Fifty miles from San Premise() a division of destroyers met
the mail steamer. When Admiral Bayly was informed by the captain of the steamer early one morning that the destroyers were surrounding the ship, he hurried up from his berth and found, to his astonishment, that a British Admiral's flag was flying from the fore. The captain than saluted and asked for his orders. Apparently the flag had been improvised during the night. When the steamer, escorted by the destroyers, approached San Francisco, every kind of craft on the water and in the air joined in the reception of this unprecedented American steamer flying a British Admiral's flag. It also happened that the bulk of the American Fleet was at San Francisco. This is the kind of accident that happens to sailors. After staying six days at San Francisco, Admiral Bayly went to San Diego, the base of the destroyers attached to the American Pacific Fleet.
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