High up the steep hillside, the White Ensign flew from the mast in front of Admiral House, and Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, austere, efficient, but very human, one of the ablest officers of the British Navy, still toiled at his desk or puttered among his flower gardens in the rare hours of leisure, but his occupation as Commander-in-Chief of the Coasts of Ireland was mostly in the past tense. Soon he was to retire, with the stripes of a full admiral on his sleeve and a long list of distinctions following his name, Knight Commander of the Bath, Companion of the Victorian Order, the Legion of Honor of France; but more than these he valued the friendship and high respect of the American naval force at Queenstown, memorable because it was here that, for the first time, the British and the American navies had worked and dared as one, salty brothers-in-arms, to conquer the sea and make it safe against a mutual foe. [Illustration: THE CORSAIR AT QUEENSTOWN, AS FLAGSHIP OF ADMIRAL SIMS] All of this the _Corsair_ perceived in retrospect while Captain Pringle finished his fine record of service by disposing of all the odds and ends of work demanded of him before the Stars and Stripes could be hauled down and Queenstown finally abandoned as a base. As soon as the _Corsair_ arrived in port, opportunity was offered the Reserve officers and men to quit the ship and go home, instead of detaining them longer on foreign service. Three officers and thirty men took advantage of the chance and felt, fairly enough, that the war was over and the call of duty no longer imperative. Other officers came to the ship in their places—A. T. Agnew, Assistant Surgeon, who had joined at Rosyth, Ensign C. R. Bloomer, Boatswain A. R. Beach, and Boatswain H. W. Honeck. It was a long and tedious duty, lasting almost three months, this serving as the flagship at Queenstown, but he also serves who only stands and waits, and this was true of the _Corsair_. The aftermath of the war was mostly drudgery, with all the fiery incentive and thrilling stimulus removed, but the need was just as urgent and the Navy responded, displaying the spirit which was best exemplified by Rear Admiral Strauss and his mine-laying fleet which placed a barrier of forty thousand mines across the upper end of the North Sea and then manfully, uncomplainingly, spent a whole year in sweeping them up again. One pleasant souvenir of the stay at Queenstown was a copy of the following letter from Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly: The Captain of the Dockyard has informed me that valuable assistance was given by officers and men of the U.S. Navy in extinguishing the fire in the Dockyard yesterday, Tuesday. I desire to thank you very much for the assistance so smartly and ably given.