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The din was terrific, for every battery that could bring a gun to bear was blazing away at her, while troops made their appearance on the cliffs above and rained bullets upon her deck; indeed a sort of panic seemed to have seized the Russians, for not only were they hurling hundreds of shells at the devoted Otaru, but were exploding observation mines everywhere, in the most reckless manner.
"The next steamer to come was the Otaru Maru. I think the fire directed upon her was even hotter than that which greeted the Edo. Shells fell all round her, but none of them seemed to hit her; and meanwhile she was replying briskly with her Hotchkisses.
But their most deadly weapon of all was their searchlight beam, which they directed right into the eyes of the helmsman and the officers on the bridge. Dazzled by its blinding brilliance, our people could not see where they were going; and instead of reaching her appointed station in the harbour, the Otaru dashed at full speed upon the rocks.
"I was too busily engaged in helping to save Number 65 to see much of what further happened in connection with the attempt to `bottle up' the Russian fleet; but I have since learned that the Sagami Maru, which followed the Otaru Maru, was peculiarly unfortunate, in that she struck a mechanical mine, just outside the harbour, and went down with all hands.
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