Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/96

Rh had a challenge standing in England to fight any man in the world with his hands.

What was the lesson taught by that heroic Russian sailor, who, commanding only a poor little merchant steamer, captured a colossal Turkish iron-clad after a desperate fight on the Black Sea, in 1877?

This was one of the most glorious feats of war ever recorded; and it illustrated the same unconquerable and hopeful spirit that is often seen even in prize-fights. The story, in this relation, is worth telling. The Turkish iron-clad was of enormous power in guns, armor, and engines; she moved through the sea at the terrible speed of thirty miles an hour. The Russian merchantman, the Vesta, was a light iron steamer, carrying three six-inch mortars and one nine-round rifle cannon, Her utmost speed was about twelve miles an hour. Yet these two ships, so unequal in everything else, were not only equalized, but the weak became the strong when the hearts of the crew were brought to the test of fire. Never was there a nobler showing of what fearful odds courageous men can face and overcome.

At eight o'clock in the morning of a beautiful day in June, the Russian captain saw the immense ram sweeping down on him. He put his little steamer to her full speed; but the ram closed on