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True, the defeat, like that of the Port Arthur fleet, was not as decisive as could have been wished; for of the three cruisers the Gromovoi, Rossia, and Runk which sallied forth from Vladivostock, under the command of Admiral Jessen, in response to Admiral Vitgeft's call for support in his last desperate sortie from Port Arthur, two of them, the Gromovoi and the Rossia, succeeded in regaining the shelter of Vladivostock harbour, while only the Rurik, the least formidable of the trio, was sunk.
"Four bells" had just gone tinkling along the line of the Japanese ships, informing those whom it might concern that the hour was ten o'clock in the morning, when a fresh wireless message came from our blockading squadron, informing us that at last the Russian fleet was actually steaming out of Port Arthur harbour, with battle-flags flying, bands playing, and the ship's companies singing the Russian National Anthem, with the battleship Tsarevich, Vitgeft's flagship, leading.
Especially was this the case with Vitgeft's flagship, the Tsarevich, upon which much of the fire of our own battleships had been concentrated. She had a great hole in her bows, about ten feet in diameter; her anchors were shot away; and her hawse-pipes had vanished to enumerate only her more apparent injuries.
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