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THE STORY OF NELSON
THE STORY OF NELSON
Uniform with this Volume THE STORY OF NAPOLEON By Harold F. B. Wheeler , F.R.Hist.S. With 16 full-page Illustrations. FAMOUS VOYAGES OF THE GREAT DISCOVERERS By Eric Wood . With 16 full-page Illustrations. THE STORY OF THE CRUSADES By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton , F.R.Hist.S. With 16 full-page Illustrations by M. Meredith Williams . STORIES OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER By Mr and Mrs William Platt . With 16 full-page Illustrations by M. Meredith Williams . THE STORY OF THE CRUSADES By E. M. Wilmot-Buxton , F.R
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THE BOYS’ NELSON
THE BOYS’ NELSON
BY Harold F. B. Wheeler F.R.Hist.S. MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION JOINT-AUTHOR OF ‘NAPOLEON AND THE INVASION OF ENGLAND’ AND ‘THE WAR IN WEXFORD 1798’ AUTHOR OF ‘THE MIND OF NAPOLEON’ ‘THE BOYS’ NAPOLEON’ AND ‘THE MAXIMS OF NAPOLEON’ ‘ He is the only man who has ever lived who, by universal consent, is without a peer ’ ADMIRAL SIR CYPRIAN BRIDGE G.C.B. NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Printed by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh Printed by Turnbull & Spears, Edinbu
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Foreword
Foreword
The career of the little one-eyed, one-armed man who frustrated Napoleon’s ambitious maritime plans for the subjugation of England, who is to sailors what Napoleon is to soldiers, who represented in his person all that sea power meant when the very existence of our forefathers was threatened in the latter days of the eighteenth century and the first half-decade of its successor, must ever appeal to those for whom Great Britain means something more than a splash of red on a coloured map. I do not
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Chapter I—Boyhood and First Years at Sea (1758–1773)
Chapter I—Boyhood and First Years at Sea (1758–1773)
Thus 3 runs one of the verses of a song dear to the British sailor for many a long year. Nelson, dead over a century, is still revered in the King’s Navy. To the landsman there is no more popular hero. The Victory , riding at anchor in the placid waters of the Solent and in view of the cobble-covered sally port through which the Hero walked to his barge, still flies an admiral’s flag. One of the most modern battleships in the service bears his name, the most famous of London’s many columns is cr
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CHAPTER II A Hero in the Making (1773–1783)
CHAPTER II A Hero in the Making (1773–1783)
“ True honour, I hope, predominates in my mind far above riches ” — Nelson . We are fortunate in having an account of Nelson’s early career at sea penned by himself, otherwise the material at our disposal would be extremely scanty. The story of the next few years is therefore told in his own words. What it lacks in picturesqueness is made up for in authenticity: “On our arrival in England,” he says, “and paid off, 15 October [1773], I found that a squadron was fitting out for the East Indies; an
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CHAPTER III Pleasure in France and Work in the West Indies (1783–1793)
CHAPTER III Pleasure in France and Work in the West Indies (1783–1793)
Nelson took the greatest possible interest in everything he saw in France: “Sterne’s ‘Sentimental Journey’ is the best description I can give of our tour.” He travelled in a chaise without springs, slept on a straw bed—“O what a transition from happy England!”—but had less fault to find with the scenery about Montreuil, which he describes as “the finest corn country that my eyes ever beheld, diversified with fine woods, sometimes for two miles together through noble forests. The roads mostly wer
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CHAPTER IV The Beginning of the Great War (1793–1794)
CHAPTER IV The Beginning of the Great War (1793–1794)
“ Duty is the great business of a sea officer ” Nelson. So far back as 1753 Lord Chesterfield prophesied a revolution in France. “All the symptoms,” he said, “which I have ever met with in history, previous to great changes and revolutions in government, now exist and daily increase in France.” Warning rumbles heralded the storm, disregarded and thought of no account by some, full of grave portent to others. It burst in 1789. At first William Pitt, First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of th
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CHAPTER V “I wish to be an Admiral” (1795–96)
CHAPTER V “I wish to be an Admiral” (1795–96)
“ A brave man runs no more risk than a coward ” Nelson. The French fleet at Toulon mustered fifteen ships; Hotham had fourteen at his disposal, including one Neapolitan sail-of-the-line. On the 8th March 1795 it was known that the enemy was at sea with the object of retaking Corsica, but it was not until the morning of the 13th, that the Admiral flew the signal for a general chase. While this was proceeding the Ça-Ira (84) collided with the Victorie , which precluded her from keeping up with her
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CHAPTER VI Nelson’s First Great Fight: The Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)
CHAPTER VI Nelson’s First Great Fight: The Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)
“ To have had any share in it is honour enough for one man’s life, but to have been foremost on such a day could fall to your share alone ” Sir Gilbert Elliot. Sir John Jervis had concentrated his fleet in Gibraltar Bay. Nelson was making his way from thence to Elba in the Minerve , accompanied by the Blanche , both 32-gun frigates. All went well until late in the evening of the 19th December 1796, when they fell in with two Spanish frigates named the Santa Sabina (40) and the Ceres (40) off Car
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CHAPTER VII From Triumph to Failure: The Attempt on Santa Cruz (1797)
CHAPTER VII From Triumph to Failure: The Attempt on Santa Cruz (1797)
“ I have had flattery enough to make me vain, and success enough to make me confident. ” Nelson. All hopes on the part of Britain’s enemies for the invasion of the British Isles were quashed for a time by the victory off Cape St Vincent. Although the distressed Spanish fleet reached Cadiz safely, minus four sail-of-the-line which the British had captured, there was no likelihood at the moment of the ships showing their “noses” out of port, many of the aforesaid noses being much out of joint. For
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CHAPTER VIII In Chase of the French Fleet (1798)
CHAPTER VIII In Chase of the French Fleet (1798)
“ No Frigates!—to which has been, and may again, be attributed the loss of the French Fleet. ” Nelson. The year 1797 had been a particularly trying one for Nelson both as regards health and reputation; the succeeding twelve months were to test his powers of endurance and his skill even more. The services of the one-eyed, one-armed little man were not to be dispensed with, as he had suggested in a moment of despondency. He neither retired to “a very humble cottage,” although he had purchased a sm
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CHAPTER IX The Battle of the Nile 1798
CHAPTER IX The Battle of the Nile 1798
It is difficult for a landsman to appreciate the joy with which Nelson’s captains, his “Band of Brothers,” as he called them, as well as the men of lower rank, beheld the enemy moored in line of battle parallel with the shore in Aboukir Bay on what might well be termed “the glorious first of August.” They had been searching the Mediterranean for long, weary weeks, anxious to try conclusions with Napoleon’s fleet, but thwarted at every turn by lack of information. At last they were face to face,
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CHAPTER X The Neapolitan Court and Lady Hamilton
CHAPTER X The Neapolitan Court and Lady Hamilton
“ ‘Down, down with the French!’ is my constant prayer. ” Nelson. Truth has no secrets. It is the duty of the historian to reveal all and to hide nothing. The archæologist with pick and spade unearths a buried city, disclosing alike the mansions of the wealthy and the hovels of the poor. In describing the result of his researches the investigator would betray his science were he merely to mention the beauties of the king’s palace, the tesselated pavements, the marble columns. The hideous back str
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CHAPTER XI The Neapolitan Rebels and their French Allies (1799)
CHAPTER XI The Neapolitan Rebels and their French Allies (1799)
“ Speedy rewards and quick punishments are the foundation of good government. ” Nelson. In the middle of March 1799 Troubridge returned from the Levant, his command there having been given to Sir Sidney Smith. Vexatious as was the arrangement to both Nelson and Lord St Vincent, it had one point of importance in its favour—and was to have far-reaching results later—in that it enabled the Admiral to send the trusted captain with several vessels to blockade Naples. Troubridge was to “seize and get
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CHAPTER XII Nelson in Temporary Command (1799–1800)
CHAPTER XII Nelson in Temporary Command (1799–1800)
“ The great object of the war is —Down, down with the French.” Nelson. King Ferdinand was again on board the Foudroyant , holding his Levées on the quarter-deck, and making himself as affable as was possible to a man of his morose temperament. Nelson’s infatuation for the welfare of his Majesty and his kingdom seemed growing. The castle of St Elmo had fallen, thereby completing the conquest of Naples, but the Admiral saw fit to order Troubridge to march against Capua, thereby denuding the fleet
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CHAPTER XIII Disobedience to Orders
CHAPTER XIII Disobedience to Orders
“Pray God we may get alongside of them, the event I leave to Providence” Nelson. Malta was in a pitiful, half-starved condition. Nelson urged Sir James Erskine at Mahon, and Brigadier-General Graham at Messina, to send troops to its relief. They were as adamant and refused. He was therefore kept “in desperation about Malta” until General Fox arrived at Minorca and released the garrison there for the more urgent necessities of the unhappy island. The Russians upon whom the Admiral had also depend
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CHAPTER XIV The Campaign of the Baltic (1800–1)
CHAPTER XIV The Campaign of the Baltic (1800–1)
“ The service of my King and Country is the object nearest my heart. ” Nelson. Ostensibly Nelson had come back to England because of illness. That his health was improved by the prolonged journey home via the overland route is quite possible. The relief from worry as to the Mediterranean in general and to Keith in particular no doubt conduced largely to so desirable a result. It is evident that he had returned to a normal condition of mind and of body; otherwise we should not find him writing to
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CHAPTER XV The Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
CHAPTER XV The Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
“ I have a right to be blind sometimes. ” Nelson. Admiral Mahan , the most scientific of biographical historians, assures us that the fullest and most interesting account of the Battle of Copenhagen is that of Colonel William Stewart, an eye-witness of the thrilling scene and “a very fine gallant man” according to Nelson. The following particulars are therefore extracted from his graphic narrative: “The Action began at five minutes past ten. In about half an hour afterwards, the first half of ou
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CHAPTER XVI The Threatened Invasion of England (1801)
CHAPTER XVI The Threatened Invasion of England (1801)
“ Our Country looks to its Sea defence, and let it not be disappointed. ” Nelson. However much Nelson may have appreciated the visits to London, Box Hill, and Staines, which he now made in the company of Sir William and Lady Hamilton, it was soon evident that his stay on shore would be short. No home ties were severed when he was appointed to a special service on the 24th July 1801, for he had finally separated from his wife six months before. It was a mistaken match in every way. Although it is
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CHAPTER XVII The Vigil off Toulon (1803)
CHAPTER XVII The Vigil off Toulon (1803)
“ I shall follow them to the Antipodes. ” Nelson. For over a year Nelson spent the greater part of his time at Merton Place or at 23 Piccadilly, Sir William Hamilton’s town house. Any monotony there may have been was relieved by a tour of beautiful Wales, made in the months of July and August 1802, when Nelson’s spirits had recovered somewhat from the news of his father’s death at Bath on the 26th of the previous April. The old clergyman’s distinguished son was ill at the time and did not attend
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CHAPTER XVIII Twelve weary Months in the Mediterranean (1804)
CHAPTER XVIII Twelve weary Months in the Mediterranean (1804)
“ My wish is to make a grand coup.” Nelson. A new year had dawned. “The storm is brewing,” Nelson wrote, and he thought Sardinia “one of the objects of its violence.” If that island were captured or ceded to the enemy, “Sicily, Malta, Egypt, &c., &c., is lost, sooner or later.” The Madalena Islands, to the north of Sardinia, not only afforded the ships a safe anchorage but ensured plenty of fresh water and provisions: “Sardinia is the most important post in the Mediterranean. It
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CHAPTER XIX The Crisis (1805)
CHAPTER XIX The Crisis (1805)
“ We know the success of a man’s measures is the criterion by which we judge of the wisdom or folly of his measures. I have done my best. ” Nelson. Napoleon had now completed further plans. These he fondly hoped would lead to the downfall of British rule in the United Kingdom and the eventual dismemberment of the Empire. His strategy, if somewhat involved, was deeply laid. Instead of concentrating his fleet in European waters, that very essential part of the programme was to be undertaken in the
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CHAPTER XX Nelson’s Last Command (1805)
CHAPTER XX Nelson’s Last Command (1805)
“ May the God of Battles crown my endeavours with success. ” Nelson. In the previous chapter we left Nelson at Portsmouth after having chased the enemy nearly seven thousand miles, and been absent from home twenty-seven months. When “England’s darling” set foot on the landing-stage he received an immense ovation from the crowds of people who had assembled to show their appreciation of his services. “It is really quite affecting to see the wonder and admiration and love and respect of the whole w
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CHAPTER XXI The Rout in Trafalgar Bay (1805)
CHAPTER XXI The Rout in Trafalgar Bay (1805)
“ Thank God, I have done my duty. ” Nelson. The 21st October 1805 is a red-letter day in the history of England. Dawn had scarcely succeeded night ere Nelson was up and doing. He wore his Admiral’s frock-coat, the only decoration being four stars of different Orders which were pinned on his left breast. “In honour I gained them,” he said, “and in honour I will die with them.” He had not buckled on his sword, and this is the only action he fought without it. The previous night Villeneuve had sign
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