noon
Ferryboats and excursion steamers , chartered for that day , heeled over almost to the water 's edge with the unsteady weight of their passengers . Tugboats passed up and down similarly crowded and displaying the flags of various journals and news organisations -- the News , the Press , the Times , and the Associated Press . Private yachts , trim and very graceful and gleaming with brass and varnish , slipped by with scarcely a ripple to mark their progress , while full in the centre of the bay , gigantic , solid , formidable , her grim , silent guns thrusting their snouts from her turrets , a great , white battleship rode motionless to her anchor . An hour passed ; noon came . At long intervals a faint seaward breeze compressed the fog , and high , sad-coloured clouds and a fine and penetrating rain came drizzling down . The crowds along the wharves grew denser and blacker . The numbers of yachts , boats , and steamers increased ; even the yards and masts of the merchant-ships were dotted over with watchers .