nd the locality was full of mines. It was a
moment of terrible suspense. Then came another explosion, greater than
the first, which ripped large holes through her heavy plates. At once
the battleship began to fill, and presently she sank like a stone to the
bottom of the sea. The other warships put out their small boats with all
speed, and succeeded in rescuing about three hundred officers and men
out of a total of nearly eight hundred. Among those lost were
Rear-Admiral Nashiba and Captain Nakao, the commander of the warship.

The _Yoshino_ was lost while steaming slowly southward, after a night's
vigil near the entrance to Port Arthur harbor. Other vessels of the
blockading fleet were close by, so each ship had to advance with extreme
caution. But the fog, instead of lifting, became thicker, and at a
little before two o'clock in the afternoon the cruiser was rammed by the
_Kasuga_, another vessel of the fleet. A large hole was torn in the hull
of the _Yoshino_.

"Out with the collision mats!" cried the commander of the cruiser, and
the mats were brought out without delay and placed over the side. But
the hole was too great to be stopped in that manner. Then the captain
called the entire crew on deck, and ordered the small boats to be
lowered, five on the starboard side and one on the port. Before the
boats could be gotten away, the _Yoshino_ listed heavily to starboard
and went down, smashing the five small boats under her. The other boat
managed to get away, with only a handful of jackies and a couple of
officers. The captain remained on the bridge and went down with his
ship. As soon as possible the _Kasuga_ put out her boats and succeeded
in rescuing about ninety men, out of a total of over two hundred and
fifty.

It was a great blow to Japan and the Russians were correspondingly
elated. Feeling that Admiral Togo's grip on the sea was now weakened,
the Russian squadron at Vladivostok sailed forth and did much damage to
the shipping on the northern coast of Japan, sinking several merchantmen
and taking a number of others as prizes. The Russian squadron also met
the Japanese transport _Kinshiu Maru_, having on board the 37th regiment
of Japanese infantry.

"Surrender, or we will sink you!" signaled the Russian commander. The
Japanese refused, and were given exactly an hour in which to think it
over. As they still refused, a torpedo was discharged against the doomed
ship. As she began to sink the Japanese soldiers