The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson Volume I Part 3

"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 pus.h.i.+ng rapidly on, out of those horrid woods--where there are a mult.i.tude 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 s.h.i.+ps: 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 s.h.i.+ps, 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+p, 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 ill.u.s.trious 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.

"His capacious mind gave, on this dangerous and dreadful service, an early specimen of those splendid elements, which have since decorated, with never-fading laurels, the English naval military fame; with deeds unparalleled in history, with atchievements beyond the hope of envy.

"When the unfortunate contentions alluded to had diffused their pernicious effects, slackened the ardour for the public-service, and destroyed the success of the expedition by antic.i.p.ation, he did not suffer any narrow party spirit to influence his conduct He was as zealous as intrepid.

"His country's honour, was his party! A brilliant example to all military men. He did more than what he might, if he chose, have considered as his duty. Where any thing was to be done, he saw no difficulties.

"Not contented with having carried the armament safe to the harbour of San Juan, he accompanied and a.s.sisted the troops in all their difficulties, and remained with them till the castle surrendered.

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

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

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

"When I reached Cape Gratias a Dios, there was not an Indian to be seen: some villains, there, having taken pains to persuade them, that the English army had come merely with an intent of enslaving them, and sending them to Jamaica. It was, therefore, some time, before any of them ventured to come in. I took the opportunity of sending them small presents, by one of their people who had ventured down to observe our motions. He, being acquainted with Mr.

Campbell, was undeceived by him, and brought to me; which had the desired effect, as most of the tribes came in very soon after.

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

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

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

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

In both, we behold him seeking every opportunity to a.s.sist the enterprise, with the most magnanimous zeal, and the soundest discretion.

Without his vigorous and skilful exertions, indeed, as Dr. Moseley remarks, it is more than probable that not a man among them would ever have reached San Juan Castle.

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

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

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

While he lay in this deplorable state, the reinforcement of troops which had immediately been sent from Jamaica, on the first news of the surrender of Fort Juan, brought intelligence that Captain Bonnovier Glover, the commander of the Ja.n.u.s of forty-four guns, died on the 21st of March, and that Sir Peter Parker had appointed Captain Nelson to succeed him. This kind promotion, he has been often heard to say, certainly saved his life. He immediately sailed to Jamaica, on board the Victor sloop, that he might take possession of the Ja.n.u.s; and hope, that never entirely abandoned him, began again to invigorate his heart.

His spirits, however, were always beyond his strength; though that, when in full health, was by no means feeble, as his country's enemies had many subsequent opportunities to experience.

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

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

He now went, directly, to Bath: where he was, at first, under the necessity of being carried to the springs, and wherever else he wanted to go; and, for several weeks afterwards, constrained to use crutches.

These, however, he at length threw aside, much sooner than his friends at the Admiralty had expected; though it was nearly three months before he entirely recovered the use of his limbs. In a letter which he wrote, from this place, dated February 15, 1781, to his friend Captain Locker, he observes that he is, thank G.o.d, very near perfectly restored; having the complete use of all his limbs, except his left arm, of which he can hardly tell the ailment: from the shoulder to his fingers ends felt as if half dead, but the faculty gave him hopes that it would all go off.

He expresses his anxiety to be employed; and, as if willing to demonstrate that his spirits were more lively than his limb, he says, with considerable pleasantry and wit, speaking of three portraits--one of the present Admiral George Montague, another of Sir Charles Pole, and the third of himself, which was then painting by Mr. Rigaud as a present for Captain Locker--"I hope, when I come to town, to see a fine _trio_ in your room. When you get the pictures, I must be in the middle; for, G.o.d knows, without good _supporters_, I shall fall to the ground."

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

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

On their arrival in England, the mast was taken out, and properly shortened; and, such other improvements being made, as suggested themselves to the captain, it was, at length, far from a bad old s.h.i.+p.

He always, however, humorously insisted, that the French had taught the Albemarle to run away; as it was never a good sailer, except when going directly before the wind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was at Quebec that Captain Nelson and Alexander Davison, Esq.

commenced that friends.h.i.+p which was continued, on his part, to what may be considered as the last moment of his life; and which, on the part of Mr Davison, extending beyond the grave, still survives for all who were dear to him, and to every thing that regards a due veneration of his memory.

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

On arriving at New York, about the beginning of November, where he found Lord Hood, he requested that admiral would take him to the West Indies.

Lord Hood, accordingly, wrote to Admiral Digby, who was commander in Chief at New York; and, he was, in consequence, to have sailed with the fleet: but, for some private reasons, when his s.h.i.+p was under sail from New York, to join Lord Hood, Captain Nelson was sent for, on sh.o.r.e; and informed, that he was to be kept forty-eight hours after the sailing of the fleet. Though this is said to have been for his own individual advantage, he felt much disappointed at not sailing with the fleet. In the mean time, Lord Hood had highly praised him, in a very liberal letter, for wis.h.i.+ng to go off this station, to a station of service, concluding with the most encouraging a.s.surances of friends.h.i.+p.

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

On joining the fleet, Lord Hood's notice of Captain Nelson was in the highest degree flattering to so young a man. He actually treated him as a son, and was always ready to grant him every thing that he could ask.

Prince William Henry, too, as the Duke of Clarence was then called, having recently entered into the navy under Admiral Digby, contracted a strong friends.h.i.+p for Captain Nelson, which was ever retained. Lord Hood even told the prince, on first introducing them to each other, that if he wished to ask any questions relative to naval tactics, Captain Nelson could give him as much information as any officer in the fleet. This was, indeed, acting the part of a professional father to both the young men.