Read it through once

On August 17th the final event occurred in connection with the Coronation. It was the mighty greeting of a great fleet to the Sovereign of a wide-flung realm. It was the inspection of a naval force which a generation before could have dominated the seas of the world and put all civilized nations under tribute. Gathered together from the Home Station, the Channel squadron and the Cruising squadron; without the detachment of a ship from foreign waters or Colonial stations, it included 20 battleships, 24 cruisers and 47 torpedo crafts, with an outer fringe of foreign vessels contributed in complimentary fashion to honour the occasion. From Spithead to the Isle of Wight the horizon was black with great grim vessels of war decked out with flags, and as the King's yacht approached the first line of ships, a hundred Royal salutes made a tremendous burst of sound such as probably the greatest battle-fields of history had never heard. As the King, in Admiral's uniform, stood upon the deck of his vessel and passed slowly down the lines, a signal given at a certain moment evoked one of the most impressive incidents which even he had ever encountered--a simultaneous roar of cheers from the powerful throats of 50,000 enthusiastic sailors. The sound rolled from shore to shore, and ship to ship, was echoed from 100,000 spectators on land and sea, and repeated again from the battleships. The King was deeply moved by this crowning tribute of loyalty, and at once signaled his gratification to the fleet and an invitation to its flag officers to come aboard his yacht and receive a personal expression of his feelings. In the evening electric and coloured lights of every kind and in countless number combined with flashing searchlights to illuminate the great fleet and to cast a glamour of fairy land over the splendid scene.