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| The naval battle of Jemulpo, February 9, 1904. |
By Robert Neff
On the cold, clear morning of February 9, 1904, war began in Korea. Just before noon, two Russian warships, the American-built cruiser Varyag and the obsolete gunboat Korietz, made their way past the chunks of floating ice in the Jemulpo harbor.
Their crews frantically threw overboard tables, chairs and other items that were deemed unnecessary and possible fire hazards.
Gone were the crews' laundry that had just hours earlier hung from lines running from the masts, and instead the Russian battle flags rippled smartly in the wind. Gone was the illusion of peace.
In an almost suicidal attempt, the Russians were going to engage the much larger and superior Japanese fleet, which awaited them just outside the harbor. The Russian sailors knew that they could not win, but they also knew that they could not surrender and allow their ships to be captured by the Japanese, nor could they allow the Russian honor to be tarnished.
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| The Russian gunboat Korietz, circa early 1900s. |
In fact, none of them expected to live and had fatalistically wrote farewell letters to their wives and families in Russia, believing that they would never see them again. They entrusted their letters with the commander of the British warship Talbot.
As the Russian ships steamed past the anchored Western ships in the harbor, the Russian band bravely began to play and the sailors sang as loudly as they could the Russian national anthem in perfect harmony.
This drew the attention and praise from the other Western powers' sailors. The French, Italian and British sailors all cheered them, but pitied them, and at the same time admired their bravery and determination to face such a superior force that would surely result in their deaths.
The Russian sailors, in turn, showed their appreciation for their peers by playing each of the other nations' anthems and returned their cheers.
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| The Korietz after the battle, February 9, 1904. |
The battle ― if it could be called that ― lasted just over an hour. Crowds of people lined the streets along the waterfront and braved the cold to witness the beginning of the long-anticipated war.
The great naval guns boomed with their assault and their might echoed across the bay and shook the buildings in Jemulpo.
Soon, the Russian ships reappeared in the harbor. The Varyag was badly damaged and on fire. Her mast had fallen and two of her four funnels had collapsed. She limped into the port ― an example of Russian determination.
The Korietz, also on fire, had only sustained minimum damage, but it too would not survive the night.
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| The wreckage of the Korietz, February 1904. |
The American Minister to Korea, Horace N. Allen, and a missionary, David Moore, sailed out in a sampan to see the Russian ships for themselves and what damage they had suffered.
Even while the Korietz crew was hastily covering up the damage with fresh paint, the captain told Allen that it was hopeless and that at four they were going to scuttle the ship.
The wounded were quickly transferred to the British and French ships, but the American ships, Vicksburg and Zaphrino, were not allowed to take on the survivors due to overcrowding and legal concerns.
This later caused some hard feelings between the two countries and caused many of the Americans living in Korea to feel some guilt.
The Korietz was scuttled first around 3:30. The explosion rocked Jemulpo and sent up a huge cloud of smoke that darkened the sky and debris rained down onto the roofs and yards of the city.
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| The steamer Sungari, February 9, 1904. |
The Varyag sank quietly and gracefully just after sunset to the sound of the Russian bands playing from the sanctuary of the French and English warships, and the crowds watching from the shore and boats applauded in appreciation for her bravery.
Accompanying her to her watery death were 41 Russian sailors killed in battle who had been laid to rest in one of her large cabins.
The Russian steamship Sungari was set on fire and burned throughout the night, finally sinking in the early morning.
Despite an attempt at maintaining neutrality, Korea once again found itself at the center of a war between superpowers.
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| Russian wounded taken through the streets of Jemulpo, February 9, 1904. |
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