Arrived San Francisco Lightship, May 5, 1908; sailed May 6, 1908; 60 knots; time, 6 hours.
Arrived San Francisco, Cal., May 6, 1908; 15 knots; time, 2 hours. Total knots, 13,738.
Actual time of cruising, 61 days 19 hours.
The departure of the fleet excited intense interest throughout the civilized world. Its progress was watched with eagerness at home and abroad. The letters printed herewith record what took place on this momentous journey, and they constitute practically a chronological story of the cruise. Every word of them was passed upon by duly appointed naval officers with the fleet. Their accuracy therefore must be unquestioned. They were written for The Sun of New York and they were printed originally by that newspaper and its clients simultaneously throughout the country. They are reproduced by the special permission of the Sun Printing and Publishing Association and in response to a large number of written and oral requests that a permanent record be made of the cruise and its incidents.
The author takes pleasure in making acknowledgment of the kindly co-operation of Lieut. F. Taylor Evans of the Louisiana in the preparation of the letters and in the elimination of technical naval errors through his watchful supervision. The author is also under obligations to very many officers of the fleet, especially to Lieutenant Commander C. T. Jewell, navigator of the Louisiana, for suggestions and for assistance in gathering information, as well as for the cordiality with which he and the other correspondents, all of whom were sent with the fleet by special direction of the President, were received on the ships.
F. M.
New York, July 1, 1908.