PREFACE.

There are few works, the authors of which can possibly be permitted to

recommend them as worthy of universal regard, without the imputation of

intolerable vanity; an imputation little likely to be diminished by the

consideration, that other writers, over whom a decided preference is

claimed, may have previously occupied the same subject.

A Life of Lord Nelson, however, replete with original anecdotes, many of

them from the mouths of his lordship's nearest and dearest relatives and

friends, with whom the author has, for many months, been honoured with

an almost constant communication; and abounding in a profusion of

interesting letters, and extracts of letters, written by the hero

himself, which have generously flowed in, from all quarters, to aid the

biographer; he may surely, without the charge of presumption, these

facts being self-evident on the slightest inspection, be allowed to

assert, must necessarily be entitled to very general notice and esteem.

So numerous, indeed, have been the invaluable documents kindly tendered

to the author's acceptance, that he has not only been under the

necessity of greatly enlarging his original design; but may, probably,

at a future and no very distant period, feel encouraged to present those

who have so indulgently expressed their approbation of his present

labours, with a sort of supplementary work, not necessarily attached,

but still more minutely illustrative of many circumstances which relate

to the life and character of this greatest and best of heroes and of

men.

It is not without painful sensations, that the author feels compelled to

notice the many dishonourable insinuations which have been promulged by

bold speculators on public credulity: some of whom, by prematurely

publishing, have already sufficiently evinced their want of genuine

information; and others, after the most illiberal reflections on all

contemporaries, have found it expedient entirely to abandon their own

boasted performances, or to wait the completion of the very work which

they have thus meanly and insidiously laboured to depreciate, before

they could possibly advance.

This biographical memoir, like the character of the immortal man whom

it proudly aspires to commemorate, rests on no false claim. It offers

not any meretricious attraction to the eye; it submits itself, wholly,

to the understanding, and to the heart. Should it fail considerably to

gratify the one, and powerfully to interest the other, it will be in

vain for the author to urge, however true, that he has exerted himself,

with a due sense of the dignity of his subject, and of the difficulty of

the task, to produce a work which, though it can never sufficiently

honour the incomparable hero, should as little as possible disgrace the

kind contributory aids, and the generous patronage, which he has had the

distinguished favour to receive from so many estimable and illustrious

personages. To add a list of names, might seem ostentatious; but,

certainly, such a list would contain almost every great and virtuous

character allied to his late lordship, in the bonds of affinity as well

as of friendship. With most of these, it will ever constitute the chief

pride and happiness of the author's life, that he is also permitted to

boast a considerable degree of intimate friendship; and, in the

delightful retreat of Merton Place, surrounded by all who were most

dear to the heart of the hero, in consanguinity as well as amity, have

many of those valuable anecdotes been obtained, with which the work is

so abundantly enriched.

Prompted to this undertaking, by a strong sense of conviction, that our

chief hero, when his character was clearly understood, would be found as

eminently good as great, the biographer has fearlessly endeavoured

freely to investigate transactions of the utmost delicacy in private

life; and he is fully prepared to assert, and as far as possible to

prove, that there seldom has existed any human being adorned by the

practice of so many positive virtues, so little sullied by any actual

vice, as that immortal man, the chief particulars of whose history will

be found, the author may, at least, be permitted to maintain, most

faithfully recorded in the work now confided, with all it's

imperfections, to the just judgment of the world; a tribunal which

seldom fails doing compleat justice, either sooner or later, to all the

merits both of heroes and of authors, of men as well as of books.

THE LIFE

OF

_LORD NELSON_,

DUKE OF BRONTE, &c.

* * * * *

When we survey, with rapture, the state of an exalted hero, arrived at

all the honours which it is possible for a human being to receive from

the gratitude, the veneration, and the love, of his fellow-mortals;

seen, as he then is, like a luminary of the first magnitude in the full

blaze of meridian glory, we are generally too dazzled by the lustre we

behold, to penetrate, or even to reflect on, the circuitous, the

tedious, or the perplexed path, through which he may have been

constrained to pass, in pursuit of the splendid destiny at length

happily attained.

In this sublime situation, we have lately beheld a British naval hero,

who has scarcely ever been equalled, and certainly never surpassed. As a

nation, we have been charmed with his brilliant refulgence; we have been

cheared by his vivifying influence; and we lament the short duration of

his splendor with a grief so general, that it appears to be without

parallel in the history of any age or country.

To trace the progress of this heroic and inestimable character, through

the various vicissitudes of his eventful life, from it's commencement to

it's close, with all the accuracy and minuteness which circumstances

will admit; contemplating and comparing the several causes and effects

which may have retarded or accelerated the progress of his public

career, which may have blessed or embittered his private comforts; is

the arduous task of the present biographer: who holds, with a trembling;

hand, the pen that would presumptuously aspire to record, with suitable

dignity, the history of one of the very greatest and most successful

naval heroes that has ever yet astonished and adorned the world.

Lord Nelson, Duke of Bronte--for he always, very properly, signed with

both these titles, from the moment of obtaining them--was the offspring

of parents on each side highly respectable.

The family of the Nelsons had been long resident in the county of

Norfolk: they possessed, for many years, and their posterity still

possess, a small patrimony at Hilborough, with the patronage of that

rectory.

The Sucklings, likewise a Norfolk family, of lofty alliances, have been

resident at Wooton nearly three centuries.

On the 11th of May, in the year 1749, the Reverend Edmund Nelson, son

of the then venerable Rector of Hilborough, and himself Rector of

Burnham-Thorpe, was married to Catharine daughter of Dr. Maurice

Suckling, Rector of Basham in Suffolk, as well as of Wooton in Norfolk,

and a Prebendary of Westminster.

By this union the Nelson family gained the honour of being related to

the noble families of Walpole, Cholmondeley, and Townshend: Miss

Suckling being the grand-daughter of Sir Charles Turner, Bart. of

Warham, in the county of Norfolk, by Mary, daughter of Robert Walpole,

Esq. of Houghton, and sister to Sir Robert Walpole, of Wolterton, whose

next sister, Dorothy, was married to Charles, second Viscount Townshend.

The honour, however, so conferred, has since been abundantly recompenced

to all these illustrious families, by a single Nelson, the offspring of

this very union; to whom, in their turn, they may now proudly boast

their alliance, without any degradation of dignity.

Of these virtuous and most respectable parents, was Horatio Lord

Viscount Nelson born, at the parsonage house of the rectory of

Burnham-Thorpe, on Michaelmas-day 1758: a place which will be ever

renowned for having given him birth; and a day of annual festivity,

which every Briton has now an additional motive to commemorate.

He was their fifth son, and their sixth child: his eldest sister, Mrs.

Bolton, the amiable lady of Thomas Bolton, Esq. by whom she has a son

and four daughters, being about three years older than her renowned

brother.

There had been a former son christened Horatio, who only survived about

twelve months; and another, named Edmund, after the father, who also

died in early infancy: both of whom are entombed in Hilborough church.

The name of Horatio, or Horace, which is thus once more destined to live

for ever honoured, was doubtless adopted, and persisted in by Mr. and

Mrs. Nelson, as a compliment to the memory of their noble relative, the

first Lord Walpole; brother of the highly celebrated Sir Robert Walpole,

afterwards first Earl of Orford. It was then little imagined, even by

the boundless partiality of parental affection, looking forward to

sanguine hopes of a powerful family patronage, that this infant could

ever possibly live to eclipse all the glory of his most brilliant

ancestors!

The name of Maurice, after Dr. Maurice Suckling the grandfather, and his

son Captain Maurice Suckling, had been previously given to another son,

born May 24, 1753: who held a situation in the Navy Office, and died so

recently as the year 1801, three days after receiving news of the battle

of Copenhagen; leaving a widow, but no issue.

Had this last gentleman survived his illustrious brother, he would, of

course, have succeeded to his lordship's titles; which now devolve,

augmented by an earldom, on the Reverend William Nelson, Rector of

Hilborough; the sole remaining brother of this numerous family, most of

whom died in their minority. The Earl, who was born April 20, 1757,

married, in November 1786, Sarah daughter of the Reverend Henry Yonge,

of Great Torrington in the county of Devon--cousin to the Right Reverend

Philip Yonge, late Bishop of Norwich--by whom he has issue,

Charlotte-Mary, born September 20, 1787; and Horatio, born October 26,

1788, successor-apparent to the honours of his immortal uncle.

Of the whole eight sons, offspring of Lord Nelson's parents, it seems

remarkable that only the present Earl ever had any issue; while, of

their three daughters, one died in her infancy, and the two who reached

maturity, Mrs. Bolton and Mrs. Matcham, have both several children: Mrs.

Bolton, as already noticed, having five now living; and Mrs. Matcham,

her amiable younger sister, the lady of George Matcham, Esq. being the

mother of no less than three sons and five daughters.

We usually expect, that the life of a great character should commence

with some early indication of his future excellence. This, being an

apparent principle in nature, is probably just. That divine genius, of

whatever description, which "_nascetur, non fit_;" is born with a man,

and not possible to be made or acquired; must, necessarily, exist at his

birth, whatever may be the period when, or the circumstance by which,

the dormant spark is first awakened into action. Parents, it is true,

are in general great observers of infantine occurrences; and very apt to

be presageful of wonderful results expected from trivial causes. Few

parents, however, are so blessed, as to have children who possess

genius: of those who are, some silently treasure up their hopes, which

may be buried with them in an untimely grave; some are too incessantly

busied in the cares of providing for a numerous offspring, to be capable

of indulging minute attentions to any particular infant; and some are

altogether unconscious, or regardless, of the presence of genius, amidst

the clearest manifestations of it's existence. To most other persons,

but the parents, if we except a good old grandmother, or an artful or

affectionate nurse, the actions and the sayings of a child seldom afford

much interest; and the relation of them often gives rise to no

inconsiderable degree of animosity. The parents of other children, and

even the other children of the same parents, not unfrequently hear such

praises with distaste and aversion; and, if they do not soon entirely

forget them, it is, perhaps, only because their unextinguishable envy

condemns them to preserve the remembrance of the circumstance by which

it was originally excited.

These, among various other causes, prevent our always becoming

acquainted with the early occurrences which distinguish genius, even

where they soonest appear: but, genius is not always apparent in early

infancy; and, where it is, every hero does not, like Hercules, find a

serpent successfully to encounter in his cradle.

Of Lord Nelson's infancy, from whatever causes, scarcely any anecdote is

now preserved. That which may, probably, be considered as the first, has

often been related; but never, heretofore, in a manner sufficiently

accurate and circumstantial.

At the very early age of not more than five or six years, little

Horatio, being on a visit to his grandmother, at Hilborough, who was

remarkably fond of all her son's children, and herself a most exemplary

character, had strolled out, with a boy some years older than himself,

to ramble over the country in search of birds-nests. Dinner-time,

however, arriving, and her grandson not having returned, the old lady

became so excessively alarmed, that messengers, both on horseback and on

foot, were immediately dispatched, to discover the wanderer. The

progress of the young adventurers had, it seems, been impeded by a

brook, or piece of water, over which Horatio could not pass; and, his

companion having gone off and left him, he was found ruminating, very

composedly, on the opposite bank. It is not ascertained, whether his

companion had got across the water, or gone back again by the way they

had approached it: whether the young hero was meditating how it might be

passed; or too weary, or unwilling, to retread all his former steps. Who

shall pretend to say, that this child, thus sitting, in a state of

abstraction, by the side of an impassable piece of water, might not

first feel that ardent thirst of nautical knowledge excited, the

gratification of which has since led to such glorious consequences! Be

this as it may--for even himself, if living, might not now be conscious

of the fact--it is perfectly well remembered that, on his being brought

into the presence of his grandmother, the old lady concluded her lecture

respecting the propriety of children's rambling abroad without the

permission of their friends, by saying--"I wonder, that fear did not

drive you home."--"Fear, grandmama," innocently replied the child, "I

never saw FEAR; what is it?"

Perhaps, the frequent repetition of this anecdote, and the admiration

which the sweet simplicity of the child's wonderful answer must

naturally create in the bosom of every virtuous friend, had no small

share in fixing his heroic character. He had never seen fear, he knew

not what it was. What a reflection for an incipient hero, when he became

capable of comprehending the full force of his own artless expression!

If he ever lived to see fear, it was only in the enemies of his country;

if to know it, it was only by name.

There seems good reason to suppose, that his invincible spirit was

visible at an early age, as well as his generally mild and amiable

disposition. He was a prodigious favourite with his indulgent mother:

who was herself a woman of considerable firmness and fortitude, though

of a delicate habit, as well as of great meekness and piety: and, in one

of the little customary strifes of brothers, the present earl being his

antagonist, when requested, by some friends, who were alarmed at the

noise, to interfere in behalf of the youngest, is well recollected to

have replied, with the utmost composure, and a very visible satisfaction

depicted on her expressive countenance--"Let them alone, little Horace

will beat him; let Horace alone!"

The brother of Mrs. Nelson, Captain Maurice Suckling, married to a

sister of the present Lord Walpole, was a naval commander of very

considerable skill and bravery: he frequently visited his sister; and

was, also, particularly fond of Horatio. He had, doubtless, heard the

anecdote respecting fear; to which, in his own person, he felt himself

as much a stranger as his little nephew: and, probably, was the first

friend to hail and encourage the future hero.

His sister, partial to the honourable profession of her brother, would

naturally interpret every proof of her darling son's attachment to his

uncle's person, his conversation, or even any of his professional

habiliments, as well as each appearance of spirited resolution which he

occasionally displayed, into an inclination, as well as fitness, for the

service. She, like the Holy Mary, "kept all these things, and pondered

them in her heart:" but, she lived not to behold the accomplishment of

her cherished hopes!

The principles of piety were carefully implanted in his infant mind, by

the example, as well as precepts, of both parents; and, amidst all the

tempestuous passions by which mankind is agitated during his progress

through the various scenes of active life, these principles could never

be eradicated from his bosom.

The celebrated grammar-school at Norwich, called the High School, of

which a Mr. Symonds was then master, and which was afterwards

superintended by the learned Dr. Parr, has the honour of having given

him the first rudiments of a respectable education. How long he

continued at Norwich school is not now known, any more than the

particular reason why he quitted it. From thence, however, he went to

the grammar-school at North Walsham; and was placed under the tuition of

the Reverend Mr. Jones, whose abilities are said to have then acquired

much celebrity.

It seems likely, that this removal might take place at the period of his

mother's death, which happened on the 24th of December 1767; being about

nine months after she was delivered of Mrs. Matcham, her eleventh and

last child.

The death of this excellent lady was a severe loss to her affectionate

husband, and his infant family; who do not appear to have experienced

any very substantial proofs of friendship from their illustrious

relatives in general, after Mrs. Nelson's decease. It is, indeed, but

too common for the affluent to neglect those of their humbler kindred

who have a numerous offspring; as if marriage were a crime, and the

fruits of virtuous love a reproach rather than a blessing. The Reverend

Mr. Nelson, however, was never in necessitous circumstances; and, as he

felt no solicitude for any self-indulgences not always within his reach,

he was enabled to effect the respectable establishment of all his

children, without that assistance, or those attentions, which he might

naturally have expected, and which it would certainly have been pleasing

to receive.

The good grandmother, at Hilborough, however, did all in her power to

promote the happiness and comfort of her son's children; and her

kindness and affection supplied, as much as it can be supplied, the want

of a mother. She was a fine old lady, and possessed uncommon wisdom,

with extreme goodness of heart. Her faculties were so lasting, that she

could see to read the smallest print, and execute the finest needlework,

till the close of her prolonged life, which extended to ninety-three

years.

Captain Suckling, too, seems to have formed one exception, at least, to

the almost general indifference on the part of their maternal relations.

He continued his occasional visits; and engaged, the first moment

possible, to take Horatio under his immediate protection.

The child, in the mean time, was acquiring the advantages of a good

education, at North Walsham grammar-school; and it seems evident, from

subsequent circumstances, that he must have been making considerable

progress in learning, under Mr. Jones's able tuition, when he was

suddenly withdrawn, at the tender age of only twelve years, from that

respectable seminary, to commence his professional career on the

perilous ocean.

About the autumn of 1770, when the aggressions of the Spaniards, who had

violently taken possession of the Falkland Islands, so far alarmed the

country, that a naval armament was prepared to chastise this indignity,

Captain Suckling, having obtained the command of the Raisonnable, of

sixty-four guns, one of the ships put into commission on the occasion,

immediately ordered his nephew from school, and entered him as a

midshipman.

The youth, after being properly equipped for this situation, was sent to

join the ship, then at Sheerness. It should seem, however, that his

uncle could not at that time be on board, or any person whatever who

knew of his coming: for he has been repeatedly heard to say, by one of

his oldest and most esteemed friends, that he paced the deck, after his

arrival from Greenwich, the whole remainder of the day, without being in

the smallest degree noticed by any one; till, at length, the second day

of his being on board, some person, as he expressed it, "kindly took

compassion on him." It was then discovered, for the first time, that he

was the captain's nephew, and appointed to serve on board as a

midshipman. What a primary reception was this, for such a youth to

experience! It did not, however, dispirit him; and he was, no doubt, now

heartily greeted and encouraged, with the golden hopes always inspired,

among young seamen, by the prospect of a Spanish war.

Whatever might be the extent of these hopes, they were destined to be

speedily dissipated. The Spaniards very readily made such concessions as

administration thought it expedient, at that juncture, to accept,

respecting this business; Mr. Harris, his majesty's minister at Madrid,

who had been recalled on the 21st of December 1770, was ordered to

return thither on the 18th of January 1771; and, of course, all the

ships which had been just commissioned for that service, were directed

to be immediately laid up in ordinary, and paid off.

This, on the whole, seemed no very auspicious commencement for the young

hero. His father was in the condition of the country; he had incurred

the expences of fitting out, for services which this compromise rendered

unnecessary. Peace, however, while it can be preserved with safety and

honour, is always preferable to war; and initiation in an honourable

profession, where so much depends on seniority, though it may not be

immediately productive, is undoubtedly better than nothing.

Horatio, though discouraged, was not disgusted: on the contrary, he felt

delighted with the profession of a sailor. Under the eye of his

respectable uncle, during the short time he had been on board, he became

fully satisfied that, to form an accomplished seaman, would require no

small degree of application, and no few years of experience. It was

ever the opinion of the Reverend Mr. Nelson, founded on an early and

acute observation of his son's character, that Horatio, in whatever

station placed, would climb, if possible, to the very top of the tree:

this sentiment seems to have swelled the bosom of the youth, at an age

when few boys indulge any serious anticipatory reflection. With all that

regarded nautical knowledge, he was studious to become thoroughly

acquainted; and, being ardently desirous of making his first voyage,

which was now impracticable in the navy, his uncle placed him under the

care of Mr. John Rathbone, an excellent seaman, who then had the command

of a West-Indiaman belonging to the respectable house of Hibbert,

Purrier, and Horton. With this skilful and brave commander, who had

formerly served under Captain Suckling, in the Dreadnought, he now

joyfully proceeded on his first expedition, by sailing to the West

Indies.

The numerous and agreeable novelties continually presenting themselves

to the view of the young adventurer, during this interesting voyage,

could not fail to prove highly gratifying. He was beholding a new world,

while he was gaining practical skill in a new profession: and, if the

latter might be considered as a substitute for the school studies so

lately quitted at North Walsham; the former amply compensated the loss

of those hours of vacation amusements, the enjoyment of which he might

now recollect without any regret. The enervating influence of the torrid

climes had no ill effect on his constitution; which was radically good,

though partaking of his mother's slightness and delicacy: and he had

been too virtuously educated, hastily to indulge that rash and dangerous

intemperance which proves so often fatal to inconsiderate Europeans, on

their first visiting the West Indies. With a considerable store of local

and professional information, he returned to England about the middle of

the year 1772.

It has been said that, at this period, his mind had acquired, without

any apparent cause, an entire horror of the royal navy; that Captain

Suckling, who beheld with anxiety the critical situation of his nephew,

was soon convinced, by the sentiment he appeared to indulge in--"Aft,

the most honour; but forward, the better man!"--his too credulous nephew

had acquired a bias utterly foreign to his real character; and that it

was many weeks before all the firmness of the captain, assisted by his

thorough knowledge of the human heart, could overcome these prejudices

in his nephew, and reconcile him to the service on board a king's ship.

Admitting the truth of this relation, it would be natural to suppose

that Mr. Rathbone, who was probably a worthy but disappointed man, had

inspired the youth with his own aversions to serving in the royal navy,

without a due consideration being made for the differences of their

respective interests. This gentleman, with the utmost purity of design,

might wish to prepare the nephew of his friend for mortifications and

disappointments to be expected in the profession he had just embraced;

it was not his fault, if pictures, which he perhaps feelingly and

faithfully pourtrayed from the life, excited too much abhorrence in the

mind of his young pupil. The sentiment of "Aft, the most honour; but

forward, the better man!" might come with no ill grace from the lips of

Mr. Rathbone, but could never originate with a boy of thirteen. So far,

the fact may be supported by some degree of probability, but it seems

incapable of proof.

In the family, no such circumstance appears to be remembered. It is well

recollected--in some degree, to the contrary--that, on a slight

intimation from his father, of a wish that he might entirely quit the

sea-service, he resolutely declared, that if he were not again sent out,

he would set off without any assistance.

It may, however, be taken for granted, that he wished for more active

employment in seamanship, than he could well expect to obtain, on board

a man of war, in the capacity of a midshipman. The mode which his uncle

is said to have adopted for what is called the recovery of the original

bias of his nephew's mind, was to work on the ambition which, it is on

all hands agreed, he in a supereminent degree possessed, to become a

thorough seaman.

Captain Suckling had recently been appointed to the command of the

Triumph, then lying at Chatham; on board of which ship he placed his

nephew, in July 1772, immediately after the youth's return from the West

Indies, in his old situation on the quarter-deck: and, though he had,

thus, the "aft" situation of "most honour," the uncle contrived that he

should, at the same time, be permitted to enjoy all the advantages of

the "forward," which might be supposed to form "the better man." This he

judiciously effected, by permitting him to go in the cutter and decked

long-boat attached to the commanding officer's ship at Chatham: an

indulgence which afforded him the highest satisfaction; while it tended

so largely to promote his practical knowledge of navigation, that he is

said to have soon actually become an excellent pilot for such vessels as

sail from Chatham to the Tower of London, and down the Swin Channel to

the North Foreland.

It was thus that this young seaman, by being continually engaged in the

successful navigation of difficult passages, or dangerous coasts,

habitually acquired that experimental reliance on his own skill, and

that internal self-possession, which so essentially contribute to

establish the dauntless intrepidity of a truly heroic mind. He felt a

conviction of his growing powers, and panted for opportunities of

bringing them to the proof. His present sphere of action, confined to a

comparatively small spot, for the Triumph never once went out to sea

while he remained on board, made him languish for some new situation,

better suited to his enterprising spirit; and it was not long before an

occurrence took place, which seemed to promise the gratification of his

most sanguine wish.

About the beginning of February 1773, the Earl of Sandwich, then First

Lord of the Admiralty, in consequence of an application which had been

made to him by the Royal Society, laid before the King a proposal for an

expedition to try how far navigation might be practicable towards the

North Pole; which his Majesty was pleased to direct should be

immediately undertaken, with every encouragement that could countenance

such an enterprise, and every assistance that could contribute to it's

success. The Racehorse and Carcass bombs, being selected as the

strongest, and therefore the properest, vessels to be employed in this

voyage, were taken into dock, and fitted in the most complete manner for

the service. The command of the former was given to Captain Constantine

John Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave; and that of the latter, to

Captain Skeffington Lutwidge, now Admiral of the White. The complement

for each was fixed at ninety men; and the ordinary establishment

departed from, by appointing an additional number of officers, the whole

recommended by their respective captains, and entering effective men

instead of the usual number of boys Two masters of Greenlandmen were

employed as pilots for each ship; the Racehorse was furnished with new

chain-pumps on Captain Bentinck's improved plan; Dr. Irving's apparatus

for distilling fresh water from the sea was adopted; Mr. Israel Lyons

was engaged, by the Board of Longitude, to embark in this voyage, for

the purpose of making astronomical observations; the board also sent two

watch machines for keeping the longitude by difference of time, one on

Mr. Harrison's principles, the other by Mr. Arnold; and, in short, every

possible arrangement was made effectually to decide the long-agitated

question concerning the practicability of a north-east passage into the

Pacific ocean.

The report of this scientific voyage, from which so much nautical

knowledge could not fail to be derived by a youth thirsting for

professional information, most powerfully attracted the enterprising

spirit of young Nelson; who resolved, if possible, to participate in

it's advantages, without any apprehensions from the perils to which he

must necessarily be exposed in it's pursuit. It may, indeed, be justly

doubted, whether the hope of successfully encountering these very perils

might not constitute one of its chief charms for his intrepid mind.

Notwithstanding, therefore, the implied interdiction of the Admiralty,

respecting the employment of boys on this hazardous voyage, he so

powerfully pleaded with Captain Lutwidge to be appointed coxswain, and

so fully satisfied him he was not unqualified for the task, that the

worthy captain at length, kindly consented to receive him in this

capacity; and, though the Carcass, when fitted, being found too deep in

the water to proceed to sea with safety, was constrained to put part of

her guns on shore, and reduce her complement to eighty men, the young

coxswain felt himself already too firmly fixed in his captain's favour

to dread being one of the dismissed number.

On the 30th of May 1773, Captain Lutwidge, in the Carcass, joined

Captain Phipps, in the Racehorse, at the Nore: but, being delayed, by

the easterly winds, till the 4th of June, his majesty's birth-day, at six

o'clock that morning, both ships weighed; and Captain Lutwidge, having

received his orders from Captain Phipps, they immediately sailed on the

expedition.

The journal of this important voyage, during which so much was seen and

suffered, Captain Phipps published soon after his return, in a

respectable quarto volume, which contains a large fund of scientifical

and professional information.

Our young hero had recently felt the enervating effects of a burning

sun, in the torrid regions of the west; he had now speedily to encounter

the benumbing influence of a frozen atmosphere, in the torpid confines

of the north.

On the 13th of June, in the evening, land was first seen by the Carcass:

it was light enough to read on deck all night; and, the next day, some

Shetland boats came on board with fish.

After proceeding along the coast of Spitsbergen, and ranging between

the land and the ice several days, at half past four, in the afternoon

of the 7th of July, the ice setting very close, they ran between two

pieces, and were suddenly stopped. The ice, indeed, now set so fast

down, that they were soon fixed; and obliged to heave through, for two

hours, with ice-anchors from each quarter, nor were they quite out of

the ice till midnight.

On the 25th, the Carcass being becalmed very near Moffen Island, Captain

Lutwidge took the opportunity of obtaining its exact extent, which he

communicated to Captain Phipps. The master had been on shore for the

purpose of this survey; and with him, doubtless, our young adventurer.

They found the island to be nearly of a round form, about two miles in

diameter; with a lake or large pond of water in the middle, all frozen

over, except thirty or forty yards round the edge of it, which was

water, with loose pieces of broken ice, and so shallow, that they walked

through it, and went over on the solid ice. The ground between the sea

and the pond was from half a cable's length to a quarter of a mile

broad, and the whole island appeared covered with gravel and small

stones, without the smallest verdure or vegetation of any kind. They met

with only one piece of drift wood, about three fathom long, with a root

on it, and as thick as the Carcass's mizen mast; which had been thrown

up over the high part of the land, and lay on the declivity towards the

pond. They saw three bears; and a number of wild ducks, geese, and

other sea fowls, with birds-nests all over the island.

Off this island, the survey of which must have afforded a high treat to

Horatio, one of the Carcass's boats were attacked by a herd of

sea-horses, as they are corruptly called by the sailors, from the

Russian name of morses, which were with difficulty driven away. These

marine animals are the Trichecus Rosmarus of Linnæus, and the Arctic

Walrus of Pennant and most other naturalists.

On another occasion, two officers, in a boat belonging to the Racehorse,

having fired at and wounded one of these animals, it immediately dived,

and brought up a number of others; which all joined in an attack on the

boat, wresting an oar from one of the men, and were with difficulty

prevented from staving or oversetting the boat: but a boat from the

Carcass, guided by the intrepid young coxswain, soon arrived, and

effectually dispersed them.

This was on the 29th of July, near what they called the Low Island; of

which Dr. Irving, who went on the party to visit it, gives in substance

the following account. On the shore were several large fir-trees lying

sixteen or eighteen feet above the level of the sea: some of these trees

were seventy feet long, and had been torn up by the roots; others cut

down by the axe, and notched for twelve feet lengths. This timber was

not in the least decayed, nor the strokes of the axe at all defaced.

There were, likewise, some pipe-staves, and wood fashioned for use. The

bench was formed of old timber, sand, and whale-bones. The island, which

is flat, was found to be about seven miles long. It was formed chiefly

of stones from eighteen to thirty inches over, many of them hexagons,

and commodiously placed for walking on. The middle of the island was

covered with moss, scurvy-grass, sorrel, and a few ranunculuses then in

flower. Two reindeer were feeding on the moss: one of these they killed,

and found the venison to be fat and of high flavour. They saw a light

grey fox; and a spotted white and black animal, somewhat larger than the

weasel, with short ears, and a long tail. The island abounds with small

snipes, similar to the English jack-snipe. The ducks were hatching their

eggs, and many wild geese feeding by the water-side.

From this pleasing scene, however, they found themselves, the next day,

very differently situated.

On the 30th of July, in the afternoon, they were among what are called

the Seven Islands, and in the ice, with no appearance of any opening for

the ships. Between eleven and twelve at night, Mr. Crane, master of the

Racehorse, was dispatched by Captain Phipps, in the four-oared boat, to

try if he could get through, and find an opening for the ship which

might afford a prospect of getting farther; with directions, if he could

reach the shore, to go up one of the mountains, in order to discover the

state of the ice to the eastward and northward. Captain Lutwidge, who

had employed a boat, conducted by his young coxswain for the same

purpose, joined Mr. Crane on shore, and they proceeded to ascend a high

mountain, from whence the prospect extended ten or twelve leagues to the

east and north-east, over one continued plain of smooth ice, bounded

only by the horizon. They also saw land stretching to the south-east,

laid down in the Dutch charts as islands: and now plainly discovered

that the main body of ice, which the ships had traced from west to east,

actually joined to these islands; and, from them, to what is called the

north-east land. In returning to their ships, about seven in the

morning, round which the ice had, in their absence, so completely got,

that with their ice-anchors out they had moored alongside a field of

it, they were frequently obliged to haul the boats, over ice which had

closed since they went, to other openings.

At nine o'clock, in the morning, the 31st, having a light breeze to the

eastward, they cast off, and endeavoured to force through the ice; but,

at noon, finding it too close to proceed, again moored to a field. In

the afternoon they filled their casks with fresh water from the ice,

which they found very pure and soft. The field of ice, to which both

vessels were now moored, was found to be eight yards ten inches thick at

one end, and seven yards eleven inches at the other. The ice closed

fast, and was all round the ships; no opening to be any where seen,

except a hole of about a mile and a half, where the ships lay fast to

the ice, with ice-anchors. It being calm the greater part of the day,

and the weather very fine, the ships companies amused themselves, almost

the whole time, in playing on the ice. The pilots, however, finding

themselves much farther than they had ever before penetrated, and

reflecting on the advanced state of the season, seemed alarmed with

apprehensions of being beset.

On the 1st of August, the ice pressed in so fast, that there was now not

the smallest opening. The two ships were within less than two lengths of

each other, neither of them having room to turn. The ice, which had been

all flat the day before, and almost level with the water's edge, was now

in many places forced higher than the main-yard by the pieces squeezing

together. Their latitude this day at noon, by the double altitude, was

eighty degrees thirty-seven minutes.

On the 2d, it was thick, foggy, wet weather, the wind blowing fresh to

the westward; but, though the ice immediately about the ships seemed

rather looser than the day before, it hourly set in again so fast, that

there appeared no probability of getting the ships out, without a strong

east or north-east wind.

On the 3d, the weather being very fine, clear, and calm, they perceived

that the ships had been driven far to the eastward. The ice, however,

was much closer than before; and the passage by which they had come in

from the westward quite closed up, with no open water any where in

sight. At five in the morning, the pilots having expressed a wish to

get, if possible, farther out, the ships companies were set to work,

that they might cut away the ice, and warp through the small openings to

the westward. They found the ice so very deep, that they were often

obliged to saw through pieces twelve feet thick; and, after toiling in

this manner the whole day, with all their utmost efforts, had not been

able to move the ship above three hundred yards to the westward, through

the ice. They had, in the mean time, been driven, with the ice field

itself to which they were fast, to the north-east and eastward, by the

current; which had also forced the loose ice from the westward between

the islands, where it became what the Greenlandmen call packed, or one

piece thrown up above another to a considerable height, and as firm as

the main body.

On the 4th, it was quite calm, till the evening; when they were

flattered with a light air to the eastward, which produced no favourable

effect.

On the 5th, the probability of getting the ships out appearing every

hour less, and the season being already far advanced, some speedy

resolution became necessary for the preservation of the people. As the

situation of the ships prevented them from seeing the state of the ice

to the westward, by which, their future proceedings must be in a great

measure determined, Captain Phipps sent Mr. Walden, one of his

midshipmen, with two pilots, to an island twelve miles off, since

distinguished, in the charts, by the name of Walden's Island, to see

where the open water lay.

On the 6th, in the morning, Mr. Walden and the two pilots returned;

with an account that the ice, though close all about the ships, was open

to the westward, round the point by which they had got in. They also

remarked that, on the island, they had the wind very fresh to the

eastward, though it had been almost calm the whole time where the ships

lay. This circumstance considerably lessened the hopes, hitherto

entertained, of the immediate effect of an easterly wind in clearing the

bay. Having now only one alternative; either patiently to wait the event

of the weather on the ships, in hopes of getting them out, or to betake

themselves to the boats. The ships had at this time driven into shoal

water, having only fourteen fathom; and, should either the ships, or the

ice to which they were fast, take the ground, they must be inevitably

lost, and probably overset. The hopes of getting the ships out, however,

were not hastily to be relinquished; nor, on the other hand, obstinately

persisted in, till all other means of retreat were cut off. After a due

consideration of the various difficulties which presented themselves in

this perilous state, Captain Phipps thought it proper to send for the

officers of both ships, and to inform them of his intention to prepare

the boats for going away. They were, accordingly, hoisted out, and every

precaution taken to make them secure and comfortable; which, however,

would necessarily occupy some days. In the mean time, the water

shoaling, and the ships driving fast towards the north-east rocks, a man

was sent, with a lead and lines, from the Racehorse, to the northward,

and another, from the Carcass, to the eastward, to sound, wherever they

found cracks in the ice, that notice might be obtained before either the

ships, or the ice to which they were fast, took the ground; as, in that

case, they must, as before observed, instantly have been crushed or

overset.

On the 7th, in the morning, Captain Phipps set off in the launch, which

hauled much easier than was expected. After getting it about two miles,

he returned with the people for their dinner; and, finding the ice

rather more open near the ships, he was encouraged to attempt moving

them. The wind, though little, being easterly, they set the sails, and

got both ships about a mile to the westward. They moved, indeed, very

slowly; but were not, now, by a great deal, so far to the westward as

where they were beset. In the mean time, all the sail was kept on them,

that they might force through whenever the ice in the smallest degree

slacked. Though the people behaved very well in hauling the launches,

and seemed reconciled to the idea of quitting the ships, having the

fullest confidence in their officers; yet, as the boats could not, with

the greatest diligence, be got to the water-side in less than a week, it

was judiciously resolved to carry on both attempts together: moving the

boats constantly, but without omitting any opportunity of getting the

ships through.

On the 8th, Captain Phipps got his launch above three miles; but the

weather being foggy, and the people having worked hard, he returned on

board in the evening, and found the ships had moved something through

the ice, while the ice itself had drifted still more to the westward.

On the 9th, in a thick morning fog, they moved the ships a little

through some very small openings; and, in the afternoon, on it's

clearing up, were agreeably surprised to find the ships had driven much

more to the westward than they could have expected. Thus encouraged,

they laboured hard all day; but got very little to the westward, through

the ice, in comparison to what the ice itself had drifted. Having passed

the launches, a number of men were sent to get them on board. Though the

people were much fatigued, the progress which the ships had made through

the ice was a most favourable event; and, notwithstanding the drift of

the ice was an advantage which might be as suddenly lost as it had been

unexpectedly gained, by a change in the current, they began again to

indulge hopes that a brisk gale of easterly wind might soon effectually

clear them.

On the 10th, the wind springing up, in the morning, to north north-east,

they set all the sail they could, and forced through a great deal of

very heavy ice. The ships, it is true, often struck excessively hard;

and the Racehorse, with one stroke, broke the shank of the best bower

anchor; but, about noon, they had the unspeakable happiness to get

through all the ice, and were safely out at sea.

Accordingly, on the 11th, they came to an anchor in the harbour of

Smeerenberg, where they were comfortably refreshed after their dreadful

fatigues. The island where they lay is called Amsterdam Island, the

westernmost point of which is Hacluyt's Headland. Here the Dutch once

attempted to make an establishment, by leaving some people to winter,

who all perished. The Dutch, however, still resort thither for the

latter season of the whale-fishery; and it afforded a very excellent

retreat to our adventurers, who remained there till the 20th.

After this, they made a few feeble attempts, but they were without hope

of being able to penetrate farther. The summer had proved uncommonly

favourable for the purpose; and, having enjoyed the fullest opportunity

of repeatedly ascertaining the situation of that wall of ice which

extends for more than twenty degrees, between the latitudes of eighty

and eighty-one, without the smallest appearance of any opening, they

were sufficiently satisfied of the impracticability of effecting any

passage to the Pacific Ocean, and agreed on immediately returning to

England.

In steering to the southward, they soon found the weather grow more

mild; or, rather, as Captain Phipps expresses it, to their feelings,

warm.

On the 24th of August, they perceived Jupiter; and the sight of a star

was now become almost as extraordinary a phenomenon to them, as the sun

at midnight had appeared on their first getting within the Arctic

circle. For some part of their voyage back, the weather was very fine;

but, from the 7th of September, when they were off Shetland, till the

24th, when they made Orfordness, they had hard gales of wind, with

little intermission. In one of these violent gales, accompanied by a

heavy sea, they lost three of their boats, and were obliged to throw two

guns overboard.

Thus ended this famous voyage; happily, without the loss of a single

person: and which was so far successful, at least, in accomplishing it's

object, that it seems to have satisfactorily negatived the long-agitated

question concerning the practicability of a north-east passage into the

Pacific Ocean. Perhaps, however, the increasing civilization of nations

who are nearer neighbours, may awaken the spirit of enterprise in some

hardy bosom, and conduct a new adventurer farther over the vast plains

of ice descried from the mountains on this occasion, by means of

sledges, &c. as well as boats, both properly prepared and furnished,

than it has ever yet been penetrated, or is ever likely to be

penetrated, by ships and their customary boats alone. Not that any

nearer approach to the pole, or even the discovery that it might be

passed on solid ice, could ever facilitate, or render possible, the

attainment of a way for navigating vessels through such insurmountable

barriers of ice as nature has provided, at each pole, to sustain what

may, perhaps, be denominated the two extremities of our globe. Still it

would be desirable, not only as an object of curiosity, but of science.

Those are much mistaken, who think there is nothing left for our

posterity to discover.

"Whatever might be the decree of general satisfaction obtained from this

voyage; which was so liberally fitted out by his majesty's command, and

so ably conducted by those skilful and intrepid commanders, Lord

Mulgrave and Admiral Lutwidge: to such individuals as had undertaken it

for the attainment of nautical knowledge, scientific experience, or even

the gratification of laudable curiosity, it had afforded a very

considerable degree of profit and delight, to compensate the

difficulties and perils so successfully surmounted; and, to the youthful

Nelson, whose aspiring mind was desirous of embracing the whole of these

interesting objects, it proved a continued scene of pleasure.

At the dreadful period when they were so long fast in the ice, he had

earnestly solicited, and at length obtained, the command of a four-oared

cutter, with twelve men, ingeniously constructed for the purpose of

exploring channels, and breaking the ice: yet, while in this perilous

situation, such was the irresistible force of the large bodies of

floating ice, that several acres square were often seen lifted up

between two much larger pieces, and becoming, as it were, one with them;

and, afterwards, the piece, so formed, acting in the same manner on a

second and third; which would probably have continued to be the effect,

till the whole bay had been so filled with ice that the different pieces

could have had no possible motion, had not the stream taken an

unexpected turn, and providentially set the ice out of the bay.

An anecdote is related, as a proof of that cool intrepidity which this

young mariner possessed, even among scenes of such stupendous horror,

which seems well worthy of being also exhibited as a fine picture of

filial affection. During one of the clear nights common to these high

northern latitudes, young Nelson, notwithstanding the extreme severity

of the cold, was missing from the ship. Diligent search being

immediately made after him in vain, he was given up for lost. As the

rays of the rising sun, however, began to open the horizon, the

adventurous youth was discovered, with astonishment, on the ice, at a

considerable distance, anxiously pursuing a huge polar bear. He carried

a musket in his hand; but, the lock being injured, the piece would not

go off: he was, therefore, endeavouring to weary the animal, that he

might be able to effect his purpose with the butt-end. Captain Lutwidge,

who had been extremely uneasy during his absence, reprimanded him, on

his return, for quitting the ship without leave; and asked, in a severe

tone, what motive could possibly induce him to commit so rash an action?

All the manliness of the hero now subsiding into the simplicity of the

child--"I wished, Sir," replied the ingenuous youth, "to get the skin

for my father!" An answer which, doubtless, not only obtained him the

pardon, but the praise, of Captain Lutwidge; and confirmed that ardent

friendship which ever after subsisted between them.

Captain Phipps, too, had seen enough of the young adventurer, during

this voyage, to form a high opinion of his character; but he had, under

his own more particular care, another youth of much promise, the present

Rear-Admiral Philip D'Auvergne, Prince of Bouillon, who made several of

the original drawings which were afterwards engraved and published in

his celebrated Journal of the Voyage. Though this young gentleman, who

had been placed under Captain Phipps's protection by his noble patron,

Lord Howe, possessed the advantage of having received instructions in

the arts and sciences to which Horatio was, at that time, almost a

stranger, the latter had liberality enough not only to admire, but to

applaud, the ingenuity which he witnessed in a youth four years older

than himself. He was present when some of these sketches were taken, and

viewed the process with delight and attention; particularly, that

pleasing and accurate delineation of the celebrated iceberg in Amsterdam

Island, opposite where the ships lay; which measured three hundred feet

high, and out of which a cascade of water was then flowing.

It may not be improper to mention, that these icebergs are large bodies

of ice which fill the vallies between the lofty mountains; and present,

towards the sea, an almost perpendicular face of a very lively light

green colour. In these regions, it will readily be conceived, the

numerous black mountains, white snow, and beautiful green of the ice,

must form a very romantic and peculiar picture. Large pieces frequently

break off from these icebergs on the Coast; and fall, with great noise,

into the water: one such piece, which was observed to have floated out

into the bay, grounded in fourteen fathom; yet was still fifty feet

above the surface of the water, and preserved all the lustre of it's

enchanting original colour. Thus, amidst the dreariest scenes, has

nature bounteously provided that there shall still be something to

delight the eye; amidst the most imminent dangers, something to animate

the heart.

The pleasures and the perils of this voyage, however, were now equally

at an end; but it's beneficial effects, and it's agreeable

recollections, were never to be eradicated or effaced.

In October 1773, the Racehorse and Carcass were both paid off; and these

friends and companions, fully sensible of each other's worth, separated

with sentiments of a sincere mutual esteem.

Captain Suckling, as usual, welcomed the young hero on his return; and

had the satisfaction to learn, from Captain Lutwidge, as well as from

Captain Phipps, that his nephew was in all respects worthy of every

encouragement that could be bestowed on him. There wanted not, however,

this stimulus, in the bosom of that worthy man, to excite his

affectionate regards for the promising son of his deceased sister. With

the honest and feeling heart of a true British naval commander, he ever

acted as a parent to all her children.

A squadron was, at this time, fitting out for the East Indies, under the

command of Admiral Sir Edward Hughes. Horatio, delighted with the

prospect of visiting regions so different from those which he had just

quitted, and anxious to enjoy all the professional advantages derivable

from so distant and interesting a voyage, earnestly solicited his

esteemed uncle to obtain him a situation in one of the ships intended

for this expedition. Captain Suckling, accordingly, procured him a birth

under that gallant and able officer, Captain Farmer: who, since, in the

year 1779, so nobly but unfortunately perished in the flames of the

Quebec of thirty-two guns, which had accidentally taken fire, during

it's engagement with La Surveillante of forty guns, off Ushant; which he

refused to quit, though severely wounded, and was blown up with his

ship, colours flying.

With this excellent commander, in the Sea-Horse of twenty guns, did the

adventurous and heroic youth sail to the East Indies. He was, at first,

stationed to watch in the fore-top; but Captain Farmer, who early

discovered how very superior his abilities were to his age and

appearance, soon placed him on the quarter-deck, and treated him with

the most indulgent kindness. It may readily be supposed that, under such

an officer, in the progress of a voyage to the East Indies, and the

subsequent visits of the Sea-Horse to almost every part of the East

Indies from Bengal to Bussorah, a youth of his talents must necessarily

gain a large accession of nautical knowledge. Though there happened not,

on this occasion, to be any opportunity offer for evincing the heroism

and bravery of his mind, sufficient instances presented themselves of

his unusual proficiency in seamanship, and of his mild and amiable

manners, to conciliate the esteem not only of all with whom he more

immediately acted, either as superiors, equals, or inferiors, but to

attract the notice, and fix the friendly regards, of the commander in

chief. From Sir Edward Hughes, he received many pleasing proofs of

friendly attention, which he never forgot. He had, indeed, considerable

claims to indulgence from his humane and generous superiors. The climate

proved too powerfully relaxing for his delicate frame; and, braced as it

had recently been, by the frozen atmosphere of the north, the sultry

airs of these torrid regions were now rapidly undermining his

constitution. Alarmed for the danger of a youth thus distant from his

friends, whose life was ever precious, even from his tenderest infancy,

to all who had opportunities of once knowing the goodness of his heart,

Captain Farmer and Sir Edward Hughes united in recommending his return

to England, as the only chance that remained for restoring him to

health.

Captain James Pigot, now Admiral of the White, was at that time coming

home with the Dolphin of twenty guns. To this gentleman's care, Horatio

was particularly recommended by Sir Edward Hughes; and such were the

tender and humane attentions of the worthy commander, that he may be

considered as having been greatly instrumental in the preservation of a

life which has since proved so substantially beneficial to the country.

Such, indeed, were the salutary effects of Admiral Pigot's soothing

kindness, and generous aids, added to the gradual change of air

experienced on the passage to England, that his young charge arrived

almost entirely restored to health, and again visited his beloved uncle.

That worthy and gallant gentleman, who was now become Comptroller of the

Navy, having succeeded Sir Hugh Palliser in April 1775, received him

with his accustomed benignity. His tenderness was alarmed at the ravages

which he beheld in his nephew's countenance; and he resolved that, if he

could not instantly reinstate his vigour, he would at least endeavour to

recruit his spirits by the choicest of all professional cordials, an

immediate and merited promotion.

On the 24th of September 1776, the Dolphin was paid off at Woolwich;

and, on the 26th of the same month, three days before his nephew

completed his eighteenth year, he received, through the comptroller's

influence, an order from Sir James Douglas, then commanding in chief at

Portsmouth, to act as lieutenant, in the Worcester of sixty-four guns,

under Captain Mark Robinson. This meritorious officer, who afterwards

distinguished himself in Admiral Keppel's memorable action of the 27th

of July 1778; as well as in that of Admiral Greaves, off the Chesapeak,

the 5th of September 1781, where he lost a leg; was then under sailing

orders for Gibraltar, with a convoy. He had too much merit of his own,

not soon to discover it in another; and was so well satisfied with his

young officer, as to place the utmost confidence in his skill and

prudence.

Under this able commander, he remained at sea, with various convoys,

till the 2d of April 1777; and Admiral Robinson--for this worthy man

was, in consequence of his misfortune, placed on the list of

superannuated rear-admirals--has often been heard to remark, that he

felt equally easy, during the night, when it was young Nelson's turn to

watch, as when the oldest officer on board had charge of the ship.

These flattering testimonials to the merits of his nephew, which never

failed to be obtained from every commander under whom he had yet served,

could not but prove highly gratifying to an uncle in whose estimation he

had always been held so dear: who had first nurtured him for the

profession; and who, as soon as he could wield a sword, had presented

him with an honourable and well-tried one of his own, which he charged

him never to relinquish but with life.

The pleasure thus received by his delighted uncle, was constantly

communicated to the venerable and worthy pastor of Burnham-Thorpe: and

the anxieties of the father, for the perils to which his son must

necessarily be exposed, were calmed by that pious resignation to the

will of Heaven, in every situation of duty, with which he had early

endeavoured to fortify the hearts of all his offspring; and which taught

himself to hope, that perseverance in good would always be likely to

receive the highest degree of requisite protection and safety. Nor did

he fail, to correspond with his son, at every convenient opportunity;

and to inculcate, in writing, those pious and paternal precepts which

had so often flowed from his venerable and revered lips.

On the 8th of April 1777, within a single week of quitting the

Worcester, this youth, who had not yet completed the nineteenth year of

his age, passed his professional examination for a lieutenancy; and, on

the day following, received his commission as second lieutenant of the

Lowestoffe of thirty-two guns, commanded by Captain William Locker,

since Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, in which situation he

died on the 26th of December 1800.

This ship, in consequence of the dispute with the American colonists,

who had, on the 4th of July 1776, declared themselves free and

independent states, under the name of the Thirteen United Provinces, and

which terminated in their separation from the mother-country, was

ordered to the West Indies; there to remain, as one of the squadron

under the good and gallant Admiral Gayton: an old officer of such

distinguished activity and success, that his cruizers captured, while

he commanded on the Jamaica station, no less than two hundred and

thirty-five American vessels.

The worthy Comptroller of the Navy having thus secured rank, and a

prospect of active employ, for his meritorious nephew, they parted with

most affectionate adieus, and in the fullest hopes of again meeting.

This, however, was not to happen: they never more beheld each other! His

uncle was elected member of parliament for Portsmouth, in 1778: and

died, in the month of July, that year; leaving a handsome legacy to his

nephew, as well as to all the rest of his sister's children.

Captain Locker, who was a very friendly man, as well as an intelligent

and skilful commander, became greatly attached to his young lieutenant,

and very liberal of scientific and professional instruction. The youth

had been powerfully recommended; and, as usual, he recommended himself

still more powerfully. On his voyage to Jamaica, therefore, where he had

before sailed, in a merchantman, with his early friend Mr. Rathbone, he

was now a second time receiving nautical instruction; nor did he at

present feel inclined to cherish, whatever he might formerly have done,

the smallest dread of any professional disappointments in the naval

service of his country. He had been fortunate in patronage; and he had

also been fortunate enough, through the circumspection of his excellent

uncle, to have been constantly placed under none but skilful, brave,

and worthy commanders.

Shortly after the Lowestoffe's arrival at Jamaica, a circumstance took

place, during a cruize off the island, which affords a striking proof of

that inherent firmness of character, and cool presence of mind, for

which this heroic youth was always remarkable.

In a strong gale of wind, and a heavy sea, an American letter of marque

was discovered by Captain Locker; which, after a short chace, finding it

could not escape, struck it's flag to the Lowestoffe. The captain,

accordingly, ordered his first-lieutenant to board and take possession

of the captured vessel; but, owing to the tremendous sea which was then

running, he found himself unable, though a very brave man, to approach

sufficiently near, with the boat, to get on board the prize, and had the

extreme mortification of being obliged to go back without effecting his

purpose. On his return to the Lowestoffe, Captain Locker, who was not a

little chagrined at the disappointment, hastily exclaimed--"Have I,

then, no officer who can board the prize?" The master, at hearing these

words, instantly ran to the gangway, that he might jump into the boat;

but the intrepid second-lieutenant, who had been full as attentive and

alert as himself, suddenly stopped him--"It is my turn, now," cried

young Nelson; "if I come back, too, it will be your's." He then leaped

into the boat; and, from his superior expertness in managing it, soon

contrived to get on board, and take possession of his first prize.

This, though no real disgrace to the first-lieutenant, was certainly a

very high honour to such a strippling as the second; who owed his

success, on the present occasion, as he did at many future periods, to

the practical knowledge of seamanship which he had always, from his

first entering on the service, been sagaciously solicitous to acquire.

He seems to have been early of opinion, that a commander who is not

capable of being a master, in every sense of the word, must always,

necessarily, have a master, in it's worst sense, on board his own ship.

This maxim is earnestly recommended to every British youth who enters

into the naval service of his country.

Captain Locker was quite charmed with his young lieutenant, and heartily

congratulated him on the event. He assured him of his constant

friendship; and encouraged him always to ask any indulgence which it

might be in his power to grant.

The Lowestoffe, from it's situation with the fleet, had at this time but

small scope for active service, Lieutenant Nelson, therefore, ever

anxious for professional employ, and ever thirsting for enlarged

improvement in experimental seamanship, requested that Captain Locker

would favour him with the command of the schooner which was attached as

a tender to the frigate. This being readily complied with, he

immediately proceeded, in that small vessel, to render himself a

complete pilot for all the intricate passages of those islands, which

are situated to the northward of St. Domingo, or Hispaniola, and known

by the general appellation of the Keys; and soon became as familiarly

acquainted with the navigation of them, as he had long been with that of

the British channel.

On the 3d of March 1778, Sir Peter Parker, who had, on the preceding

29th of January, been promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral of the White,

arrived at Port Royal, in the Bristol of fifty guns; having been

appointed to succeed the brave old Admiral Gayton, as commander in chief

on the Jamaica station, who was desirous of retiring to England. He,

accordingly, sailed; and, attended by his usual good fortune to the

last, added another American capture, of considerable value, on his

passage; making, in all, two hundred and thirty-six prizes.

The character which Lieutenant Nelson had acquired, occasioned him soon

to be taken notice of by Sir Peter Parker; who immediately appointed him

third-lieutenant of his own flag-ship, the Bristol. The pleasing manners

of Lieutenant Nelson, added to his manifest spirit and talents, so

perfectly gained the esteem of the commander in chief, as well as of his

amiable and excellent lady, to whom he had been kindly introduced on

shore, that he was promoted, in the course of a very few months, by the

regular gradations, to be first-lieutenant, and even enabled to

conclude his services in that rank.

On the 8th of December, in this very year, he was appointed, by Sir

Peter Parker, Commander of the Badger brig; in which he was, shortly

after, ordered to protect the Musquito shore, and the Bay of Honduras,

from the depredations of American privateers. So ably did he acquit

himself in the discharge of this duty, and so greatly had he endeared

himself to the settlers during the short time he was among them, that

they unanimously voted him their thanks for his services, and sensibly

expressed their regrets at the necessity of his quitting the station.

While he commanded the Badger, being at anchor in Montego Bay, Jamaica,

his majesty's ship the Glasgow, of twenty guns, Captain Thomas Lloyd,

came into the bay. At six o'clock in the evening, about two hours and a

half after it's arrival, the steward going down into the after-hold,

with a lighted candle in his hand, for the purpose of clandestinely

drawing some rum, carelessly set fire to the whole; and, notwithstanding

every effort was immediately made by Captain Lloyd, his officers, and

crew, the ship was entirely consumed. No sooner, however, did the humane

and generous commander of the Badger perceive the nature of the

disaster, than he hastened to the dreadful scene; and, by his unceasing

exertions, and astonishing presence of mind, the crew were saved from

the flames. At his suggestion, the powder was instantly ordered to be

thrown overboard; a measure to which all the other ships in the harbour,

and even the town itself, probably owed their preservation. The

inhabitants, indeed, were thrown into great confusion on the occasion:

for the ship's broadside lay towards the town, and all the guns were

loaded; so that they went off as the fire approached them, and damaged

several houses, but happily did no other execution. The only life lost,

by this dreadful accident, was that of the master; who had been snatched

out of the flames, miserably scorched, and died next morning on board

the Badger. From the smallness of this vessel, it had no place to

shelter such a number of men; and the constant rains experienced while

sailing for Port Royal, greatly affected the health of the ship's

company, who fell sick very fast: but, at length all the sufferers were

landed in safety.

The judgment and humanity manifested on this trying occasion, exhibited

the heroic commander of this little brig in a new and amiable light.

They obtained him the gratitude of every one belonging to the

unfortunate ship, and the praise and admiration of all to whom the

affair was related.

In the mean time, his friend, Captain Locker, of the Lowestoffe, who had

been suffering ill health, from the climate, almost ever since his

arrival, found it necessary, for the preservation of his existence, to

quit that ship, arid return to England, about the middle of the year

1779. It was soon after this period, that Sir Peter Parker, who was in

February advanced to be Vice-Admiral of the Blue, detached a small

squadron, among which was the Lowestoffe, then commanded by Captain

Charles Parker, for the purpose of intercepting some Spanish

register-ships, in the Bay of Dulce. The British squadron, under the

Honourable Captain John Luttrell, found that these register-ships had

taken shelter under the strong fortress of St. Fernando de Omoa, which

is situated on the south side of the Bay of Honduras, and on the Gulph

of Dulce: but, fortunately falling in with the Porcupine sloop, Captain

Pakenham, which had a short time before been sent to co-operate with a

small detachment of troops under the command of Captain Dalrymple,

dispatched by the Governor of Jamaica, to drive away the Spaniards from

infesting the baymen on the Musquito and Bay of Honduras shores, which

service they had completely effected, it was judiciously agreed, between

the naval and military commanders, to unite their forces, and proceed

immediately to the attack of Fort Omoa, Accordingly, on the 16th of

October, they stormed and carried the fort: taking, and carrying away,

the register-ships, on board of which were about three millions of

piastres; as well as two hundred and fifty quintals of quicksilver,

found on shore in the fortress. From the advantages of participating in

this brilliant enterprise, Captain Locker had been thus deprived by want

of health; and his second lieutenant, singular as it may seem, by an

excess of patronage.

While these transactions were taking place, however, Captain Nelson had,

on the 11th of June 1779, obtained his post-rank, through the same

generous influence as withdrew him from the now fortunate Lowestoffe. He

had, therefore, neither reason nor inclination to complain, for he had

not yet completed his twenty-first year. In the bloom and vigour of

youth, with an age of experience in the service, acquired within nine

years, he was well qualified for the situation to which he had been thus

liberally promoted.

The possession of Fort Omoa continued little more than a month. A

considerable body of Spaniards invested it, on the 28th of November; and

the garrison and crew of the Porcupine, left for it's protection, were

so reduced by a pestilential disorder which raged among them, that they

were constrained to evacuate the fort, after spiking the guns and

embarking the ammunition and stores.

The first ship to which Captain Nelson was appointed, after his

advancement to post rank, was the Hinchinbroke. Soon after which, in

July 1779, the report of an intended expedition against Jamaica, by

Count D'Estaigne, with a fleet of one hundred and twenty-five sail, men

of war and transports; and having, as it was said, twenty-five thousand

troops ready to embark, at the Cape; occasioned every exertion to be

used for the defence of the island: and, such was the general confidence

in the skill and bravery of Captain Nelson, that both the admiral and

the governor agreed to entrust him with the command of the battery of

Fort Charles, considered as one of the most important posts in Jamaica.

This threatened invasion, however, was never attempted: and, in the

month of January 1780, an expedition began to be prepared, from Jamaica,

against the Spanish territories in America.

Of this important undertaking, in which Captain Nelson bore so

distinguished a part, a most interesting account has been given by Dr.

Moseley, Physician to Chelsea Hospital, in his celebrated Treatise on

Tropical Diseases, on Military Operations, and on the Climate of the

West Indies. This gentleman was then Surgeon-General of the Island of

Jamaica; and, from his intimacy with Captain Nelson, had every

opportunity of knowing all such particulars as did not come under his

own immediate observation. It's uncommon excellence, notwithstanding

it's extreme length as an extract, will prevent it's seeming tedious.

"This expedition," says Dr. Moseley, "was directed by General

Dalling, at that time Governor of Jamaica. The plan, wherever it

originated, was judiciously designed; and highly approved by Lord

George Germaine, then Secretary of State for the American

Department.

"The intent was, to cut off the communication of the Spaniards,

between their Northern and Southern American dominions, by El Rio

San Juan--or, the River St. John, as it is called by us--and the

Lake Nicaragua; from the interior boundary of which, to the South

Sea, is only four or five leagues, through a level country. Thus, a

connection from the northern to the southern sea, was to have been

kept up by us; a chain of posts established; and a communication

opened, and protected, with an extensive coast, and all the

richest, provinces of South America.

"Every person acquainted with the geography of the Spanish

territories, of the defenceless state of this approach to them, and

of the insurrections that had then actually taken place in Santa

Fé, Popayan, and many parts of Peru, formed the most sanguine

expectations. Happy was every man who had hopes of bearing any part

in the enterprise. Enthusiasm was never carried to greater height,

than by those who had promised to themselves the glory of shaking

Spain to her foundation. The colours of England were, in their

imagination, already even on the walls of Lima.

"And so, indeed, they might have been, had General Dalling met with

no obstacles in arranging the business in Jamaica: and, had there

been no delay in sending out the force from England; which did not

arrive till August, when it ought to have been on the Spanish Main

in January.

"The obstacles experienced by General Dalling, were many; and,

from various causes.

"A long continued martial law, and military preparations against a

threatened invasion by the French, had almost exhausted the island

of military stores and provisions. There was but little of either,

excepting in the king's ordnance and victualling magazines. Over

these the admiral claimed an exclusive command and controul, and

exercised his authority.

"This embarrassment, not to be viewed without regret, was however

in a great measure surmounted, by the powerful resources, and

spirited exertions, of a worthy and disinterested individual,

Hercules Ross, Esq. a merchant of Kingston, who enabled the general

to carry his government's orders into execution.

"Misunderstandings, opposition, and delays, the ruin of many

military operations, were the origin of the failure of this. But

even these perplexities and disappointments, great as they were,

would not have defeated the expedition; or, at least, the Spaniards

might have been saddled with the expence of it; if we could only

have made a lodgment on the lake, to have kept open the river:

which might have been done, had the first detachment that General

Dalling sent taken San Juan Castle in two hours, instead of sitting

down formally before it for eleven days.

"The first detachment, consisting of about two hundred men, from

the sixtieth and seventy-ninth regiments; one hundred of the Loyal

Irish Corps; and two hundred Jamaica Volunteers; left Jamaica,

under the convoy of the Hinchinbroke, on the 3d of February 1780;

and directed their course to the Musquito shore, to take with them

some of the Musquito Indians, who were waiting for their arrival.

"On the 11th of February, they arrived at Cape Gratias à Dios;

disembarked, and encamped about a mile from the sea, on Wank's

Savanna; an unhealthful situation.

"Here they were joined by a party of men from the seventy-ninth

regiment, from Black River.

"On the 10th of March, the troops re-embarked, and took their

departure from Cape Gratias à Dios; and anchored at several places

on the Musquito shore, to take up our allies, the Indians, who were

to furnish proper boats for the service of the river, and to

proceed with them on the expedition: and, on the 24th of March,

they arrived at the River San Juan.

"San Juan river is the northern branch, or mouth of Lake Nicaragua;

and is situated in north latitude twelve degrees, west longitude

eighty-three degrees forty-five minutes.

"The heat of the climate must necessarily be excessive; and this is

augmented, in the course of the river, by high woods, without

sufficient intervals, in many places, to admit of being refreshed

by the winds.

"The river has, in it's course, many noisome marshes on it's sides;

and the trees are so thick, as to intercept the rays of the sun:

consequently, the earth beneath their branches is covered with

rotten leaves and putrid vegetables. Hence arise copious

collections of foul vapours, which clog the atmosphere. These unite

with large clouds, and precipitate in rains. The rains are no

sooner over, than the sun breaks forth, and shines with scorching

heat. The surface of the ground, in places not covered with trees,

is scarcely dry, before the atmosphere is again loaded by another

collection of clouds and exhalations, and the sun is again

concealed.

"In the rainy seasons of the year, months successively pass away in

this sort of vicissitudes, without the least diminution of heat;

excepting at nights, when the air is poisoned by noxious chilling

dews. But, sometimes, during the periodical rains, which begin

about the middle of April, and with uncertain intervals of dry

weather end late in November, the torrents of water that fall, for

weeks together, are prodigious, which give the river a tremendous

aspect; and, from their suddenness and impetuosity, cannot be

imagined, by a European, to portend any thing but a deluge. This

bursting of the waters above, and the raging of the river below,

with the blackness of the nights, accompanied with horrid tempests

of lightning and thunder, constitute a magnificent scene of terror

unknown but in the tropic world.

"Of the little army destined for the San Juan expedition after some

delay at the mouth of the river, two hundred regulars, with

ammunition and stores; proceeded up the river with the Indians, in

their several crafts. It being now near the end of the dry season,

the river contained very little water, and the shoals and sandy

beaches rendered the passage difficult. The men were frequently

obliged to quit their boats, and unite their strength in the water,

to get them through some shallow channels. This labour continued

for several days after they left the mouth of the river, till they

arrived in deeper water; then, they made a quicker progress.

However, they met with many obstacles, by currents, and occasional

rapids or falls; which would have been insurmountable, but for the

skill of the Indians in managing the boats on those occasions.

"On the 9th of April, this advanced party arrived at a little

island up the river, called St. Bartholomew; which they took, after

receiving a few shot from the enemy, by which two men were wounded.

"This island is situated about sixteen miles below San Juan castle;

and was occupied by the Spaniards as a look-out, and defended by

sixteen or eighteen men, in a small semicircular battery of nine or

ten swivels. It was necessary for our purposes, as it commands the

navigation of the river in a rapid and difficult part of it.

"On the 11th of April, the troops arrived before the Castle of San

Juan; and, on the 13th, the siege commenced. The ammunition and

stores were landed two or three miles below the castle; and

transported through the back woods, to the place where the attack

began. San Juan castle is situated sixty-nine miles up the river,

from the mouth, and thirty-two from the Lake of Nicaragua; and, is

a navigation of nine days: but, for loaded boats, much longer, from

the harbour up to it. The return from it, down by the current, is

made in a day and a half.

"On the 24th of April, the castle surrendered. During the siege,

two or three more were killed, and nine or ten wounded.

"From the unfortunate delay before the castle, which surrendered

when it was summoned, the season for the spring periodical rains,

with their concomitant diseases, was now advanced: and the little

army had lost the opportunity of pushing rapidly on, out of those

horrid woods--where there are a multitude of antelopes, monkeys,

parrots, vipers, and deadly venomous serpents--by which they were

environed, to the dry, pleasant, and healthful plains, and

agreeable towns, of Grenada and Leon, near the lake, in the

province of Nicaragua; which, from it's salubrity and situation, is

justly termed, by the Spaniards, Mahomet's Paradise: and where they

might have maintained themselves, with the reinforcement which

followed them from Jamaica on the 10th of April, till a road for

carriages might have been made from Blue Fields Harbour to the

lake, and the season would have permitted farther reinforcement,

for the completion of a glorious enterprise; as the natives of the

country were ready to revolt, and only waited for a prospect of

success. But here they were shut up in the castle, as soon as they

were in possession of it. The troops and Indians were attacked with

fluxes, and intermittents, and in want of almost every necessary:

for the river was become so swoln and rapid by the rains, that the

harbour where the provisions and stores were was tedious, and

almost impracticable. Here the troops, deserted by those Indians

who had not already perished, languished in extreme misery, and

gradually mouldered away; till there was not sufficient strength

alive to attend the sick, nor even to bury the dead.

"Thus reduced, in the month of September, they were obliged to

abandon their flattering conquest, and return to the harbour:

leaving a few men behind, who were the most likely to live, to keep

possession of the castle, if possible, till farther orders should

be received from Jamaica.

"The Spaniards re-took the castle, as soon as the season permitted;

and, with it, those who had not strength enough to make their

escape.

"The crews of the vessels and transports that convoyed and carried

the troops, suffered considerably by diseases which the season

produced, while lying on the coast, and a thousand seamen lost

their lives.

"Of about eighteen hundred people who were sent to different posts,

at different embarkations, to connect and form the various

dependencies of this expedition, few of the Europeans retained

their health above sixteen days, and not more than three hundred

and eighty ever returned; and those, chiefly, in a miserable

condition. It was otherwise with the negroes who were employed on

this occasion. Few of them were ill; and the remainder returned to

Jamaica in as good health as they went from it.

"The survivors of the party, after they left San Juan Castle,

embarked for Blue Fields, an English settlement about sixty miles

to the north of San Juan River, where most of them died.

"The climate of San Juan was not more destructive to the human

frame, than the harbour was to the ships: and, for the benefit of

future naval operations, I think it is important to mention, here,

that there is an absolute necessity for having every vessel

employed on that coast copper-bottomed; especially, when there is a

probability of detention: for, in our expedition, the bottoms of

the ships, not being coppered, which went with the first equipment

from Jamaica, were in a short time so entirely eaten by the worms,

as to become useless; and, had not fresh ships been dispatched from

Jamaica, the remains of the troops must have perished there, for

want of transports to bring them away.

"Lord Nelson, Duke of Bronte, then Captain Nelson, was the person

who commanded the Hinchinbroke man of war, the convoy of the

expedition. On his authority I state, that the fever which

destroyed the crews of the different vessels, invariably attacked

them from about twenty to thirty days after their arrival in the

harbour: that, in his own ship, of two hundred men, eighty-seven

were seized, and confined to their beds, in one night; that one

hundred and forty-five were buried there; and, that not more than

ten survived the expedition!

"In mentioning this illustrious character," adds Dr. Moseley, "to

whose skill and valour the British empire is so much indebted, I

cannot conceal, that I have great pleasure in recording, that it

was on our San Juan expedition he commenced his career of glory.