The Muselier vice-admiral left Marseilles for Gibraltar on June 23, 1940 on Cydonia, an English coalman. On its arrival in England, he is the first general officer to rejoin General de Gaulle spontaneously. July 1, 1940, meets with General de Gaulle. This day there it will propose to him: " for our boats and our personnel the port of a distinctive sign: a cross of Lorraine, vis-a-vis with swastika." The same day the Admiral Muselier is named with the command of the free French forces naval and air.