The process of Miyako Bay naval battle

At dawn on May 2 (Gregorian calendar: March 2 1), three warships took cables and sailed out of the port in the order of Huitian Maru, Panlong Maru and Kaohsiung Maru. The next day, three warships temporarily docked at Sakura Port (Hachiki City, Aomori Prefecture) to observe the situation in Miyako Bay. That night, the fleet that continued to sail was hit by a storm, and three warships lost contact because their cables were scraped off. On May 5th (March 24th), the weather gradually improved. Huitianmaru and Kaohsiung Maru sailed into Yamada Bay (Yamada-CHO, Iwate Prefecture) with foreign flags, while Panlong Maru suspended the shark port for standby when it lost contact with the main ship. On the same day, two warships moored in Yamada Bay got the exact news that the new government fleet docked in Miyako Bay. In order to prevent the immediate enemy from escaping, the old shogunate army made a new battle plan before meeting Panlong Maru: Huitian Maru was responsible for containing the enemy's firepower, and Kaohsiung Maru was responsible for docking with the armored ship. The battle was decided to start at 4 am on May 6 (old calendar: March 25).

At the same time, although the new government forces received the news that unknown warships were approaching Miyako Bay, they did not pay attention to it because the new government forces centered on Zuo Hefan were too underestimating their enemies. On the contrary, the army staff from Satsuma paid special attention to this. He urged the navy to confirm the unknown ship, but the deputy chief of staff of the navy, Tomsuke Ishii, disagreed.

Late at night on May 5th (March 24th), Tian Hui Maru and Kaohsiung Maru set out for Miyako Bay. However, on the way, Kaohsiung Maru broke down because of the storm a few days ago, so the old shogunate army changed its battle plan again: Tian Hui Maru was responsible for receiving the ship, Kaohsiung Maru was temporarily repaired, and tentatively entered the war halfway. In the early morning of May 6 (Gregorian calendar: March 25), Huitian Bay, which is relatively fast, accelerated its progress in order to integrate into Miyako Bay before dawn. One of the characteristics of Huitian Bay is that it has three masts, one of which was broken in the storm and hung with the American flag, so its approach did not attract the attention of the new government forces. As soon as Huitianwan approached the armored ship, he immediately changed into the Japanese flag. After discovering the enemy's situation, the only Samoan warship on alert near the armored ship, Chunri Maru, immediately fired a gun and called the police.

Although the raid was successful, Huitianmaru was an Amin ship (a steam ship with bright wheels on both sides), so it could not dock in parallel with the armored ship. The captain tried his best to lean the bow of Huitianwan to the starboard side of the armored ship, but such docking caused a gap of 3 meters between decks. Subsequently, although the commandos struggled to pounce on the armored ship, due to the small bow area, a large number of players were not allowed to climb, and the starboard firepower of the armored ship was strong, all the commandos were shot and injured. After the warning signal was sent out by Haruharu, all the warships of the new government forces entered a state of combat, and they joined forces to besiege Tian Hui Maru who sneaked in alone. Jia Heyuan was injured in the wrist and chest, then shot in the head and died on the spot. Fierce fighting lasted for about 30 minutes, and Ikunosuke, a new well, saw that the defeat had been decided and personally took the helm to evacuate. In the battle, in addition to the captain Ichihara, Nomura Lissaburo and other people were killed, and the mastermind of Xiangma and the French strategist were injured.