FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. PLYMOUTH, Tuesday.

The Prince of Wales passed into home waters this afternoon after a nine months’ journey across more than half the face of the globe and back again. His Royal Highness came into Plymouth Sound at 5.20, and the Royal Navy paid him honour with that fine ceremonial which is part of the sea service, while the population of the port, gathered about the Hoe and the Citadel, sent their voices across the water to speak of England’s welcome home. The entry to Plymouth Sound was a fine piece of sea pageantry. To some eyes it was blurred by a haze, which blotted out the Eddystone and shut from the shore the meeting of the Renown and her destroyer escort, but to the sailor the picture was a perfect one, of ships coming through a filmy veil under grey skies – almost undefined shadows at first, then slowly growing in form until they stood out gaunt and strong in outline against a ruffled sea. The great, pale grey mass of the Renown, relieved by the pure white turrets and guns, was always the centre of the picture, and the battle cruiser naturally held the attention of the crowds ashore, but the black destroyers, with the foam tossing in beautiful curves from their bows, and manoeuvring with that wonderful precision which is the Navy’s habit, supplied a note in which a seascape painter would revel.