Chapter 14

"P.S. I beg to say that, when the terms were signed and ratified, the governor, in the handsomest manner, sent a large proportion of wine, bread, &c. to refresh the people, and shewed every mark of attention in his power."

When the treaty just mentioned was first proposed to the Spanish governor, he told Captain Hood that they ought to surrender as prisoners of war: to which he replied, that Captain Troubridge had directed him to say that, if the terms offered were not accepted in five minutes, he would set the town on fire, and attack the Spaniards at the point of the bayonet; on which, the governor instantly closed, by signing the following treaty--

"Santa Cruz, 25th July 1797.

"That the troops, &c. belonging to his Britannic majesty, shall embark, with all their arms of every kind; and take their boats off, if saved, and be provided with such other as may be wanting. In consideration of which, it is engaged, on their part, that they shall not molest the town, in any manner, by the ships of the British squadron now before it, or any of the islands in the Canaries, and prisoners shall be given up on both sides.

"Given under my hand, and word of honour,

"Samuel Hood.

"Ratified by--

"Thomas Troubridge, Commander of the British Troops.

"Juan Antonio Gutierrez, Commandant General de las Islas Canarias."

The next public document relative to this unfortunate expedition, it was the melancholy lot of the rear-admiral to pen with the left hand, his right arm having been shot off on the evening of the 24th, for the information of the commander in chief, to whom it was immediately transmitted.

"Theseus, off Santa Cruz, 27th July 1797.

"SIR,

"In obedience to your orders to make a vigorous attack on the town of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe, I directed, from the ships under my command, a thousand men, including marines, to be prepared for landing, under the direction of Captain Troubridge of his majesty's ship Culloden; and Captains Hood, Thompson, Freemantle, Bowen, Miller, and Waller, who very handsomely volunteered their services: and, although I am under the painful necessity of acquainting you, that we have not been able to succeed in our attack, yet it is my duty to state that, I believe, more daring intrepidity never was shewn, than by the captains, officers, and men, you did me the honour to place under my command; and the Journal which I transmit you herewith will, I hope, convince you, that my abilities, humble as they are, have been exerted on the occasion.

"Inclosed, I also transmit you a list of killed and wounded; and, among the former, it is with the deepest sorrow I have to place the name of Captain Richard Bowen, of his majesty's ship Terpsichore--than whom, a more enterprising, able, and gallant officer, does not grace his majesty's naval service: and, with great regret, I have to mention the loss of Lieutenant John Gibson, commander of the Fox Cutter; and a great number of gallant officers and men.

"I have the honour to be, Sir, with the greatest respect, your most faithful and obedient servant,

"Horatio Nelson."

The Journal mentioned in this letter, as written by the rear-admiral, with his left hand, and transmitted to Sir John Jervis, was as follows. It is remarkable, that neither the letter, nor this Journal, make the smallest mention of his having lost his arm on the occasion; which information merely occurs in the list of the killed and wounded. This singular mode of omitting to particularise himself, forms a curious trait in the character of the immortal hero.

_A Detail of the Proceedings of the Expedition against the Town of Santa Cruz, in the Island of Teneriffe._

BY REAR-ADMIRAL NELSON.

"On Friday the 21st inst. I directed to be embarked, on board the Seahorse, Terpsichore, and Emerald frigates, one thousand men--including two hundred and fifty men under the command of Captain Thomas Oldfield--the whole commanded by Captain Troubridge; attended by all the boats of the squadron, scaling ladders, and every implement which I thought necessary for the success of the enterprise. I directed that the boats should land, in the night, between the fort on the north-east side of the Bay of Santa Cruz and the town, and endeavour to make themselves masters of that fort; which, when done, to send in my summons: the liberal terms of which, I am confident, you will approve. Though the frigates approached within three miles of the place of debarkation, by twelve o'clock; yet, from the unforeseen circumstance of a strong gale of wind in the offing, and a strong current against them in shore, they did not approach within a mile of the landing-place when the day dawned, which discovered to the Spaniards our force and intentions.

"On my approach with the line of battle ships, Captains Troubridge and Bowen, with Captain Oldfield of the marines, came on board, to consult with me what was best to be done; and were of opinion, if they could possess the heights, over the fort before mentioned, that it could be stormed. To which, I gave my assent; and directed the line of battle ships to batter the fort, in order to create a diversion. But, this was found impracticable; not being able to get nearer the shore than three miles, from a calm, and contrary currents: nor could our men possess themselves of the heights, as the enemy had taken possession of them, and seemed as anxious to retain as we to get them. Thus foiled in my original plan, I considered it for the honour of our king and country, not to give over the attempt to possess ourselves of the town; that our enemies might be convinced there is nothing that Englishmen are not equal to: and, confident in the bravery of those who would be employed in the service, I embarked every person from the shore on the 22nd at night.

"On the 24th, I got the ships to an anchor, about two miles to the northward of the town, and made every shew for a disposition of attacking the heights; which appeared to answer the end, from the great number of people they had placed on them. The Leander, Captain Thompson, joined this afternoon, and her marines were added to the force before appointed; and Captain Thompson also volunteered his services. At-eleven o'clock at night, the boats of the squadron, containing between six and seven hundred men, a hundred and eighty men on board the Fox cutter, and about seventy or eighty men in a boat we had taken the day before, proceeded towards the town; the divisions of boats conducted by all the captains, except Freemantle and Bowen, who attended with me to regulate and lead the way to the attack: every captain being acquainted, that the landing was to be made on the mole; from whence they were to proceed, as fast as possible, into the great square; where they were to form, and proceed on such services as might be found necessary. We were not discovered, till within half gun-shot of the landing-place: when I directed the boats to cast off from each other, give a huzza, and push for the shore.

"A fire of thirty or forty pieces of cannon, with musketry from one end of the town to the other, opened on us; but nothing could stop the intrepidity of the captains landing the divisions. Unfortunately, the greater part of the boats did not see the mole; but went on shore, through a raging surf, which stove all the boats to the left of it.

"For a detail of their proceedings, I send you a copy of Captain Troubridge's account to me; and I cannot but express my admiration of the firmness with which he and his brave associates supported the honour of the British flag.

"Captains Freemantle and Bowen, and myself, with four or five boats, stormed the mole; though opposed, apparently, by four or five hundred men; took possession of it; and spiked the guns: but such a heavy fire of musketry, and grape-shot, was kept up from the citadel, and the houses at the head of the mole, that we could not advance; and we were all, nearly, killed or wounded.

"The Fox cutter, in rowing towards the town, received a shot under water, from one of the enemy's distant batteries, and immediately sunk; and Lieutenant Gibson, her commander, with ninety-seven men, were drowned.

"I must not omit to acquaint you of the satisfaction which I received from the conduct of Lieutenant Baynes of the Royal Artillery; not only from the ardour with which he undertook every service, but also from his professional skill."

_List of Killed, Wounded, Drowned, and Missing, of his Majesty's Ships undermentioned, in storming Santa Cruz, in the Island of Teneriffe, in the Night of the 24th of July 1797._

Theseus, eight seamen, four marines, killed; twenty-five seamen wounded; and thirty-four drowned.

Culloden, one seaman, two marines, killed; twelve seamen, six marines wounded; and thirty-six drowned.

Zealous, three seamen, two marines, killed; and nineteen seamen, two marines, wounded.

Leander, one seaman, five marines, killed; one seaman, four marines, wounded; and one missing.

Seahorse, two seamen killed; and thirteen seamen, one marine, wounded.

Terpsichore, eight seamen killed; nine seamen, two marines, wounded; and four missing.

Emerald, five seamen, three marines, killed; eleven seamen wounded; and ten drowned.

Fox cutter, seventeen drowned.

Total killed, wounded, and missing, two hundred and fifty-one.

OFFICERS KILLED.

Richard Bowen, Captain of the Terpsichore. George Thorpe, First-Lieutenant of ditto. John Wetherhead, Lieutenant of the Theseus. William Earnshaw, Second Lieutenant of the Leander. Raby Robinson, Lieutenant of Marines, ditto. Lieutenant Baisham, Marines, of the Emerald. Lieutenant Gibson, of the Fox Cutter, drowned.

OFFICERS WOUNDED.

Rear-Admiral Nelson, right arm shot off. Captain Thompson, Leander, slightly. Captain Freemantle, Seahorse, in the arm. Lieutenant J. Douglas, ditto, in the hand. Mr. Waits, Midshipman, Zealous.

In a small Spanish pamphlet, published at Madrid, with a translation of which the author has been most obligingly furnished by Sir John Talbot Dillon, though the account of our loss is so prodigiously exaggerated, as to state the killed to be twenty-two British officers and at least five hundred and sixty-six men, and adding that some accounts even make it eight hundred, there are certainly several interesting particulars which bear every mark of authenticity. The acknowledged loss of the Spaniards, however, said to be only twenty-three killed, and thirty-eight wounded, may be considered as not a little apocryphal. Indeed, no reliance can be placed on their numerical exactness; for the Fox cutter is asserted, by them, to have contained three hundred and eighty men, instead of one hundred and eighty; and Rear-Admiral Nelson is said to have lost his right arm, when in his boat, and before landing, which obliged him to re-embark on board the Theseus, with the other officers who accompanied him badly wounded, on the 23d, instead of on the 24th.

This pamphlet informs us, that Captain Bowen, of the Terpsichore, who was killed, had first proposed the attack of Santa Cruz to Admiral Sir John Jervis; which he represented as very easy, having previously cut out of that bay the Spanish frigate, Prince Ferdinand, from the Philippine Islands. His chief pilot was a Chinese, taken out of his former prize, who was also killed on the present occasion.

Lieutenant Robinson, of the marines, badly wounded, was properly attended in the Spanish hospital. A copy of Captain Thompson's orders had been found on him, by Don Bernardo Collagon; a brave and most gallant Spanish youth, who had, sword in hand, defended his country with great spirit, and was so generous and humane to the unfortunate wounded enemy, that he is said to have actually stripped himself of his shirt to make bandages for the wounds of the English. Great humanity, indeed, was shewn to all the wounded; who were carefully re-embarked, many of them in a dying state, immediately after the capitulation was signed. The Spanish governor generously regaled all the English troops with bread and wine, before they went into their boats, and invited the principal officers to dine with him that day. This, however, they politely declined; fearing some irregularity among their soldiers, from the effects of the wine: but agreed to wait on the governor next day. They accordingly did so: when, instructed by Rear-Admiral Nelson, they offered, in his name, to take charge of the governor's dispatches for the Spanish court; and he thus actually became the first messenger of his own defeat.

In the mean time, he returned thanks to the Spanish governor, for his great care of the sick and wounded, by writing him the following letter; dated on board his majesty's ship Theseus, opposite Santa Cruz de Teneriffe, July 26, 1797.

"SIR,

I cannot take my departure from this island, without returning your excellency my sincerest thanks for your attention towards me, by your humanity in favour of our wounded men in your power, or under your care, and for your generosity towards all our people who were disembarked, which I shall not fail to represent to my sovereign; hoping, also, at a proper time, to assure your excellency, in person, how truly I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

"Horatio Nelson.

P.S. I request your excellency will do me the honour to admit of a cask of English beer, and a cheese."

"His Excellency, Don Antonio Gutierrez, Commandant General of the Canary Islands."

To this friendly epistle, the Spanish governor immediately returned the following liberal answer--

"Santa Cruz de Teneriffe, 26th July 1797.

"SIR,

With the highest pleasure, I received your esteemed favour, proceeding from your generous and well-disposed mind; since, on my part, I conceive, no laurel is due to him who only fulfils what humanity dictates: and I have done no more, in behalf of the wounded men, as well as others who disembarked; and whom, after all warfare has ceased, I ought to consider as brothers.

"If, in the state to which the uncertain fate of war has led you, it were in my power, or could any thing that this island produces afford the least comfort or aid to you, it would yield me the truest satisfaction: and, I hope, you will admit of a couple of large flasks of Canary wine; which, I believe, is none of the worst that this island produces.

"A personal intercourse will give me great pleasure, when circumstances permit it, with a person so deserving, and of such distinguished qualifications as you so feelingly indicate. Meantime, I pray God to preserve you in his holy keeping; and am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

"Don Antonio Gutierrez.

"P.S. I have received, and highly esteem, the cask of beer, and cheese, which you have done me the favour to send me."

"Rear-Admiral Nelson."

On the 27th of July, there was a solemn Te Deum sung by the Spaniards, in the parochial church of Santa Cruz: that day being the festival of St. Christopher, the tutelary patron of the island; on which an annual thanksgiving is celebrated, as being the identical day when that island was first conquered, three hundred and one years prior to this period.

Such are the chief particulars of the Spanish account, as supplied by Sir John Talbot Dillon's most respectable translation; and which places in a very amiable point of view the characters of the respective commanders.

On comparing the various accounts of this unfortunate expedition, there are certainly some incongruities. In the numerous biographical memoirs of Lord Nelson, either abridged or amplified from that in the Naval Chronicle, it is stated that the rear-admiral "received his wound soon after the detachment had landed." In these, too, it is added that, "while they were pressing on with the usual ardour of British seamen, the shock caused him to fall to the ground; where, for some minutes, he was left to himself, till Lieutenant Nesbit, missing him, had the presence of mind to return: when, after some search in the dark, he at length found his brave father-in-law weltering in his blood on the ground, with his arm shattered, and himself apparently lifeless. Lieutenant Nesbit, having immediately applied his neck-handkerchief as a tourniquet to the rear-admiral's arm, carried him on his back to the beach; where, with the assistance of some sailors, he conveyed him into one of the boats, and put off to the Theseus, under a tremendous, though happily ill-directed, fire from the enemy's batteries. The day after the rear-admiral lost his arm," concludes the Naval Chronicle account, "he wrote to Lady Nelson; and, in narrating the foregoing transaction, says--"I know it will add much to your pleasure, on finding that your son Josiah, under God's providence, was instrumental in saving my life."

On the other hand, it seems remarkable that the Spanish relation of this catastrophe positively pronounces him "to have lost his right arm when in his boat, and before landing."

This, too, corresponds with the following short description of that unhappy business; which, without any essential alteration as to facts in it's transit, most assuredly proceeded from the ever to be revered hero's own faithful lips.

The circumstance of so few boats hitting the mole with the rear-admiral, who had appointed it as the general place of landing, after having been baffled in his first design, proved fatal to the enterprise. By landing in the surf, they lost their scaling implements; and Captain Troubridge was not prepared instantly to storm the citadel, before the approach of the Spanish troops, which could only have been carried by a sudden _coup de main_. Rear-Admiral Nelson had only one foot out of the boat, and was in the act of landing on the mole, under a most tremendous fire from the batteries, when his arm was shot nearly off; and he fell back in the boat. At that awful moment, he recollected the injunction of his deceased uncle, on receiving the sword which he had thus been compelled to drop; and, groping at the bottom, speedily recovered it, and firmly grasped it in his remaining hand. He called to his brave companions in arms, who had already landed to storm the mole, and directed them to force the gate of the citadel; a task which, with all their exertion, they found it impossible to accomplish, though they succeeded in spiking several of the guns. At this juncture, Lieutenant Nesbit very humanely took the handkerchief from his neck, and tied it round the shattered arm of his father-in-law, a little above where it had been shot. The boat, in the mean time, was hastening to return on board the Theseus, amidst a most dreadful discharge from the batteries. It soon approached where the Fox cutter had just been sunk by a shot under water; and the unhappy men with which it had been charged, consisting of one hundred and eighty persons, were in the act of struggling for their lives. This was a scene of distress too dreadful to be passed, by their humane commander, without at least endeavouring to lessen the extent of the calamity. As many as possible of these poor fellows were instantly taken into the boat; an office of humanity in which the rear-admiral himself eagerly assisted, with his sole arm, smarting as he then was under the agony occasioned by the recent separation of the other. The corporeal anguish which he now felt, however, was mitigated by the solace he received in thus rescuing a few of his brave fellows from impending destruction; but, alas! the mental horror which he suffered, at beholding some of the noblest of the human race compelled to be forcibly rejected, and abandoned to their wretched fate, through dread of sinking his own overcharged boat, admitted of no alleviation, and inflicted pangs on his heroic heart, to describe which the powers of language are incapable of yielding any adequate expression. Every possible exertion was used to reach the Theseus, with a faint hope of the boat's returning in time to save a few more of these unhappy victims; and, a chair being called for, to accommodate the rear-admiral in getting on board, so impatient was he for the boat's return, that he desired to have only a single rope thrown over the side, which he instantly twisted round his left arm, and was thus hauled up into the ship. It appears, on referring to the account of the drowned, in the list of killed and wounded, &c. that eighty-three only were saved; so that ninety-seven men, including officers, from the different ships, thus miserably perished!

The rear-admiral, on getting aboard the Theseus, immediately suffered the amputation of his arm; but, some mistake having occurred, in taking up one of the arteries, which is described as having been united with a nerve, by an ingenious French surgeon, he long felt the most excruciating tortures.

The Earl of St. Vincent, in his dispatches to government relative to this expedition, dated on board the Ville de Paris, off Cadiz, August 16, 1797, observes that, though the enterprise had not succeeded, his majesty's arms had acquired a very great degree of lustre. "Nothing," says his lordship, "from my pen, can add to the eulogy the rear-admiral gives of the gallantry of the officers and men employed under him. I have greatly to lament," continues the noble earl, "the heavy loss which the country has sustained in the severe wound of Rear-Admiral Nelson, and the death of Captain Richard Bowen, Lieutenant Gibson, and the other brave officers and men who fell in this vigorous and persevering assault. The moment the rear-admiral joins, it is my intention to send the Seahorse to England with him, the wound Captain Freemantle has received in his arm also requiring change of climate; and I hope, that both of them will live to render important services to their king and country."

Accordingly, after receiving the kindest condolences from the Earl of St. Vincent, and sending into Cadiz the dispatches of the worthy governor of Santa Cruz, he immediately sailed for England.