admiral Makaroff and almost his entire crew and the destruction of the battleship Petropavlovsk is the severest blow Russia has sustained since the opening of the war. Tlie Port Arthur squadron lias been weakened by the loss of one of its strongest battleships: The lives of about 800 officers and seamen have been wiped out. To heighten the disheartening effect of these calamities Russia has lost the commander who had shown higher capacity and had done more to strengthen and revive Russian hopes than any other man. Apparently the Japanese have performed a historic feat of war. Recent dispatches have indicated that Vice-Ad-miral Togo's fleet, greatly augmented in preparation for a supreme effort to block the harbor mouth at Tort Arthur, was already on its way thither. Either Admiral Makaroff had deliberately gone outside the inner harbor to meet it or else lie was decoyed out by the sight of an inferior force of Japanese ships pursuing Russian scouting vessels, Such scouring trips to the southward ns far as the Minotao islands have been frequent. One -may suppose that the daring Russian commander hoped to destroy some of the Japanese warships by coining upon them unawares or that he was oil the -lookout for a Japanese army on transports bound for the Liaotung gulf. Official dispatches received at St. Petersburg in cipher and given out Thursday tell of a far greater disaster to the Russian navy at Port Arthur than was known Wednesday. First came news ol the sinking of tlie battleship Petropavlovsk and the drowning of Vice-Admiral Makaroff and 791 men and officers. Next came news that tlie battleship Pobieda had been disabled, probably permanently, by running upon a mine. Tin; torpedo boat destroyer Vestrachni was surrounded by the enemy and sunk. Frince Ouktomsky, Rear Admiral, who took command of the fieet after the death of Vice-Admiral Makaroff, reported that the torpedo boat destroyer Vestrachni was sunk during a fight with Japanese torpedo boats, and that the first-class battleship Pobieda ■ struck n mine, which caused a tremendous explosion, tearing a great hole in her side. The Russians are appalled, though a little consolation is gotten from the report, which adds that the Pobieda was able to reach the harbor without loss of life among her crew. The Pobieda is a first-class battleship, built in 1900 and commanded by Captain Zatsarerinl. It had a displacement of 12,070 tons, being larger than the Petropavlovsk. The Czar telegraphed to Viceroy Alexieff ordering him to go to Port Arthur immediately and assume command of the squadron pending the appointment of Mnkaroff's successor. Rear Admiral Uriu sent to Tokio a brief report of the fight off Port Arthur, saying that the Japanese fleet under Admiral Togo sunk the Russian first-class battleship Petropavlovsk aud the Russian torpedo boat destroyer Vestrachni. Admiral Uriu reports that there were no losses among the Japanese. There was great rejoicing in Tokio.