The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-25
PILLSBURY'S FLEET CAPTURED
 SOUTH OF TEACHERS ISLAND
(contlnued from First Pasel


 (contlnued from First Pase1
 steered southerly After Higginson's ships had cruised up and down the coast. they went to their anchor of Thatchers Island. At this time the officer on the deck of the Kearsarge was Lieutenant Keystone with Midshipman William D' puleston as the junior officer in com- mand. In contrast to others, the morning was clear and starbright. On the bridge dozen tackles stood on the lookout. One of these was Daniel Staehle, an ap- prentice of the first class. He stood well forward, peering on the ice side. The flagship was just falling uown into a trough when he notified the ensign at his side that he could see the enemy. The officer of the deck called Flag Lieutenant Evans and Flag Secretary Bristol and 1t was about the work of moment to inform Admiral Higginson or the probability that the time for decisive action was at hand.
 1t Was Real War.
 It was real war then. General quar- ters were sounded. There was quick rush of many feet, the manning of hun dred posts, the clank of the anchor chain, the ringing of bells the giving of orders and a general clearing for action. Not many moments passed before the flagship was underway, steaming at 14 knots with the Alabama and Massa- ehusetts many lengths in the rear. Somc distant back was the Barney rapidly overhaning the ships ahead. At 539 o'clock the three battleships aided by the converted yacht Scorpion which had chased in from the south in time to be in at the finish, and the Barney which had overtaken the fleet, formed horse shoe about the white squadron. The elation among the men on board the blue squadron ran high. There was some thing pathetic in the picture when Com mander Pillsbury, after he had signalled his surrender, passed in his barge from the Prairie walked up the starboard gangway of the Kearsage and offered his sword to Admiral Higginson.
 Keep your sword, sir" said the senior officer, lis voice quay ering a bit in spite of himself. T would not accept the sword from so gallant a foe7
 And l, sir" responded Pillsbury, with dignity, could not surrender to a nobier or better officer sir"
 This exchange of words ended the ac- tual SUIT ender and at the invitation of Admiral Higginson, Commander Pills bury stepped down to the cabin of the Kearsarge and here the two officers dis cussed in privacy the incidents of the days since the declaration or hostili- ties" on Wednesday.
 Pillsbury Returned to His Ship.
 At the conclusion of the conference Commander P,llshury returned to his fia gship end 1t was not long after that the Prairie headed down coast. A little later slgrals were given for the blue squadron to return to RocKport. Later by the same system of communication, established and maintained so successful ly since Wednt sday, messages were dls- patched to all points from Portland to Provincetown, ordering all the warships of the defending squadron to return to Rockport for further instructions and at the same time to collect on the way to this harbor all signal men who had been detailed at both island and mainland sta tons along the coast
 In an interview on board his hagship Admiral Higginson expressed his pleas ure at the real work which had been done during the week. He commended Staehl the apprentice boy, who was the first to report the presence of Commander Pissbury's squadron. He said he believed that to some extent the rnaneuvers had taught the navy its points of weakness and strength during time of real action, and he believed much good would come from the war game"
 The naval experts are discussing the reason euver in steaming finally to the north ward and coming to anchor as he did at a point off Magnolia and near to Gloucester harbor, especially in the light of the announcement that he had determined to anchor in Salem harbor; and the theory was advanced that the acting admiral of the squadron either had observed that he had been sighted and decided to sur render hopelessly, or try at the last mo- ment to run unseen by Admiral Higgin- son into Gloucester harbor
 The main theme of discussion in Rock port tonight among the seafaring people who know the Massachusetts coast as well as they know their own houses, was the apparent rejection of all strategic movements by Commander Pillsbury, He had not tried to land officers or marines ashore to learn of the enemy's move ments, and he had sailed almost to the base of the defense just before daylight when capture seemed inevitable.