事迹与文献:甲午黄海海战北洋水师中的洋员

Foreigners Employed by the North Fleet in the 1895 Sino-Japanese Navy Battle in the Yellow Sea

参加甲午黄海海战的北洋水师8名洋员,在作战中或受伤或阵亡,他们分别是德员汉纳根、哈富门、哈卜们、阿璧成,英员戴乐尔、尼格路士、余锡尔和美员马吉芬。他们的事迹和相关文献,在成为研究甲午战争重要史料的同时,也存有一些争议。虽然他们不是在为本国而战,也不一定是英雄或勇士,但他们的职业精神是值得赞佩的。对于"洋员群体",过于拔高或过于贬低的做法都不符合历史事实。他们实质上是一群谋职者,重要的不在于他们是否热爱中国,而在于是否忠于了职守、信守了合同。

In the 1894-5 Sino-Japanese Navy Battle in the Yellow Sea,eight foreign employees who fought for the North Fleet died or got wounded. Among them were Von Hanneken and Gustaff H Hoffman,William F Tyler and Alexander Purvis from Britain and Philo Norton Mc Giffin from the United States. Their deeds and documents concerning them have become important historical records in the research of that war,but they have also incurred different views.Although they were not fighting for their own countries,nor were they heroes or warriors,their professionalism deserves admiration. For this foreigner group,any intentional overpraise or belittlement will not be in conformity with history. They were in fact a group of employees,so what is important is not whether they liked China,but whether they were devoted to their duty and honored their contracts.