SS Haimun

{{Infobox ship begin |infobox caption=yes}} {{Infobox ship image |Ship image=1905 SS Haimun.JPG |Ship caption=SS Haimun at Anchor off Chinampo }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type=Steamboat |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement= |Ship length= |Ship beam= |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship notes= }}

SS Haimun was a Chinese steamer ship commanded by war correspondent Lionel James in 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War for The Times of London. It is the first-known instance of a "press boat" dedicated to war correspondence during naval battles.{{cite book |authorlink=Peter Slattery |last=Slattery |first=Peter |title=Reporting the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5: Lionel James's first wireless transmissions to the times |date=2004 |isbn=1-901903-57-5}}

The recent advent of wireless telegraphy meant that reporters were no longer limited to submitting their stories from land-based offices, and The Times spent 74 days outfitting and equipping the ship,{{cite news| work=The Times |title=First messages from the Yellow Sea |date=11 March 2004 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/the_hitch/article1042746.ece |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202235256/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/the_hitch/article1042746.ece |archivedate=2008-12-02}} installing a De Forest transmitter aboard the ship.

The ship sent its first news story on 15 March 1904.

While they covered naval manoeuvres in Port Arthur and the Gulf of Pechili, De Forest employee H. J. Brown was careful to only transmit their stories to the British-ruled Weihaiwei receiving office from the waters belonging to neutral countries, or within international waters. The receiving tower was manned by 21-year-old De Forest employee H. E. Ahearn.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Wireless Workers Back from the Scene of War |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/08/21/120287843.pdf |date=21 August 1904}}

Nevertheless, the ship's presence during wartime meant that it quickly aroused suspicion, and it was boarded and searched several times by Japanese ships, as well as being shot across the bow{{cite book |last=Maver |first=William |title=The American Monthly Review of Reviews |chapter=Wireless Telegraphy Today |date=August 1904 |pages=191–197 |url=http://www.radiorepairguy.com/web/1904mav.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928205017/http://www.radiorepairguy.com/web/1904mav.htm |archivedate=2007-09-28 }} by the Russian warship Bayan.

On 15 April 1904, the Russian government announced its intentions to seize any ships owned by neutral countries that had the radio equipment that could potentially give away their military positions to enemies, a thinly veiled threat against Haimun. Lord Lansdowne quickly dismissed the Russian announcement as "unjustifiable and altogether absurd".{{cite book |last=Higgins |first=A. Pearce |title=War and the Private Citizen |date=1912 |url=https://archive.org/stream/warprivatecitize00higg#page/90/mode/2up |pages=91–93}}

In the end, faced with the prospect of Russian charges of espionage as well as Japanese indignation at not having been foretold about the receiving station constructed without their permission,{{cite web |url=http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews/review060101.pdf |title=Japan Book Review |website=Japan Society of the UK |date=January 2006 |editor-first=Sean |editor-last=Curtin |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=7 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320100836/http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews/review060101.pdf#page=6 |archivedate=2009-03-20}} James dismantled and abandoned the boat, from which he had sent 10,000 words of copy,{{cite journal |title=The De Forest Wireless Telegraphy Tower: Bulletin No. 1 |date=Summer 1904 |url=https://earlyradiohistory.us/1904df.htm |website=Early Radio History}} and continued his war correspondence the traditional way through Weihaiwei.Robertson, Patrick. Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time. Bloomsbury Publishing (2011). p.891