FROM LIBAU TO TSUSHIMA
| First Edition | August, 1906 |
| Reprinted | January, 1907 |
FROM LIBAU TO
TSUSHIMA
A NARRATIVE OF THE VOYAGE OF ADMIRAL
ROJDESTVENSKY'S FLEET TO EASTERN SEAS,
INCLUDING A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE
DOGGER BANK INCIDENT
BY THE LATE
EUGÈNE S. POLITOVSKY
Engineer-in-Chief to the Squadron, who was killed at the
Battle of Tsushima
TRANSLATED BY
MAJOR F. R. GODFREY, R.M.L.I.
NEW EDITION
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
1908
PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY,
ENGLAND.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
No detailed account of the voyage of the Russianfleet to the Far East has to my knowledge beenpublished. The newspapers occasionally mentionedit as being here or there, and of course its doingsin the North Sea are a matter of history; but fromthe time it left Tangier until it met its doom atTsushima it was practically in oblivion. By chancethis book came into my hands, and I thought itwould interest British readers.
Much has been said in derision of Admiral Rojdestvensky'sfleet, but every one must agree that it wasno mean undertaking to have brought this largefleet out to the Far East from Russia and laid italongside the enemy. This was done, in spite of thedifficulties of coaling without bases and of havingto repair damages in the open sea. The fleet hadto pass countries that were bound by the laws ofneutrality, and some that were actually hostile to[vi]it. It was driven out of many ports by the shipsof its allies. In spite of all these drawbacks, itaccomplished a tremendous voyage with all "itsunits" intact.
That it failed to win the battle is in no waysurprising. A great number of the ships were uselessand obsolete. The crews were disheartened by thefailures of their comrades at Port Arthur. Thebeginning of the movements which resulted in theopen mutiny in the Black Sea and in the recentmutiny at Cronstadt were developing.
Finally, the spirit of the officers was not of theNelsonian standard. We find the captain of thecruiser Ural flaunting his desire to surrender withoutstriking a blow for his country.
It must be remembered that the dates are thoseof the Old Style, thirteen days behind those of theNew Style, which has not been adopted by Russia.
PREFACE
Eugène Sigismondovitch Politovsky, engineer-constructorof the second deep sea fleet flagship,was born at Tashkend on November 12th, 1874. Hereceived his education at the Emperor Nicholas I.Naval Engineering School, and left it in 1897.Up to the departure of the fleet for the East heserved at the Admiralty at St. Petersburg. Hewent down in his ship, the battleship Kniaz (Prince)Suvaroff, in the fight of May 14th, 1905. This diaryconsists of extracts from his letters t