The firing of the tug's gun announced the start.

A black figure, like a huge porpoise, could be seen in the cold, grey water and then disappear in the darkness.

Those on the tug thought they would lose him; but at length his horn was heard far out on the water and the tug immediately headed in that direction in order to take the lead and show him the way.

Pursuing slowly forward he was kept within hail, as the lights of Dover gradually grew dim in the distance and the lighthouse on the Goodwin Sands shone clear and bright like the star of morning." "The pilot was one sent over from Boulogne by the French Societe Humaine, said to be the best on the French coast.

The course agreed upon was as follows: Take the tide running northeast from Dover at three in the morning, which would carry them seven or eight miles in that direction somewhere off Goodwin Sands.