United States or Botswana ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
We saw the Fukui's boat lowered, and the crew get into her; but she remained alongside so long that she only got away barely in time to avoid being dragged down with the ship. Meanwhile, shells were falling not only all round but also aboard the Fukui, and we presently saw that she was on fire, as well as sinking.
There seemed to me to be but one way to do it, and that was by taking the length of our boat herself as a unit of measurement; not a very satisfactory method, I admitted, yet better than nothing. So thereupon we set to work. Starting at the Fukui's mainmast, we dropped the sinker of the fishing-line over the stern and paid out until it reached her deck.
Nearly or quite a dozen shells must have struck her before she finally foundered; but it was not until the next day that we learned the full extent of the tragedy. It then appeared that the explosion of the torpedo had either disconnected or shattered the wires connected with the explosives in the Fukui's bottom, and a petty officer named Sugino had gone below to explode the charges.
Word Of The Day