Indeed, as the crowd everywhere began to look at their watches a long line of ships began to spread up northward from the Italian coast.

They came at great speed--nearly twenty knots.

It was a really wonderful sight--fifty of the finest ships in the world; the very latest expression of naval giants, each seemingly typical of its class--Dreadnoughts, cruisers, destroyers.

They came in a wedge, with the King's yacht flying the Royal Standard the apex.

Every ship of the squadron bore a red ensign long enough to float from the masthead to the water.