about eleven o'clock
`` 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 . As the message was decoded and the news spread throughout the Japanese fleet , an almost audible sigh of relief escaped the breasts of officers and men ; the Russians were not only coming out , but actually meant to fight ; and the fateful hour which had been so long and so eagerly awaited was now at last at hand . A great cheer arose , passing along the line from ship to ship , and officers who had already assured themselves that all preparations for meeting the enemy were complete once more went the rounds , to make assurance doubly sure . The Japanese blockading fleet gradually closed in behind the Russian ships , compelling Vitgeft to send back his gunboats , mining craft , and reserve destroyers , as our boats were threatening to cut them off ; and about eleven o'clock we got a message informing us that the fleet which we should have to meet consisted of six battleships , four cruisers , and seven destroyers , an eighth destroyer , believed to be the _ Reshitelny _ , having contrived , by her superior speed , to give our boats the slip , and steam away in the direction of Chifu . Meanwhile , the glass was falling , great masses of cloud came driving up from the eastward , and a little breeze from the same quarter sprang up , rapidly freshening and knocking up a sea which soon set even our battleships rolling and pitching ponderously . `` Well , so much the better for us , '' we told each other . Our gunners were by this time quite accustomed to shoot from a rolling and pitching platform , while the Russians had had no such profitable experience ; and the heavier the sea , the greater would probably be the superiority of our shooting .