The Fleet

ARMY & NAVY

From festivity to festivity flitted the U, S. Fleet.

The divisions at Melbourne and Sydney (TIME, Aug. 3, 10) closed their visits by giving balls. The enthusiasm and goodwill of the populace was evident from the fact that one battleship had been designated at each port as the scene of a reception and a ball, but at Melbourne alone it was necessary to use three battleships to accommodate the crowd.

Officers and men reciprocated the goodwill. It was estimated that perhaps 100 sailors married Australian girls.

Only a few men had deserted when the ships sailed.

A couple of gobs stole two black opals from a jeweler but the officers offered to pay for them--$375.

The first cruisers to leave Melbourne --the Richmond, Memphis, Trenton, Marblehead--visited Hobart, Tasmania, and were handsomely entertained.

The only U. S. warship that had ever visited Tasmania before was the corvette (wooden) Swatara, in 1874. Following the cruisers, the whole fleet sailed for New Zealand (Auckland and Wellington), where more entertainment was awaiting them. The whole visit was a triumph of goodwill.

At Civita Vecchia, 38 miles from Rome, the naval school ship Annapolis, with 60 midshipmen, came to port carrying the American visitation to the opposite side of the globe.