We present to the reader the memoirs of V.N. Cherkasov about the defense of Port Arthur are of particular interest, because they, like the memories of naval officers S.I. Lutonin and P.A. Vyrubov, already published by us, were written by a direct witness to those events, who went through the entire siege of Port Arthur and participated in naval battles. The main place in his memoirs was occupied by his letters to his wife Olga Alexandrovna, who was in Port Arthur during the war. These letters are fragmentary, but nevertheless they clearly illuminate all the events that took place both in the fortress and on the squadron. His memories were then used by the Commission to compile a description of the actions of the fleet in the war of 1904-1905, references to them are available in the “List of military operations of the fleet at Port Arthur in 1904”. These memories once again show the hopelessness and tragedy in which the abandoned Russian people are at the mercy of fate. With such a panicky mood that struck the top already in the first days of the war, with their cowardice, meanness and betrayal, all the defenders of Port Arthur were doomed from the very beginning. Their mass heroism could only delay the tragic outcome and once again you realize that all the sacrifices made by the Russian people in that distant war were in vain.