1798
Nelson rejoins Earl St. Vincent in the VANGUARD--Sails in Pursuit of the
French in Egypt--Returns to Sicily, and sails again to Egypt--Battle of
the Nile.
EARLY in the year 1798, Sir Horatio Nelson hoisted his flag in
the VANGUARD, and was ordered to rejoin Earl St. Vincent. Upon his
departure, his father addressed him with that affectionate solemnity by
which all his letters were distinguished. "I trust in the Lord," said
he, "that He will prosper your going out and your coming in. I earnestly
desired once more to see you, and that wish has been heard. If I should
presume to say, I hope to see you again, the question would be readily
asked, How old art thou? VALE! VALE! DOMINE, VALE!" It is said that a
gloomy foreboding hung on the spirits of Lady Nelson at their parting.
This could have arisen only from the dread of losing him by the chance
of war. Any apprehension of losing his affections could hardly have
existed, for all his correspondence to this time shows that he thought
himself happy in his marriage; and his private character had hitherto
been as spotless as his public conduct. One of the last things he said
to her was, that his own ambition was satisfied, but that he went to
raise her to that rank in which he had long wished to see her.
Immediately on his rejoining the fleet, he was despatched to the
Mediterranean with a small squadron, in order to ascertain, if possible,
the object of the great expedition which at that time was fitting out
under Buonaparte at Toulon. The defeat of this armament, whatever might
be its destination, was deemed by the British government an object
paramount to every other; and Earl St. Vincent was directed, if he
thought it necessary, to take his whole force into the Mediterranean,
to relinquish, for that purpose, the blockade of the Spanish fleet, as a
thing of inferior moment; but if he should deem a detachment sufficient,
"I think it almost necessary," said the first lord of the Admiralty in
his secret instructions, "to suggest to you the propriety of putting it
under Sir Horatio Nelson." It is to the honour of Earl St. Vincent that
he had already made the same choice. This appointment to a service in
which so much honour might be acquired, gave great offence to the senior
admirals of the fleet. Sir William Parker, who was a very excellent
naval officer, and as gallant a man as any in the navy, and Sir John
Orde, who on all occasions of service had acquitted himself with
great honour, each wrote to Lord Spencer, complaining that so marked a
preference should have been given to a junior of the same fleet. This
resentment is what most men in a like case would feel; and if the
preference thus given to Nelson had not originated in a clear perception
that (as his friend Collingwood said of him a little while before) his
spirit was equal to all undertakings, and his resources fitted to all
occasions, an injustice would have been done to them by his appointment.
But if the service were conducted with undeviating respect to seniority,
the naval and military character would soon be brought down to the dead
level of mediocrity.
The armament at Toulon consisted of thirteen ships of the line, seven
forty-gun frigates, with twenty-four smaller vessels of war, and nearly
200 transports. Mr. Udney, our consul at Leghorn, was the first person
who procured certain intelligence of the enemy's design against Malta;
and, from his own sagacity, foresaw that Egypt must be their after
object. Nelson sailed from Gibraltar on the 9th of May, with the
VANGUARD, ORION, and ALEXANDER, seventy-fours; the CAROLINE, FLORA,
EMERALD, and TERPSICHORE, frigates; and the BONNE CITOYENNE, sloop of
war, to watch this formidable armament. On the 19th, when they were in
the Gulf of Lyons, a gale came on from the N.W. It moderated so much
on the 20th as to enable them to get their top-gallant masts and yards
aloft. After dark it again began to blow strong, but the ships had been
prepared for a gale, and therefore Nelson's mind was easy. Shortly
after midnight, however, his main-topmast went over the side, and the
mizentopmast soon afterward. The night was so tempestuous that it
was impossible for any signal either to be seen or heard; and Nelson
determined, as soon as it should be daybreak, to wear, and scud before
the gale; but at half-past three the fore-mast went in three pieces, and
the bowsprit was found to be sprung in three places.
When day broke they succeeded in wearing the ship with a remnant of the
spritsail. This was hardly to have been expected. The VANGUARD was at
that time twenty-five leagues south of the island of Hieres; with her
head lying to the N.E., and if she had not wore, the ship must have
drifted to Corsica. Captain Ball, in the ALEXANDER, took her in tow, to
carry her into the Sardinian harbour of St. Pietro. Nelson, apprehensive
that this attempt might endanger both vessels, ordered him to cast off;
but that excellent officer, with a spirit like his commanders, replied,
he was confident he could save the VANGUARD, and, by God's help, he
would do it. There had been a previous coolness between these great men;
but from this time Nelson became fully sensible of the extraordinary
talents of Captain Ball, and a sincere friendship subsisted between them
during the remainder of their lives. "I ought not," said the admiral,
writing to his wife--"I ought not to call what has happened to the
VANGUARD by the cold name of accident: I believe firmly it was the
Almighty's goodness, to check my consummate vanity. I hope it has made
me a better officer, as I feel confident it has made me a better man.
Figure to yourself, on Sunday evening at sunset, a vain man walking in
his cabin, with a squadron around him, who looked up to their chief to
lead them to glory, and in whom their chief placed the firmest reliance
that the proudest ships of equal numbers belonging to France would have
lowered their flags; figure to yourself, on Monday morning, when the
sun rose, this proud man, his ship dismasted, his fleet dispersed, and
himself in such distress that the meanest frigate out of France would
have been an unwelcome guest." Nelson had, indeed, more reason to refuse
the cold name of accident to this tempest than he was then aware of,
for on that very day the French fleet sailed from Toulon, and must
have passed within a few leagues of his little squadron, which was thus
preserved by the thick weather that came on.
The British Government at this time, with a becoming spirit, gave orders
that any port in the Mediterranean should be considered as hostile where
the governor or chief magistrate should refuse to let our ships of
war procure supplies of provisions, or of any article which they might
require.
In these orders the ports of Sardinia were excepted. The continental
possessions of the King of Sardinia were at this time completely at the
mercy of the French, and that prince was now discovering, when too late,
that the terms to which he had consented, for the purpose of escaping
immediate danger, necessarily involved the loss of the dominions which
they were intended to preserve. The citadel of Turin was now occupied by
French troops; and his wretched court feared to afford the common rights
of humanity to British ships, lest it should give the French occasion
to seize on the remainder of his dominions--a measure for which it was
certain they would soon make a pretext, if they did not find one. Nelson
was informed that he could not be permitted to enter the port of St
Pietro. Regardless of this interdict, which, under his circumstances, it
would have been an act of suicidal folly to have regarded, he anchored
in the harbour; and, by the exertions of Sir James Saumarez, Captain
Ball, and Captain Berry, the VANGUARD was refitted in four days; months
would have been employed in refitting her in England. Nelson, with that
proper sense of merit, wherever it was found, which proved at once the
goodness and the greatness of his character, especially recommended to
Earl St. Vincent the carpenter of the ALEXANDER, under whose directions
the ship had been repaired; stating, that he was an old and faithful
servant of the Crown, who had been nearly thirty years a warrant
carpenter, and begging most earnestly that the Commander-in-Chief would
recommend him to the particular notice of the Board of Admiralty. He
did not leave the harbour without expressing his sense of the treatment
which he had received there, in a letter to the Viceroy of Sardinia.
"Sir," it said, "having, by a gale of wind, sustained some trifling
damages, I anchored a small part of his Majesty's fleet under my orders
off this island, and was surprised to hear, by an officer sent by the
governor, that admittance was to be refused to the flag of his Britannic
Majesty into this port. When I reflect, that my most gracious sovereign
is the oldest, I believe, and certainly the most faithful ally which the
King of Sardinia ever had, I could feel the sorrow which it must have
been to his majesty to have given such an order; and also for your
excellency, who had to direct its execution. I cannot but look at the
African shore, where the followers of Mahomet are performing the part of
the good Samaritan, which I look for in vain at St. Peter's, where it is
said the Christian religion is professed."
The delay which was thus occasioned was useful to him in many respects;
it enabled him to complete his supply of water, and to receive a
reinforcement which Earl St. Vincent, being himself reinforced from
England, was enabled to send him. It consisted of the best ships of
his fleet; the CULLODEN, seventy-four, Captain T. Troubridge; GOLIATH,
seventy-four, Captain T. Foley; MINOTAUR, seventy-four, Captain T. Louis;
DEFENCE, seventy-four, Captain John Peyton; BELLEROPHON, seventy-four,
Captain H.D.E. Darby; MAJESTIC, seventy-four, Captain G. B. Westcott;
ZEALOUS, seventy-four, Captain S. Hood; SWIFTSURE, seventy-four, Captain
B. Hallowell; THESEUS, seventy-four, Captain R. W. Miller; AUDACIOUS,
seventy-four, Captain Davidge Gould. The LEANDER, fifty, Captain T.
E. Thompson, was afterwards added. These ships were made ready for the
service as soon as Earl St. Vincent received advice from England that
he was to be reinforced. As soon as the reinforcement was seen from the
mast-head of the admiral's ship, off Cadiz Bay, signal was immediately
made to Captain Troubridge to put to sea; and he was out of sight before
the ships from home cast anchor in the British station. Troubridge took
with him no instructions to Nelson as to the course he was to steer, nor
any certain account of the enemy's destination; everything was left to
his own judgment. Unfortunately, the frigates had been separated from
him in the tempest and had not been able to rejoin: they sought him
unsuccessfully in the Bay of Naples, where they obtained no tidings of
his course: and he sailed without them.
The first news of the enemy's armament was that it had surprised Malta,
Nelson formed a plan for attacking it while at anchor at Gozo; but on
the 22nd of June intelligence reached him that the French had left that
island on the 16th, the day after their arrival. It was clear that
their destination was eastward--he thought for Egypt--and for Egypt,
therefore, he made all sail. Had the frigates been with him, he could
scarcely have failed to gain information of the enemy; for want of them,
he only spoke three vessels on the way: two came from Alexandria, one
from the Archipelago, and neither of them had seen anything of the
French. He arrived off Alexandria on the 28th, and the enemy were not
there, neither was there any account of them; but the governor was
endeavouring to put the city in a state of defence, having received
advice from Leghorn that the French expedition was intended against
Egypt, after it had taken Malta. Nelson then shaped his course to the
northward for Caramania, and steered from thence along the southern side
of Candia, carrying a press of sail both night and day, with a contrary
wind. It would have been his delight, he said, to have tried Bonaparte
on a wind. It would have been the delight of Europe, too, and the
blessing of the world, if that fleet had been overtaken with its general
on board. But of the myriads and millions of human beings who would
have been preserved by that day's victory, there is not one to whom such
essential benefit would have resulted as to Bonaparte himself. It would
have spared him his defeat at Acre--his only disgrace; for to have been
defeated by Nelson upon the seas would not have been disgraceful; it
would have spared him all his after enormities. Hitherto his career had
been glorious; the baneful principles of his heart had never yet passed
his lips; history would have represented him as a soldier of fortune,
who had faithfully served the cause in which he engaged; and whose
career had been distinguished by a series of successes unexampled in
modern times. A romantic obscurity would have hung over the expedition
to Egypt, and he would have escaped the perpetration of those crimes
which have incarnadined his soul with a deeper dye than that of the
purple for which he committed them--those acts of perfidy, midnight
murder, usurpation, and remorseless tyranny, which have consigned his
name to universal execration, now and for ever.
Conceiving that when an officer is not successful in his plans it is
absolutely necessary that he should explain the motives upon which they
were founded, Nelson wrote at this time an account and vindication of
his conduct for having carried the fleet to Egypt. The objection which
he anticipated was that he ought not to have made so long a voyage
without more certain information. "My answer," said he, "is ready. Who
was I to get it from? The governments of Naples and Sicily either knew
not, or chose to keep me in ignorance. Was I to wait patiently until I
heard certain accounts? If Egypt were their object, before I could hear
of them they would have been in India. To do nothing was disgraceful;
therefore I made use of my understanding. I am before your lordships'
judgment; and if, under all circumstances, it is decided that I am
wrong, I ought, for the sake of our country, to be superseded; for at
this moment, when I know the French are not in Alexandria, I hold the
same opinion as off Cape Passaro--that, under all circumstances, I was
right in steering for Alexandria; and by that opinion I must stand or
fall." Captain Ball, to whom he showed this paper, told him he should
recommend a friend never to begin a defence of his conduct before he
was accused of error: he might give the fullest reasons for what he had
done, expressed in such terms as would evince that he had acted from the
strongest conviction of being right; and of course he must expect that
the public would view it in the same light. Captain Ball judged rightly
of the public, whose first impulses, though, from want of sufficient
information, they must frequently be erroneous, are generally founded
upon just feelings. But the public are easily misled, and there are
always persons ready to mislead them. Nelson had not yet attained that
fame which compels envy to be silent; and when it was known in England
that he had returned after an unsuccessful pursuit, it was said that
he deserved impeachment; and Earl St. Vincent was severely censured for
having sent so young an officer upon so important a service.
Baffled in his pursuit, he returned to Sicily. The Neapolitan ministry
had determined to give his squadron no assistance, being resolved to
do nothing which could possibly endanger their peace with the French
Directory; by means, however, of Lady Hamilton's influence at court, he
procured secret orders to the Sicilian governors; and under those
orders obtained everything which he wanted at Syracuse--a timely supply;
without which, he always said, he could not have recommenced his pursuit
with any hope of success. "It is an old saying," said he in his letter,
"that the devil's children have the devil's luck. I cannot to this
moment learn, beyond vague conjecture, where the French fleet have gone
to; and having gone a round of 600 leagues, at this season of the year,
with an expedition incredible, here I am, as ignorant of the situation
of the enemy as I was twenty-seven days ago. Every moment I have to
regret the frigates having left me; had one-half of them been with me,
I could not have wanted information. Should the French be so strongly
secured in port that I cannot get at them, I shall immediately shift
my flag into some other ship, and send the VANGUARD to Naples to be
refitted; for hardly any person but myself would have continued
on service so long in such a wretched state." Vexed, however, and
disappointed as he was, Nelson, with the true spirit of a hero, was
still full of hope. "Thanks to your exertions," said he, writing to Sir.
William and Lady Hamilton, "we have victualled and watered; and surely
watering at the fountain of Arethusa, we must have victory. We shall
sail with the first breeze; and be assured I will return either crowned
with laurel or covered with cypress." Earl St. Vincent he assured, that
if the French were above water he would find them out: he still held his
opinion that they were bound for Egypt: "but," said he to the First Lord
of the Admiralty, "be they bound to the Antipodes, your lordship may
rely that I will not lose a moment in bringing them to action."
On the 25th of July he sailed from Syracuse for the Morea. Anxious
beyond measure, and irritated that the enemy should so long have eluded
him, the tediousness of the nights made him impatient; and the officer
of the watch was repeatedly called on to let him know the hour, and
convince him, who measured time by his own eagerness, that it was
not yet daybreak. The squadron made the Gulf of Coron on the 28th.
Troubridge entered the port, and returned with intelligence that the
French fleet had been seen about four weeks before steering to the S.E.
from Candia. Nelson then determined immediately to return to Alexandria;
and the British fleet accordingly, with every sail set, stood once more
for the coast of Egypt. On the 1st of August, about 10 in the morning,
they came in sight of Alexandria: the port had been vacant and solitary
when they saw it last; it was now crowded with ships; and they perceived
with exultation that the tri-coloured flag was flying upon the walls. At
four in the afternoon, Captain Hood, in the ZEALOUS, made the signal
for the enemy's fleet. For many preceding days Nelson had hardly taken
either sleep or food: he now ordered his dinner to be served, while
preparations were making for battle; and when his officers rose from
table, and went to their separate stations, he said to them, "Before
this time to-morrow I shall have gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey."
The French, steering direct for Candia, had made an angular passage for
Alexandria; whereas Nelson, in pursuit of them, made straight for that
place, and thus materially shortened the distance. The comparative
smallness of his force made it necessary to sail in close order, and it
covered a less space than it would have done if the frigates had been
with him: the weather also was constantly hazy. These circumstances
prevented the English from discovering the enemy on the way to Egypt,
though it appeared, upon examining the journals of the French officers
taken in the action, that the two fleets must actually have crossed
on the night of the 22nd of June. During the return to Syracuse, the
chances of falling in with them were become fewer.
Why Buonaparte, having effected his landing, should not have suffered
the fleet to return, has never yet been explained. This much is certain,
that it was detained by his command, though, with his accustomed
falsehood, he accused Admiral Brueys, after that officer's death,
of having lingered on the coast contrary to orders. The French fleet
arrived at Alexandria on the 1st of July, and Brueys, not being able to
enter the port, which time and neglect had ruined, moored his ships
in Aboukir Bay, in a strong and compact line of battle; the headmost
vessel, according to his own account, being as close as possible to a
shoal on the N.W., and the rest of the fleet forming a kind of curve
along the line of deep water, so as not to be turned by any means in the
S.W. By Buonaparte's desire he had offered a reward of 10,000 livres to
any pilot of the country who would carry the squadron in, but none could
be found who would venture to take charge of a single vessel drawing
more than twenty feet. He had therefore made the best of his situation,
and chosen the strongest position which he could possibly take in an
open road. The commissary of the fleet said they were moored in such a
manner as to bid defiance to a force more than double their own. This
presumption could not then be thought unreasonable. Admiral Barrington,
when moored in a similar manner off St. Lucia, in the year 1778, beat
off the Comte d'Estaign in three several attacks, though his force
was inferior by almost one-third to that which assailed it. Here, the
advantage in numbers, both in ships, guns, and men, was in favour of the
French. They had thirteen ships of the line and four frigates, carrying
1196 guns and 11,230 men. The English had the same number of ships of
the line and one fifty-gun ship, carrying 1012 guns and 8068 men. The
English ships were all seventy-fours; the French had three eighty-gun
ships, and one three-decker of one hundred and twenty.
During the whole pursuit it had been Nelson's practice, whenever
circumstances would permit, to have his captains on board the VANGUARD,
and explain to them his own ideas of the different and best modes of
attack, and such plans as he proposed to execute on falling in with the
enemy, whatever their situation might be. There is no possible position,
it is said, which he did not take into calculation. His officers were
thus fully acquainted with his principles of tactics; and such was his
confidence in their abilities that the only thing determined upon, in
case they should find the French at anchor, was for the ships to form
as most convenient for their mutual support, and to anchor by the stern.
"First gain the victory," he said, "and then make the best use of it you
can." The moment he perceived the position of the French, that intuitive
genius with which Nelson was endowed displayed itself; and it instantly
struck him that where there was room for an enemy's ship to swing,
there was room for one of ours to anchor. The plan which he intended to
pursue, therefore, was to keep entirely on the outer side of the French
line, and station his ships, as far as he was able, one on the outer
bow, and another on the outer quarter, of each of the enemy's. This plan
of doubling on the enemy's ships was projected by Lord Hood, when he
designed to attack the French fleet at their anchorage in Gourjean Road.
Lord Hood found it impossible to make the attempt; but the thought
was not lost upon Nelson, who acknowledged himself, on this occasion,
indebted for it to his old and excellent commander. Captain Berry, when
he comprehended the scope of the design, exclaimed with transport, "If
we succeed, what will the world say?" "There is no IF in the case,"
replied the admiral: "that we shall succeed is certain; who may live to
tell the story is a very different question."
As the squadron advanced, they were assailed by a shower of shot and
shells from the batteries on the island, and the enemy opened a steady
fire from the starboard side of their whole line, within half gunshot
distance, full into the bows of our van ships. It was received in
silence: the men on board every ship were employed aloft in furling
sails, and below in tending the braces and making ready for anchoring. A
miserable sight for the French; who, with all their skill, and all their
courage, and all their advantages of numbers and situation, were upon
that element on which, when the hour of trial comes, a Frenchman has
no hope. Admiral Brueys was a brave and able man; yet the indelible
character of his country broke out in one of his letters, wherein he
delivered it as his private opinion, that the English had missed him,
because, not being superior in force, they did not think it prudent to
try their strength with him. The moment was now come in which he was to
be undeceived.
A French brig was instructed to decoy the English by manoeuvring so as
to tempt them toward a shoal lying off the island of Bekier; but Nelson
either knew the danger or suspected some deceit; and the lure was
unsuccessful. Captain Foley led the way in the GOLIATH, outsailing the
ZEALOUS, which for some minutes disputed this post of honour with him.
He had long conceived that if the enemy were moored in line of battle in
with the land, the best plan of attack would be to lead between them and
the shore, because the French guns on that side were not likely to be
manned, nor even ready for action. Intending, therefore, to fix himself
on the inner bow of the GUERRIER, he kept as near the edge of the bank
as the depth of water would admit; but his anchor hung, and having
opened his fire he drifted to the second ship, the CONQUERANT, before it
was clear; then anchored by the stern inside of her, and in ten minutes
shot away her mast. Hood, in the ZEALOUS, perceiving this, took the
station which the GOLIATH intended to have occupied, and totally
disabled the GUERRIER in twelve minutes. The third ship which doubled
the enemy's van was the ORION, Sir J. Saumarez; she passed to windward
of the ZEALOUS, and opened her larboard guns as long as they bore on
GUERRIER; then, passing inside the GOLIATH, sunk a frigate which annoyed
her, hauled round toward the French line, and anchoring inside, between
the fifth and sixth ships from the GUERRIER, took her station on the
larboard bow of the FRANKLIN and the quarter of the PEUPLE SOUVERAIN,
receiving and returning the fire of both. The sun was now nearly down.
The AUDACIOUS, Captain Could, pouring a heavy fire into the GUERRIER
and the CONQUERANT, fixed herself on the larboard bow of the latter, and
when that ship struck, passed on to the PEUPLE SOUVERAIN. The THESEUS,
Capt Miller, followed, brought down the GUERRIER's remaining main and
mizzen masts, then anchored inside of the SPARTIATE, the third in the
French line.
While these advanced ships doubled the French line, the VANGUARD was
the first that anchored on the outer side of the enemy, within half
pistol-shot of their third ship, the SPARTIATE. Nelson had six colours
flying in different parts of his rigging, lest they should be shot
away; that they should be struck, no British admiral considers as a
possibility. He veered half a cable, and instantly opened a tremendous
fire; under cover of which the other four ships of his division, the
MINOTAUR, BELLEROPHON, DEFENCE, and MAJESTIC, sailed on ahead of the
admiral. In a few minutes, every man stationed at the first six guns in
the fore part of the VANGUARD's deck was killed or wounded. These guns
were three times cleared. Captain Louis, in the MINOTAUR, anchored just
ahead, and took off the fire of the AQUILON, the fourth in the enemy's
line. The BELLEROPHON, Captain Darby, passed ahead, and dropped her
stern anchor on the starboard bow of the ORIENT, seventh in the line,
Brueys' own ship, of one hundred and twenty guns, whose difference of
force was in proportion of more than seven to three, and whose weight of
ball, from the lower deck alone, exceeded that from the whole broadside
of the BELLEROPHON. Captain Peyton, in the DEFENCE, took his station
ahead of the MINOTAUR, and engaged the FRANKLIN, the sixth in the line,
by which judicious movement the British line remained unbroken. The
MAJESTIC, Captain Westcott, got entangled with the main rigging of one
of the French ships astern of the ORIENT, and suffered dreadfully from
that three-decker's fire; but she swung clear, and closely engaging the
HEUREUX, the ninth ship on the starboard bow, received also the fire of
the TONNANT, which was the eighth in the line. The other four ships of
the British squadron, having been detached previous to the discovery of
the French, were at a considerable distance when the action began. It
commenced at half after six; about seven night closed, and there was no
other light than that from the fire of the contending fleets.
Troubridge, in the CULLODEN, then foremost of the remaining ships, was
two leagues astern. He came on sounding, as the others had done: as
he advanced, the increasing darkness increased the difficulty of the
navigation; and suddenly, after having found eleven fathoms water,
before the lead could be hove again he was fast aground; nor could all
his own exertions, joined with those of the LEANDER and the MUTINE brig,
which came to his assistance, get him off in time to bear a part in
the action. His ship, however, served as a beacon to the ALEXANDER and
SWIFTSURE, which would else, from the course which they were holding,
have gone considerably further on the reef, and must inevitably have
been lost. These ships entered the bay, and took their stations in
the darkness, in a manner still spoken of with admiration by all who
remember it. Captain Hallowell, in the SWIFTSURE, as he was bearing
down, fell in with what seemed to be a strange sail. Nelson had directed
his ships to hoist four lights horizontally at the mizzen peak as soon
as it became dark; and this vessel had no such distinction. Hallowell,
however, with great judgment, ordered his men not to fire: if she was an
enemy, he said, she was in too disabled a state to escape; but from her
sails being loose, and the way in which her head was, it was probable
she might be an English ship. It was the BELLEROPHON, overpowered by the
huge ORIENT: her lights had gone overboard, nearly 200 of her crew were
killed or wounded, all her masts and cables had been shot away; and she
was drifting out of the line toward the leeside of the bay. Her station,
at this important time, was occupied by the SWIFTSURE, which opened a
steady fire on the quarter of the FRANKLIN and the bows of the French
admiral. At the same instant, Captain Ball, with the ALEXANDER, passed
under his stern, and anchored within-side on his larboard quarter,
raking; him, and keeping up a severe fire of musketry upon his decks.
The last ship which arrived to complete the destruction of the enemy was
the LEANDER. Captain Thompson, finding that nothing could be done that
night to get off the CULLODEN, advanced with the intention of anchoring
athwart-hawse of the ORIENT. The FRANKLIN was so near her ahead that
there was not room for him to pass clear of the two; he therefore took
his station athwart-hawse of the latter in such a position as to rake
both.
The two first ships of the French line had been dismasted within a
quarter of an hour after the commencement of the action; and the others
had in that time suffered so severely that victory was already certain.
The third, fourth, and fifth were taken possession of at half-past
eight.
Meantime Nelson received a severe wound on the head from a piece of
langridge shot. Captain Berry caught him in his arms as he was falling.
The great effusion of blood occasioned an apprehension that the wound
was mortal: Nelson himself thought so; a large flap of the skin of the
forehead, cut from the bone, had fallen over one eye; and the other
being blind, he was in total darkness. When he was carried down, the
surgeon--in the midst of a scene scarcely to be conceived by those who
have never seen a cockpit in time of action, and the heroism which is
displayed amid its horrors,--with a natural and pardonable eagerness,
quitted the poor fellow then under his hands, that he might instantly
attend the admiral. "No!" said Nelson, "I will take my turn with my
brave fellows." Nor would he suffer his own wound to be examined till
every man who had been previously wounded was properly attended to.
Fully believing that the wound was mortal, and that he was about to
die, as he had ever desired, in battle, and in victory, he called the
chaplain, and desired him to deliver what he supposed to be his dying
remembrance to lady Nelson; he then sent for Captain Louis on board
from the MINOTAUR, that he might thank him personally for the great
assistance which he had rendered to the VANGUARD; and ever mindful of
those who deserved to be his friends, appointed Captain Hardy from the
brig to the command of his own ship, Captain Berry having to go home
with the news of the victory. When the surgeon came in due time to
examine his wound (for it was in vain to entreat him to let it be
examined sooner), the most anxious silence prevailed; and the joy of the
wounded men, and of the whole crew, when they heard that the hurt was
merely superficial, gave Nelson deeper pleasure than the unexpected
assurance that his life was in no danger. The surgeon requested, and as
far as he could, ordered him to remain quiet; but Nelson could not rest.
He called for his secretary, Mr. Campbell, to write the despatches.
Campbell had himself been wounded, and was so affected at the blind and
suffering state of the admiral that he was unable to write. The chaplain
was then sent for; but before he came, Nelson with his characteristic
eagerness took the pen, and contrived to trace a few words, marking his
devout sense of the success which had already been obtained. He was now
left alone; when suddenly a cry was heard on the deck that the ORIENT
was on fire. In the confusion he found his way up, unassisted and
unnoticed; and, to the astonishment of every one, appeared on the
quarter-decks where he immediately gave order that the boats should be
sent to the relief of the enemy.
It was soon after nine that the fire on, board the ORIENT broke out.
Brueys was dead; he had received three wounds, yet would not leave
his post: a fourth cut him almost in two. He desired not to be carried
below, but to be left to die upon deck. The flames soon mastered his
ship. Her sides had just been painted; and the oil-jars and paint
buckets were lying on the poop. By the prodigious light of this
conflagration, the situation of the two fleets could now be perceived,
the colours of both being clearly distinguishable. About ten o'clock the
ship blew up, with a shock which was felt to the very bottom of every
vessel. Many of her officers and men jumped overboard, some clinging
to the spars and pieces of wreck with which the sea was strewn, others
swimming to escape from the destruction which they momently dreaded.
Some were picked up by our boats; and some even in the heat and fury
of the action were dragged into the lower ports of the nearest British
ships by the British sailors. The greater part of her crew, however,
stood the danger till the last, and continued to fire from the lower
deck. This tremendous explosion was followed by a silence not less
awful: the firing immediately ceased on both sides; and the first sound
which broke the silence, was the dash of her shattered masts and yards,
falling into the water from the vast height to which they had been
exploded. It is upon record that a battle between two armies was once
broken off by an earthquake. Such an event would be felt like a miracle;
but no incident in war, produced by human means, has ever equalled the
sublimity of this co-instantaneous pause, and all its circumstances.
About seventy of the ORIENT's crew were saved by the English boats.
Among the many hundreds who perished were the commodore, Casa-Bianca,
and his son, a brave boy, only ten years old. They were seen floating
on a shattered mast when the ship blew up. She had money on board (the
plunder of Malta) to the amount of L600,000 sterling. The masses of
burning wreck, which were scattered by the explosion, excited for some
moments apprehensions in the English which they had never felt from any
other danger. Two large pieces fell into the main and fore tops of the
SWIFTSURE without injuring any person. A port-fire also fell into the
main-royal of the ALEXANDER; the fire which it occasioned was speedily
extinguished. Captain Ball had provided, as far as human foresight could
provide, against any such danger. All the shrouds and sails of his ship,
not absolutely necessary for its immediate management, were thoroughly
wetted, and so rolled up that they were as hard and as little
inflammable as so many solid cylinders.
The firing recommenced with the ships to leeward of the centre, and
continued till about three. At daybreak, the GUILLAUME TELL and the
GENEREUX, the two rear ships of the enemy, were the only French ships
of the line which had their colours flying; they cut their cables in
the forenoon, not having been engaged, and stood out to sea, and two
frigates with them. The ZEALOUS pursued; but as there was no other
ship in a condition to support Captain Hood, he was recalled. It was
generally believed by the officers that if Nelson had not been wounded,
not one of these ships could have escaped. The four certainly could not
if the CULLODEN had got into action; and if the frigates belonging to
the squadron had been present, not one of the enemy's fleet would have
left Aboukir Bay. These four vessels, however, were all that escaped;
and the victory was the most complete and glorious in the annals of
naval history. "Victory," said Nelson, "is not a name strong enough for
such a scene:" he called it a conquest. Of thirteen sail of the line,
nine were taken and two burned. Of the four frigates, one was sunk,
another, the ARTEMISE, was burned in a villanous manner by her captain,
M. Estandlet, who, having fired a broadside at the THESEUS, struck his
colours, then set fire to the ship and escaped with most of his crew to
shore. The British loss, in killed and wounded, amounted to 895 Westcott
was the only captain who fell; 3105 of the French, including the
wounded, were sent on shore by cartel, and 5225 perished.
As soon as the conquest was completed, Nelson sent orders through the
fleet to return thanksgiving in every ship for the victory with which
Almighty God had blessed his majesty's arms. The French at Rosetta, who
with miserable fear beheld the engagement, were at a loss to understand
the stillness of the fleet during the performance of this solemn duty;
but it seemed to affect many of the prisoners, officers as well as men;
and graceless and godless as the officers were, some of them remarked
that it was no wonder such order was Preserved in the British navy, when
the minds of our men could be Impressed with such sentiments after
so great a victory, and at a moment of such confusion. The French
at Rosetta, seeing their four ships sail out of the bay unmolested,
endeavoured to persuade themselves that they were in possession of the
place of battle. But it was in vain thus to attempt, against their own
secret and certain conviction, to deceive themselves; and even if they
could have succeeded in this, the bonfires which the Arabs kindled along
the whole coast, and over the country, for the three following nights,
would soon have undeceived them. Thousands of Arabs and Egyptians lined
the shore, and covered the house tops during the action, rejoicing
in the destruction which had overtaken their invaders. Long after the
battle, innumerable bodies were seen floating about the bay, in spite
of all the exertions which were made to sink them, as well from fear of
pestilence as from the loathing and horror which the sight occasioned.
Great numbers were cast up upon the Isle of Bekier (Nelson's Island, as
it has since been called), and our sailors raised mounds of sand over
them. Even after an interval of nearly three years Dr. Clarke saw them,
and assisted in interring heaps of human bodies, which, having been
thrown up by the sea where there were no jackals to devour them,
presented a sight loathsome to humanity. The shore, for an extent of
four leagues, was covered with wreck; and the Arabs found employment for
many days in burning on the beach the fragments which were cast up, for
the sake of the iron. Part of the ORIENT's main-mast was picked up by
the SWIFTSURE. Captain Hallowell ordered his carpenter to make a coffin
of it; the iron, as well as the wood, was taken from the wreck of the
same ship; it was finished as well and handsomely as the workman's skill
and materials would permit; and Hallowell then sent it to the admiral
with the following letter:--"Sir, I have taken the liberty of presenting
you a coffin made from the main mast of L'ORIENT, that when you have
finished your military career in this world you may be buried in one of
your trophies. But that that period may be far distant is the earnest
wish of your sincere friend, Benjamin Hallowell."--An offering so
strange, and yet so suited to the occasion, was received by Nelson in
the spirit with which it was sent. As if he felt it good for him, now
that he was at the summit of his wishes, to have death before his eyes,
he ordered the coffin to be placed upright in his cabin. Such a piece of
furniture, however, was more suitable to his own feelings than to those
of his guests and attendants; and an old favourite servant entreated him
so earnestly to let it be removed, that at length he consented to have
the coffin carried below; but he gave strict orders that it should be
safely stowed, and reserved for the purpose for which its brave and
worthy donor had designed it.
The victory was complete; but Nelson could not pursue it as he would
have done for want of means. Had he been provided with small craft,
nothing could have prevented the destruction of the store-ships and
transports in the port of Alexandria: four bomb-vessels would at that
time have burned the whole in a few hours. "Were I to die this moment."
said he in his despatches to the Admiralty, "WANT OF FRIGATES would
be found stamped on my heart! No words of mine can express what I have
suffered, and am suffering, for want of them." He had also to bear up
against great bodily suffering: the blow had so shaken his head, that
from its constant and violent aching, and the perpetual sickness which
accompanied the pain, he could scarcely persuade himself that the skull
was not fractured. Had it not been for Troubridge, Ball, Hood, and
Hallowell, he declared that he should have sunk under the fatigue
of refitting the squadron. "All," he said, "had done well; but these
officers were his supporters." But, amidst his sufferings and exertions,
Nelson could yet think of all the consequences of his victory; and that
no advantage from it might be lost, he despatched an officer overland
to India, with letters to the governor of Bombay, informing him of the
arrival of the French in Egypt, the total destruction of their fleet,
and the consequent preservation of India from any attempt against it on
the part of this formidable armament. "He knew that Bombay," he said,
"was their first object, if they could get there; but he trusted that
Almighty God would overthrow in Egypt these pests of the human race.
Buonaparte had never yet had to contend with an English officer, and he
would endeavour to make him respect us." This despatch he sent upon his
own responsibility, with letters of credit upon the East India Company,
addressed to the British consuls, vice-consuls, and merchants on his
route; Nelson saying, "that if he had done wrong, he hoped the bills
would be paid, and he would repay the Company; for, as an Englishman, he
should be proud that it had been in his power to put our settlements on
their guard." The information which by this means reached India was
of great importance. Orders had just been received for defensive
preparations, upon a scale proportionate to the apprehended danger; and
the extraordinary expenses which would otherwise have been incurred were
thus prevented.
Nelson was now at the summit of glory; congratulations, rewards, and
honours were showered upon him by all the states, and princes, and
powers to whom his victory gave a respite. The first communication of
this nature which he received was from the Turkish sultan, who, as soon
as the invasion of Egypt was known, had called upon "all true believers
to take arms against those swinish infidels the French, that they might
deliver these blessed habitations from their accursed hands;" and who
had ordered his "pashas to turn night into day in their efforts to
take vengeance." The present of "his imperial majesty, the powerful,
formidable, and most magnificent Grand Seignior," was a pelisse
of sables, with broad sleeves, valued at 5000 dols.; and a diamond
aigrette, valued at 18,000 dols., the most honourable badge among the
Turks; and in this instance more especially honourable, because it was
taken from one of the royal turbans. "If it were worth a million," said
Nelson to his wife, "my pleasure would be to see it in your possession."
The sultan also sent, in a spirit worthy of imitation, a purse of 2000
sequins, to be distributed among the wounded. The mother of the sultan
sent him a box, set with diamonds, valued at L1000. The Czar Paul, in
whom the better part of his strangely compounded nature at this time
predominated, presented him with his portrait, set in diamonds, in a
gold box, accompanied with a letter of congratulation, written by his
own hand. The king of Sardinia also wrote to him, and sent a gold box
set with diamonds. Honours in profusion were awaiting him at Naples. In
his own country the king granted these honourable augmentations to his
armorial ensign: a chief undulated, ARGENT: thereon waves of the sea;
from which a palm tree issuant, between a disabled ship on the dexter,
and a ruinous battery on the sinister all proper; and for his crest, on
a naval crown, OR, the chelengk, or plume, presented to him by the Turk,
with the motto, PALMAM QUI MERUIT FERAT. And to his supporters, being
a sailor on the dexter, and a lion on the sinister, were given these
honourable augmentations: a palm branch in the sailor's hand, and
another in the paw of the lion, both proper; with a tri-coloured flag
and staff in the lion's mouth. He was created Baron Nelson of the Nile,
and of Burnham Thorpe, with a pension of L2000 for his own life, and
those of his two immediate successors. When the grant was moved in the
House of Commons, General Walpole expressed an opinion that a higher
degree of rank ought to be conferred. Mr. Pitt made answer, that he
thought it needless to enter into that question. "Admiral Nelson's
fame," he said, "would be co-equal with the British name; and it would
be remembered that he had obtained the greatest naval victory on record,
when no man would think of asking whether he had been created a baron,
a viscount, or an earl." It was strange that, in the very act of
conferring a title, the minister should have excused himself for not
having conferred a higher one, by representing all titles, on such an
occasion, as nugatory and superfluous. True, indeed, whatever title had
been bestowed, whether viscount, earl, marquis, duke, or prince, if our
laws had so permitted, he who received it would have been Nelson still.
That name he had ennobled beyond all addition of nobility; it was the
name by which England loved him, France feared him, Italy, Egypt, and
Turkey celebrated him, and by which he will continue to be known while
the present kingdoms and languages of the world endure, and as long as
their history after them shall be held in remembrance. It depended upon
the degree of rank what should be the fashion of his coronet, in what
page of the red book his name was to be inserted, and what precedency
should be allowed his lady in the drawing-room and at the ball. That
Nelson's honours were affected thus far, and no further, might be
conceded to Mr. Pitt and his colleagues in administration; but the
degree of rank which they thought proper to allot was the measure of
their gratitude, though not of his service. This Nelson felt, and this
he expressed, with indignation, among his friends.
Whatever may have been the motives of the ministry, and whatever the
formalities with which they excused their conduct to themselves, the
importance and magnitude of the victory were universally acknowledged.
A grant of L10,000 was voted to Nelson by the East India Company; the
Turkish Company presented him with a piece of plate; the City of London
presented a sword to him, and to each of his captains; gold medals were
distributed to the captains; and the first lieutenants of all the ships
were promoted, as had been done after Lord Howe's victory. Nelson
was exceedingly anxious that the captain and first lieutenant of the
CULLODEN should not be passed over because of their misfortune. To
Troubridge himself he said, "Let us rejoice that the ship which got
on shore was commanded by an officer whose character is so thoroughly
established." To the Admiralty he stated that Captain Troubridge's
conduct was as fully entitled to praise as that of any one officer in
the squadron, and as highly deserving of reward. "It was Troubridge,"
said he, "who equipped the squadron so soon at Syracuse; it was
Troubridge who exerted himself for me after the action; it was
Troubridge who saved the CULLODEN, when none that I know in the service
would have attempted it." The gold medal, therefore, by the king's
express desire, was given to Captain Troubridge, "for his services both
before and since, and for the great and wonderful exertion which he
made at the time of the action in saving and getting off his ship." The
private letter from the Admiralty to Nelson informed him that the
first lieutenants of all the ships ENGAGED were to be promoted. Nelson
instantly wrote to the commander-in-chief: "I sincerely hope," said he,
"this is not intended to exclude the first lieutenant of the CULLODEN.
For heaven's sake--for my sake, if it be so--get it altered. Our dear
friend Troubridge has endured enough. His sufferings were, in every
respect, more than any of us." To the Admiralty he wrote in terms
equally warm. "I hope, and believe, the word ENGAGED is not intended to
exclude the CULLODEN. The merits of that ship, and her gallant Captain,
are too well known to benefit by anything I could say. Her misfortune
was great in getting aground, while her more fortunate companions were
in the full tide of happiness. No: I am confident that my good Lord
Spencer will never add misery to misfortune. Captain Troubridge on shore
is superior to captains afloat: in the midst of his great misfortunes he
made those signals which prevented certainly the ALEXANDER and SWIFTSURE
from running on the shoals. I beg your pardon for writing on a subject
which, I verily believe, has never entered your lordship's head; but my
heart, as it ought to be, is warm to my gallant friends." Thus feelingly
alive was Nelson to the claims, and interests, and feelings of others.
The Admiralty replied, that the exception was necessary, as the ship had
not been in action; but they desired the commander-in-chief to promote
the lieutenant upon the first vacancy which should occur.
Nelson, in remembrance of an old and uninterrupted friendship, appointed
Alexander Davison sole prize agent for the captured ships: upon which
Davison ordered medals to be struck in gold, for the captains; in
silver, for the lieutenants and warrant officers; in gilt metal for the
petty officers; and in copper for the seamen and marines. The cost of
this act of liberality amounted nearly to L2000. It is worthy of record
on another account;--for some of the gallant men, who received no other
honorary badge of their conduct on that memorable day than this copper
medal from a private individual, years afterwards, when they died upon
a foreign station, made it their last request, that the medals might
carefully be sent home to their respective friends. So sensible are
brave men of honour, in whatever rank they may be placed.
Three of the frigates, whose presence would have been so essential a few
weeks sooner, joined the squadron on the twelfth day after the
action. The fourth joined a few days after them. Nelson thus received
despatches, which rendered it necessary for him to return to Naples.
Before he left Egypt he burned three of the prizes; they could not have
been fitted for a passage to Gibraltar in less than a month, and that at
a great expense, and with the loss of the services of at least two sail
of the line. "I rest assured," he said to the Admiralty, "that they will
be paid for, and have held out that assurance to the squadron. For if an
admiral, after a victory, is to look after the captured ships, and not
to the distressing of the enemy, very dearly, indeed, must the nation
pay for the prizes. I trust that L60,000 will be deemed a very moderate
sum for them: and when the services, time, and men, with the expense
of fitting the three ships for a voyage to England, are considered,
government will save nearly as much as they are valued at. Paying for
prizes," he continued, "is no new idea of mine, and would often prove an
amazing saving to the state, even without taking into calculation what
the nation loses by the attention of admirals to the property of the
captors; an attention absolutely necessary, as a recompence for the
exertions of the officers and men. An admiral may be amply rewarded
by his own feelings, and by the approbation of his superiors; but what
reward have the inferior officers and men but the value of the prizes?
If an admiral takes that from them, on any consideration, he cannot
expect to be well supported." To Earl St. Vincent he said, "If he could
have been sure that government would have paid a reasonable value for
them, he would have ordered two of the other prizes to be burnt, for
they would cost more in refitting, and by the loss of ships attending
them, than they were worth."
Having sent the six remaining prizes forward, under Sir James Saumarez,
Nelson left Captain Hood, in the ZEALOUS off Alexandria, with the
SWIFTSURE, GOLIATH, Alcmene, ZEALOUS, and EMERALD, and stood out to sea
himself on the seventeenth day after the battle.