Sunday, August 20th, was a busy day at Port Saïd. The whole of the immense fleet of men-of-war and transports, as well as Sir Beauchamp Seymour in the _Helicon_, arrived early in the forenoon. As was expected, the Canal Company would accept no dues and would provide no pilots. There was some little delay until the way was clear. During this interval, to provide against possible trouble, 300 of the York and Lancaster Regiment were put on board the gun-vessel _Falcon_, and a similar number of the West Kent Regiment was embarked on board the gun-vessel _Beacon_, to form the advance. These vessels arrived at Ismailia in the evening of the same day. Early in the afternoon the _Nerissa_ led the transport fleet into the Canal, followed by the _Rhosina_, the troop-ship _Euphrates_, and the rest, including the _Penelope_, Admiral Hoskins' flagship. Slowly the stately procession passed through the Canal to Ismailia, which the vessels one by one reached either that night or early the next morning. Although the ships were unprovided with pilots, they were so skilfully navigated by their own officers, that very little difficulty arose, almost the only exception being the grounding of the _Catalonia_,[51] with the West Kent Regiment on board. She grounded at a distance of seven miles from Lake Timsah, and caused a temporary block; but did not for long interrupt the passage of the other vessels. M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, from the steps of the Empress's Chalet at the entrance to Lake Timsah, watched the long line of British vessels of war and transports arriving from the Canal.[52] So little space was there that the vessels as they entered the Lake were moored abreast of each other, bow and stern. The _Penelope_ was one of the first to take up her position. In M. de Lesseps' memoirs, already referred to, it is stated that he had refused to give pilots to the British vessels, under pretext that they were violating the neutrality of the Canal, and that it was doubtful whether he would in the end have consented to give the pilots if he had not perceived that the English were determined to use the Canal at the risk of a vessel or two being stranded. He knew how detrimental the blocking of the Canal would be to his enterprise, so he made a bargain with the English Commander, and on receiving a cheque on the Bank of England for £100,000 as compensation for the damage done, he placed the whole administration of the Canal at the disposal of the British. Being powerless to prevent the violation of the Canal's neutrality, he thus preserved intact the pecuniary interests of the Company. It is scarcely necessary to say that the whole of the above statement is "fallacious," as was pointed out by Sir Beauchamp Seymour (then Lord Alcester) in a letter which he wrote to the _Times_ as soon as the matter was noticed by the British Press.