Dogger Bank incident

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Location of the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.
Location of the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.
This article is about a 1904 attack on British fishermen. For the naval battles see Battle of Dogger Bank.

The Dogger Bank incident (also known as Incident of Hull or The Russian Outrage)[1] occurred when the Russian Baltic Fleet mistook some British trawlers at Dogger Bank for a Japanese Imperial Navy force. The Russians attacked on the night of October 21, 1904. Three British sailors died and a number were wounded. A priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire was also killed. The incident almost led to war between Britain and Russia, until it was diplomatically defused.

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[edit] The incident

The Russian warships involved in the incident were on their way to the Far East, to partake in the Russo-Japanese War. Because of wrong reports about the presence of Japanese torpedo boats and general nervousness of the Russian sailors, approximately 30 harmless fishing trawlers were attacked by the Russians, thousands of miles away from the enemy waters.

Accidents and rumors had already dogged the journey of the fleet, and there was general fear of attack amongst the sailors, which their command tried to quell by calling for increased vigilance and issuing an order that "no vessel of any sort must be allowed to get in amongst the fleet". This soon led to a first incident unrelated to the Dogger Bank disaster, when fishermen bearing consular dispatches for the fleet were fired on (but escaped unharmed).[2]

The disaster of October 21 began in the evening, when the drunken captain of the supply ship Kamtchatka (Камчатка), which was last in the Russian line, took a passing Swedish ship for a Japanese torpedo boat and radioed that he was being attacked. Later in the night the officers on duty sighted the British ships, interpreted their signals incorrectly and classified them as Japanese torpedo boats, and consequently opened fire on the British fishermen. The British trawler Crane was sunk and two British fishermen lost their lives. On the other boats there were six fishermen wounded, one of whom died a few months later. In the general chaos, Russian ships shot at each other: when the protected cruiser Aurora (Aврора), which had yet to be involved, approached, she was taken for a Japanese warship, bombarded and slightly damaged. At least one Russian sailor was killed, another badly wounded. A priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire was also killed. More serious losses on both sides were only avoided by the extremely low quality of Russian naval artillery fire, with one battleship reported to have fired more than 500 shots without hitting anything.[2]

[edit] The aftermath

The Aurora, a Russian cruiser attacked by other Russian ships during the incident.
The Aurora, a Russian cruiser attacked by other Russian ships during the incident.

The incident led to a serious diplomatic conflict between Russia and Great Britain, which was particularly dangerous due to the alliance that existed between Britain and Japan. In the aftermath some British newspapers called the Russian fleet 'pirates' and the Russian admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski was heavily criticised for not leaving the British sailors lifeboats. Royal Navy battleships of the Home Fleet were prepared for war action whilst British cruiser squadrons shadowed the Russian fleet as it made its way through the Bay of Biscay. Under diplomatic pressure, the Russian government agreed to investigate the incident, and Rozhestvensky was ordered to dock in Vigo, Spain, where he left behind those officers considered responsible (as well as at least one officer who had been critical of him).[2]

The fishermen eventually received £66,000 from Russia as compensation.[3] In 1906 the Fisherman's Memorial was unveiled in Hull in honour of the death of the three British sailors. The approx. 5.4 m high statue shows the killed fisherman George Henry Smith and carries the following inscription:

Erected by public subscription to the memory of George Henry Smith (skipper) and William Richard Legget (third hand), of the steam-trawler CRANE, who lost their lives through the action of the Russian Baltic Fleet in the North Sea, October 22, 1904, and Walter Whelpton, skipper of the trawler MINO, who died through shock, May 1905.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Russian Outrage (Chapter XXII) - Wood Walter, North Sea Fishers And Fighters, K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co, London, 1911
  2. ^ a b c Dogger Bank - Voyage of the Damned ('Hullwebs - History of Hull' website. Retrieved 2007-09-08.)
  3. ^ International Dispute Settlement - Merills, J. G., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge University, 1999

[edit] Further reading

  • Westwood, John N., Russia against Japan 1904-05. A new look at the Russo-Japanese war, Houndmills 1986.

[edit] External links

  • Hull In Print (article on an exhibition for the centenary of the incident)