All was complete on the second day after our arrival, and shortly
before noon the flagship signalled us to weigh anchor. I may remark
that the Chinese Navy is English trained, and the duty is carried on
in English, owing to the intractable character of the Chinese
language, the fact that officers and men have thus practically to
learn a foreign tongue in order to work their ships being an obvious
disadvantage. The transports were grouped together and the warships
disposed in sections abreast and ahead, with the active torpedo-boats
in the rear. Our destination was the estuary of the Yalu, the large
river which divides China from the Corea. We left Talienwan on
September 14, and reached the river on the afternoon of the 16th. The
work of disembarkation commenced immediately, although rumours reached
us from Wi-ju of the disastrous defeat of the first Chinese army at
Ping-Yang in the Corea the day before. It illustrates the ridiculous
inefficiency of the Chinese measures from first to last, that troops
should thus have been landed at hap-hazard far from any point of
communication with the interior of the Peninsula, the very day after
an action which extinguished their prospect of maintaining their
ground in the Corea.

The warships anchored across the mouth of the river, whilst the
transports proceeded some distance up the stream. Wi-ju is the only
settlement of any size in this little-known region, though there are
numerous fishing-hamlets scattered about. The soldiers improvised
their camps along the bank. A wild scene was presented when night fell
on the 16th--the glare of the bivouac, extending far along the
desolate water-side; the concourse of savage figures in the lurid
gloom, with here and there in the distance the gigantic shape of an
illuminated warship. We worked well into the night, and were at it
again when the sun rose--a glorious sunrise, pouring over everything