At this point fits in the delightful story of what happened to the U.S.S. Potomac and her
little escorting ship.  When we left her at Martha's Vineyard she returned to Buzzards Bay , and
in the late afternoon entered the Cape Cod Canal.  Captain Leahy had dressed four or five of his
crew in civilian clothes and had them sit on the after deck pretending to be the President and his
party.  Colonel Starling, the head of the Secret Service detail, swears that he knew all about my
actual location, but I have my doubts, as the Secret Service on shore and the Massachusetts State
Troopers guarded the "Potomac" on her way through the Canal, and the next day the good
Colonel asked at John's house at Nahant whether he and Anne expected their father to turn up
there that day or the following day!
     
     After we had got well out into deep water, east of the Nantucket Shoals, the seven ships
headed north and continued toward Cape Race, Newfoundland, at about twenty-one knots all day
Wednesday.  Early Thursday morning we found ourselves approaching the coast of
Newfoundland.  The approaches to Placentia Bay and the harbor of Argentia were swept by mine
sweepers and we anchored at the head of the latter harbor at 9:30 A.M.  Soon afterwards the old
battleship "Arkansas" entered the harbor accompanied by two destroyers.
 
     I had no prevoius knowledge of where my boy Franklin Jr.'s ship, the destroyer "Mayrant"
was, though I had been told that the ship was doing patrol duty somewhere off the north Atlantic
coast.  It was, therefore, a complete surprise when one of the destroyers accompanying the
"Arkansas" turned out the be the "Mayrant."  Captain Beardall, my Naval Aide, sent a message to
the Commanding Officer of the "Mayrant" directing that Ensign Roosevelt report to the
Commanser-in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet on board the "Augusta" and Franklin was, therefore,
completely surprised when he found on coming on board that he was to report to the
Commander-in Chief of the Navy himself.  I detailed him as my Junior Naval Aide for the great
occasion and he borrowed what I always call "the gold spinach", i.e., the aiguillettes, which a
Presidential Aide wears on his right shoulder and which all other Aides wear on their left
shoulder.
     
     That afternoon Franklin and I got into the whale boat, cruised along shore inspecting ythe
waterfront and the Argentia base development, and doing some bottom fishing for small cod and
flounders.