five
o'clock a.m.
Therefore , since the hour had now arrived when , according to arrangements , our torpedo flotillas were to take up the game , Kamimura signalled us to reduce speed to ten knots and to shape a course for our appointed rendezvous near Matsushima Island . The night which followed was an anxious one for all hands , for we were steaming through a dark and foggy night , with all lights out . Nothing untoward happened , however , and with the appearance of dawn on the following morning a little air of wind sprang up and swept the fog away . It was shortly before three bells in the morning watch -LRB- half-past five o'clock a.m. -RRB- of 28th May , and the six ships of the Japanese armoured cruiser division were steaming northward in line abreast , when the _ Tokiwa _ , which was the easternmost ship , reported smoke low down on the eastern horizon . At once the course was altered eight points to the eastward , and the ships proceeded in line ahead , closing in upon the _ Tokiwa _ -- the leading ship -- as they did so , while Kamimura reported the circumstance by wireless to Togo , who , with his battle squadron , was some sixty miles away to the northward of us . Some twenty minutes later , after a lively bout of signalling by the wireless operators aboard the Japanese ships , it became certain that the smoke seen must proceed from enemy ships , and all our dispositions were made for dealing with them , the instructions of the armoured division being to close slowly in upon the enemy from the westward , while the battleships rushed down at full speed from the north , and the protected cruisers did the same from the south . The result was that , a few hours later , four Russian battleships , namely , the _ Orel , Apraxin , Nicolai First _ , and _ Seniavin _ found themselves completely hemmed in by our ships , while the light cruiser _ Izumrud _ , availing herself of her superior speed , just managed to escape by the skin of her teeth .