Chapter 5

"He was the first on shore, at the attack of St. Bartholomew, followed by a few brave seamen and soldiers, in the face of a severe fire. The undauntedness of the act frightened the Spaniards; who, from the nature of the ground, might have put him and his party to death: but they ran away, and abandoned the battery.

"By his example and perseverance, the Indians and seamen were encouraged through their toil, in forcing the boats, against the current, up the river: otherwise, not a man would have seen San Juan Castle. When they arrived at the castle--as prompt in thought, as bold in action--he advised the carrying it, instantly, by assault. That his advice was not followed, this recital is a lamentable testimony!"

Such is the grand outline of Dr. Moseley's history of this unfortunate expedition; in the miscarriage of which, it must not be dissembled that, among other causes, Colonel Polson appears in some degree inculpated. It cannot, therefore, be improper to add, at least, the account which the Colonel himself officially transmitted to Governor Dalling, the day after the surrender of Fort Juan; and which, on the 18th of July 1780, appeared in the London Gazette. His liberal praises of Captain Nelson, the first ever conveyed to the public, or possibly to government, would alone render it sufficiently interesting.

"When I reached Cape Gratias à Dios, there was not an Indian to be seen: some villains, there, having taken pains to persuade them, that the English army had come merely with an intent of enslaving them, and sending them to Jamaica. It was, therefore, some time, before any of them ventured to come in. I took the opportunity of sending them small presents, by one of their people who had ventured down to observe our motions. He, being acquainted with Mr. Campbell, was undeceived by him, and brought to me; which had the desired effect, as most of the tribes came in very soon after.

"Your excellency's letter of the 17th of March, I received the 20th, just as I entered the River St. John. I shall ever retain a grateful sense of the sentiments you was therein pleased to express for me: and I am sorry that the many delays I met at the cape, and other places between that and the harbour of St. John, from the want of craft, and the backwardness of the Indians in coming out, prevented my operations keeping pace with your excellency's expectations. I, however, hope you will do me the justice to believe, that no time was lost, which could possibly be saved, situated as I was. It was the 3d of March, before any Black River crafts arrived, and they were the only ones then provided. It is true, the Indian governor promised a great many: but, when I came to his country, there was not a single one ready; and I got them, at last, with very great difficulty. The superintendant was entirely deceived by the Indians, in the number of crafts and men; and still more so, in point of time.

"Captain Nelson, then of the Hinchinbroke, came up with thirty-four seamen, a serjeant, and twelve marines. I want words to express the obligations I owe that gentleman. He was the first, on every service, whether by day or by night. There was scarcely a gun fired, but was pointed by him, or Captain Despard, chief engineer, who has exerted himself on every occasion. I am persuaded, if our shot had held out, we should have had the fort a week sooner. As Captain Nelson goes to Jamaica, he can inform you of every delay, and point of service, as well as I could; for, he knows my very thoughts.

"The bearer, Lieutenant Mounsey, can inform your excellency of many things that may escape my memory. He is a very good officer, and commanded the party I sent to reconnoitre the look-out: and began the attack of it, in concert with Captain Despard and Captain Nelson; who, with his seamen, volunteered that duty."

It is easy to perceive, at this early period, the singular heroism of Captain Nelson's character; as well in the slight but forcible delineation, sketched on the instant by Colonel Polson, as in the more leisurely and finished picture of Dr. Moseley's masterly composition.

In both, we behold him seeking every opportunity to assist the enterprise, with the most magnanimous zeal, and the soundest discretion. Without his vigorous and skilful exertions, indeed, as Dr. Moseley remarks, it is more than probable that not a man among them would ever have reached San Juan Castle.

It was at the period while this brave and good man was thus honourably and actively engaged, that a circumstance occurred, which seems to indicate that he must have been under the peculiar protection of Providence.

Having, one night, as was usual with him, while proceeding by land to the scene of action, had his cot slung between two trees, he slept very soundly till the morning; when he was early awakened, and not a little startled, by a lizard's passing over his face. He now suddenly arose; and, on hastily turning down the bed-cloaths, a large snake was discovered lying at his feet, without having offered him the smallest injury, though it was of a well known venomous species. The surrounding Indians, who beheld this singular spectacle with astonishment--like the barbarians of Melita, when the Apostle Paul shook off the viper--began to consider him as a sort of divinity, and determined to follow him wherever he went. They now, in fact, eagerly flocked after him, in crowds, with the idea that no harm could possibly come to them while they were in his presence. This occurrence, therefore, independent of it's extreme singularity, had an effect very favourable to the purposes of the expedition.

Though, however. Captain Nelson providentially escaped not only the venom of the snake, but the pestilential catastrophe which afterwards befel almost every individual of his unfortunate ship's company, as well as the land forces with whom he entered Fort Juan; he was, nevertheless, in a few days, violently seized with the contagion: and, fatigued and disappointed as he had been, in the attainment of what now manifestly appeared to him of little or no consequence, for even the treasure of the castle had been removed before it's surrender, he was sinking fast to the grave; with scarcely a hope, or even a wish, to survive the brave fellows who were every day falling around him.

While he lay in this deplorable state, the reinforcement of troops which had immediately been sent from Jamaica, on the first news of the surrender of Fort Juan, brought intelligence that Captain Bonnovier Glover, the commander of the Janus of forty-four guns, died on the 21st of March, and that Sir Peter Parker had appointed Captain Nelson to succeed him. This kind promotion, he has been often heard to say, certainly saved his life. He immediately sailed to Jamaica, on board the Victor sloop, that he might take possession of the Janus; and hope, that never entirely abandoned him, began again to invigorate his heart. His spirits, however, were always beyond his strength; though that, when in full health, was by no means feeble, as his country's enemies had many subsequent opportunities to experience.

The air of Jamaica, though far less unwholesome than that which he had just quitted on the Spanish main, is not very invigorating to European constitutions; and, instead of it's restoring him, he every day grew worse and worse. Sir Peter Parker, therefore, kindly invited him to make a home of his penn, which is the name of a West Indian villa; where he received the most friendly attentions from Lady Parker, and the skilfullest medicinal aids. All, however, proved ineffectual. His extreme anxiety to get on board the ship to which he had been so honourably appointed, tended now to augment his indisposition; and he was reluctantly compelled, like his worthy friend, Captain Locker, to depart for England. This, too, unwilling to resign his ship, he positively declared, till the last, he never would do, while a single person could be found who was of opinion that he might possibly recover without quitting the island. No such person was obtainable; and, accordingly, in a state of the most extreme debility, towards the close of this year, he returned home, in his majesty's ship the Lion, commanded by the Honourable William Cornwallis, the now celebrated admiral; whose kind care and attention, during their passage, greatly contributed to preserve his valuable life.

On his arrival in England, though then barely in existence, and almost wholly without the use of his limbs, such was the excessive ardour of his mind for employ, that nothing could prevent him from being immediately carried to the Admiralty, and applying for a ship. "This they readily promised me," he jocosely observed, soon after, to one of his relations, "thinking it not possible for me to live."

He now went, directly, to Bath: where he was, at first, under the necessity of being carried to the springs, and wherever else he wanted to go; and, for several weeks afterwards, constrained to use crutches. These, however, he at length threw aside, much sooner than his friends at the Admiralty had expected; though it was nearly three months before he entirely recovered the use of his limbs. In a letter which he wrote, from this place, dated February 15, 1781, to his friend Captain Locker, he observes that he is, thank God, very near perfectly restored; having the complete use of all his limbs, except his left arm, of which he can hardly tell the ailment: from the shoulder to his fingers ends felt as if half dead, but the faculty gave him hopes that it would all go off. He expresses his anxiety to be employed; and, as if willing to demonstrate that his spirits were more lively than his limb, he says, with considerable pleasantry and wit, speaking of three portraits--one of the present Admiral George Montague, another of Sir Charles Pole, and the third of himself, which was then painting by Mr. Rigaud as a present for Captain Locker--"I hope, when I come to town, to see a fine _trio_ in your room. When you get the pictures, I must be in the middle; for, God knows, without good _supporters_, I shall fall to the ground."

After the restoration of his health, he paid a visit to his worthy and venerable father, at Burnham-Thorpe; as well as to his amiable eldest sister, then recently married to Mr. Bolton, who resided at Wells, about five miles distant, and other relatives and friends in the county of Norfolk: few of whom, except his father, had ever once beheld him for the last eleven years. The felicity of such a meeting is not to be described, and it can only be conceived by those who have experienced similar sensations.

At length, in August 1781, Captain Nelson was appointed to the command of the Albemarle of twenty-eight guns. In this ship, which had been a French merchantman, captured two years before, and purchased for the king's service, his delicate constitution underwent a new and severe trial; being employed, the whole winter, convoying and cruizing in the North Seas. The inconvenience, too, as well as the dangers, of this service, were in no slight degree augmented, by the mast's having been made much too long for the ship; a circumstance which had, at several times, nearly occasioned it to be overset. These perils, too, were wholly unattended with what may be denominated any success; as the Dutch, the greater part of the time, had not a single trading vessel at sea: and, though a privateer, said to be the noted pirate, Fall, stole into the fleet which the Albemarle was convoying, it got clear off, after an hour's chace, owing to the necessity of Captain Nelson's returning to the unprotected ships.

On their arrival in England, the mast was taken out, and properly shortened; and, such other improvements being made, as suggested themselves to the captain, it was, at length, far from a bad old ship. He always, however, humorously insisted, that the French had taught the Albemarle to run away; as it was never a good sailer, except when going directly before the wind.

In March 1782, he was ordered to Cork; to join the Dædalus, Captain Thomas Pringle, and go with a convoy to Quebec, where they were expected to winter. This was another severe blow at his tender frame, which had been so buffeted all the late season. He had, indeed, great reason to dread it's effects, and wished much to be off of this voyage; but, though he did not doubt that, if he had a little time, he might get another ship--especially, as his friend, Surgeon Adair, who also attended Admiral Keppel, had declared that, if he were sent to a cold climate, it would make him worse than ever--having received his orders from Lord Sandwich, he could not avoid thinking it wrong to ask Admiral Keppel to alter them. Such was his high sense of propriety, and so little his self-consideration.

On the 27th of May, Captain Nelson arrived in St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland, with four sail of the convoy; having parted with the Dædalus, twenty days before, three hundred leagues to the eastward of Cape Clear, in a hard gale of wind.

On the 3d of June, hearing that the remainder of the Quebec fleet had arrived at a harbour some leagues to the leeward, he sailed to join them; and, without losing a single vessel, they reached the place of destination on the 1st of July.

The third day after their arrival, he was ordered on a cruize off Boston; from which he returned to Quebec on the 17th of September, with the whole crew almost devoured by the scurvy. Himself and all the officers had, for eight weeks together, lived on salt beef; nor had the ship's company enjoyed a single fresh meal since the beginning of April.

During the greater part of this time, he had made a point of contriving to see Boston steeple every morning; where he watched for vessels, as they sailed in and out of the harbour.

Though this cruize was of the unsuccessful sort, not a single prize being brought into port, they took, saw, and destroyed, more enemies than are often met with in the same space of time. Some of the prizes taken, and one of them of considerable value, were lost by the mismanagement of the prize-masters. That of the principal one, was occasioned by the intoxication of the captors; who had, indiscreetly, made too free with the wine on board.

"I do not, however," said he, in a letter to Captain Locker, "repine at our loss; we have, in other respects, been very fortunate: for, on the 14th of August, we fell in with, in Boston Bay, four sail of the line, and the Iris frigate, part of Monsieur Vaudreuil's squadron, who gave us a pretty dance for nine or ten hours. But we beat all, except the frigate; and, though we brought to for her, after we were out of sight of the line of battle ships, she tacked and stood from us. Our escape I think wonderful. They were, on the clearing up of a fog, within shot of us; and chased us, the whole time, about one point from the wind. The frigate, I fancy, had not forgotten the dressing Captain Salter had given the Amazon, for daring to leave the line of battle ships."

This is the hero's own modest account of the affair: but, in truth, he might have assumed all the merit of his escape. The pretty dance he mentions, was led and concluded, by himself, with consummate skill and address, among the shoals of St. George's Bank; where the line of battle ships were unable to follow, had they even possessed his skill in pilotage. They, therefore, at length, quitted the pursuit: though the frigate, for some time after, continued to persevere; and had, about sun-set, even approached within little more than gun-shot. At this time, overhearing some of his men remark to one another, that they thought, as the line of battle ships were not following, they should be able to manage the frigate, he immediately told his brave fellows, in the most kind and encouraging language, that he would, at least, give them an opportunity to try for it: and, ordering the main-top-sail to be instantly laid to the mast, the French frigate no sooner beheld them thus bringing to, to engage, than it suddenly tacked, and bore away to rejoin it's consorts. The ascription of this French pusillanimity, to Captain Salter's gallant chastisement of the Amazon, on a similar occasion, is a very refined compliment to that deserving officer, and an admirable specimen of Captain Nelson's excessive candour and humility; while the acknowledgment that he had, "in other respects, been very fortunate," displays the genuine operation of nature in a valorous British bosom, so successfully described by Goldsmith, in his admirable tale of the Disabled Veteran.

It was at Quebec that Captain Nelson and Alexander Davison, Esq. commenced that friendship which was continued, on his part, to what may be considered as the last moment of his life; and which, on the part of Mr Davison, extending beyond the grave, still survives for all who were dear to him, and to every thing that regards a due veneration of his memory.

In less than a month, while comfortably situated at Quebec, chiefly residing on shore at Mr. Davison's, with no other expectations, or desire, than those of returning to England, the arrival of the Drake sloop, and Cockatrice cutter, brought directions for the transports to be fitted for the reception of troops, and sent to New York; in consequence of which, Captain Nelson was ordered to conduct the fleet thither. This, as he observed, in the letter last quoted, dated from the Isle of Bec, in the River St. Lawrence, was "a very _pretty job_, at this late season of the year; for our sails are," adds he, "at this moment frozen to the yards."

On arriving at New York, about the beginning of November, where he found Lord Hood, he requested that admiral would take him to the West Indies. Lord Hood, accordingly, wrote to Admiral Digby, who was commander in Chief at New York; and, he was, in consequence, to have sailed with the fleet: but, for some private reasons, when his ship was under sail from New York, to join Lord Hood, Captain Nelson was sent for, on shore; and informed, that he was to be kept forty-eight hours after the sailing of the fleet. Though this is said to have been for his own individual advantage, he felt much disappointed at not sailing with the fleet. In the mean time, Lord Hood had highly praised him, in a very liberal letter, for wishing to go off this station, to a station of service, concluding with the most encouraging assurances of friendship.

Without pretending to penetrate into all that relates to the private reasons above stated, it is certain that Lord Hood was desirous to have Captain Nelson, and that Admiral Digby was unwilling to part with him: so sensible, at this early period, were both these commanders of his value. The contest, however, was at length concluded, by Admiral Hood's agreeing to leave a ship of nearly double the force for the Albemarle; which, after all, Admiral Digby is said to have scarcely considered as sufficient.

On joining the fleet, Lord Hood's notice of Captain Nelson was in the highest degree flattering to so young a man. He actually treated him as a son, and was always ready to grant him every thing that he could ask. Prince William Henry, too, as the Duke of Clarence was then called, having recently entered into the navy under Admiral Digby, contracted a strong friendship for Captain Nelson, which was ever retained. Lord Hood even told the prince, on first introducing them to each other, that if he wished to ask any questions relative to naval tactics, Captain Nelson could give him as much information as any officer in the fleet. This was, indeed, acting the part of a professional father to both the young men.

In a letter from Cape Tiberoon, dated February 25, 1783, written by Captain Nelson to his friend Captain Locker, from which some of the above facts are also extracted, he says, speaking of the Duke of Clarence--"He will be, I am certain, an ornament to our service. He is a seaman; which, perhaps, you would hardly suppose: every other qualification you may expect from him. A vast deal of notice has been taken of him at Jamaica: he has been addressed by the Council, and the House of Assembly were to address him the day after I sailed. He has his levees at Spanish Town; they are all highly delighted with him. With the best temper, and great good sense, he cannot fail being pleasing to every one."

What a pity it is, that any impediment should have ever prevailed against the royal duke's taking an active command!

Some time after Captain Nelson had joined Lord Hood, in the West Indies, the admiral having received several contradictory accounts of the number of the enemy's ships at the Havannah, and being consequently unable to rely on such varying reports, was desirous of sending, for the requisite information, one on whom he well knew he might safely depend. Accordingly, Captain Nelson was dispatched on this business, which he executed with his usual adroitness and success. He reflected that the Albemarle, from it's having been formerly a French ship, might still be taken for one on this occasion. Having, therefore, sailed for the Spanish main, he hoisted French colours, and lay off the Havannah harbour. While he remained in this situation, a boat filled with scientific gentlemen, who had been collecting curious plants, and other natural rarities, on the Spanish main, happening to pass near, he ordered them to be hailed, and invited aboard. From these persons, who had no suspicion that this French-built vessel, and under a French flag, being addressed also in that language, was any other than it pretended to be, very readily mentioned all the particulars relative to the force and number of the ships in the harbour: their astonishment, however, is not to be described, when they found themselves prisoners of war, on board an English frigate. The worthy captain soon satisfied them, that they had not fallen into the hands of free-booters; and, in consideration of the scientific pursuits in which they were manifestly engaged, the manner in which they had been captured, and the requisite information with which they had faithfully furnished him, he told them, in the handsomest way possible, after regaling them on board for some time, that they should be at liberty to depart whenever they pleased, with their boat and all it contained, on their parole of honour, to be considered as prisoners, if his commander in chief should refuse to acquiesce in their being thus liberated, which he did not think at all likely to happen. Struck with such generosity of sentiment, they earnestly entreated him to take whatever might be most acceptable from their collection of natural curiosities, or any thing else they had to offer; but he positively declined receiving any reward for doing what he felt to be his duty under all the circumstances of the case, and they parted with mutual good wishes for each other's felicity. It will hereafter appear, that this generous act was performed to one, at least, of the party, who retained a very grateful sense of the indulgence.