Arizona republican., 1908-05-07

where or the suggestion of an acci-
 dent The excursion fleet were kept
 trol of revenue cutters and all ferry
 service was suspended during the pa
 rade.
 Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, com
 mander-in- chief of the Atlantic fleet.
 just now in command of the assembled
 ships of both oceans. stood on the af-
 ter bridge of the Connecticut as the
 famous flagship led the way through
 the harbOr's gate until she came to
 anchor at the head of the battleship columns. His presence gave a fitting touch to the close O fthe first great stage of the cruise. His active naval
 career is to close on Sunday next when
 he will be relieved from command. Both because of his illness and the
 death, of his favorite grand child. Ad-
 miral Evans will be unable to partici- pate in any of the functions planned in honor of the officers. He will prob ably ride at the head of the great land display which is to be made tomorrow with more than 5000 blue jackets and
 marines in line
 Always a harbor of picturesque beauty San Francisco Bay wa stOday provided with a wonderful setting. the
 most resplendent of the many marine pictures the white fleet has ever paint ed. The ships lay at anchor all last night off the San Francisco lightship with the twinkling lights of Farallone | island plainly in view. A fog closed down during the night and was still lowering over the ships as they got
 under way at II o'clock this morning The cleft in the rocky coastal range
 marking the harbor entrance was not l visible to the fleet as the navigators laid their course toward the waiting city. The thinning clouds and growing strength of the climbing sun soon | wiped the mist away however, and when four miles away in the ocean the ships came into full view of the thou sands lining the shores to the north 7 gateway. Mount Tamalpais was ! that place of vantage to view the spec l tacle of the fleet in miniature
 Fort Baker, on the marine short, with its fifty ton guns mounted high
 CT than any weapons of similar weight in the world, was also thronged with sightseers. Near the entrance the sloping Marin shores all the way from 1 the heights down Line Point marking the north point of the inner gate, were | fairly covered with enthusiastic thou sands
 The cannon of the Pres;dio of Fort | Baker boOmed a national salute of i twenty-one guns as the Connecticut t,ag e.a1 vt-ff ,f,. ,l, gate. The compliment never paid be- | fore between two branches of the serv- | ice. was returned by the Connecticut amid a loud cheer from the people on | shore.
 As the ships passed the fort and ! Lime Points and entered the bay. the 2 rolling hills of the city lay to the right : On sll tas-e the people of the city and ! hundreds of thousands of visitors stood and stared They saw the splen- did craisers of the Pacific fleet iifr f their anchors from behind Angel island | and slip carefully into the line marked | out for the battleships Then as the i visitors from the east passed, the West | Virginia, the flagship of Rear Admiral ! Dayton, in command of the Pacific, turned skillfully into perfect alignment 1 just in the rear of the Wisconsin. the ! last of the eighteen battleships | stretching in a long line before the | city. The West Virginia was followed | by her seven sisters, by the Charles 1 ton and by the torpedo craft of the western station. They took places
 four hundred yards apart just as the battleships formed column. The i cruisers never appeared to better ad- | vantage than in contrast with the bat | tleships. The West Virginia lowered far above the Wisconsin. and her 5O2 feet of water line made the 369 foot battleship look almost like a pigmy The long cruisers with their sky reaching masts and four buff tunnels without doubt are the handsomest ships of the navy. Their lines are grace itself, but their eight and ten
 inch guns would be of little use against even a ship as old as the Wis
 consin which with four thirteennch
 turret weapons and sixteen inches of
 armor could lie well without the cru
 sers' range and pour destroying shot
 into It's vitals
 The ships as they sailed into the
 bay were dressed only at the mast
 heads. big American flags flying from
 the fore and alt trucks. The blue flag
 of Admiral Evans on the Connecticut
 was followed by red flags of the six
 subordinate rear admirals even Ad- miral Dayton himself pulling down his blue flag as commander-in-c chief of the
 Pacific fleet and substituting an en-
 (COntlnueQ on Dage 5)