The Story of Nelson 8

 The Story of Nelson 8

The royalists at Toulon had not only openly rebelled against the

National Convention, but had requested the assistance of the British

fleet, then blockading the harbour of the great southern arsenal, under

Hood, who was shortly afterwards joined by Langara in command of a

number of Spanish vessels. Nelson’s _Agamemnon_ was a fast sailer. He

was therefore sent to Naples with despatches to the courts of Turin and

Naples requesting 10,000 troops for the assault of Toulon. The ardent

young officer, proud of the service which had been delegated to him,

was a little too sanguine as to Hood’s triumph, yet his cheery optimism

is tinged with cynicism when he writes to his wife: “I believe the

world is convinced that no conquests of importance can be made without

us; and yet, as soon as we have accomplished the service we are ordered

on, we are neglected. If Parliament does not grant something to this

Fleet, our Jacks will grumble; for here there is no prize-money to

soften their hardships: all we get is honour and salt beef. My poor

fellows have not had a morsel of fresh meat or vegetables for near

nineteen weeks; and in that time I have only had my foot twice on shore

at Cadiz. We are absolutely getting sick from fatigue. No Fleet, I am

certain, ever served their Country with greater zeal than this has

done, from the Admiral to the lowest sailor.”

 

At Naples Nelson was received by the King “in the handsomest manner,”

and a promise of troops was exacted without delay. He also made the

acquaintance of Lady Hamilton, wife of the British Minister, but the

romantic attachment between them did not begin until several years

later. His Majesty was on the point of visiting the _Agamemnon_ when

the Captain received intelligence from the Prime Minister--Sir John

Acton, an English baronet--that a French sail-of-the-line convoying

three vessels had anchored under Sardinia. Nelson acknowledges to his

brother, on the 27th September 1793, that “Fortune has not crowned my

endeavours with success. The French have either got into Leghorn, or

are housed in some port of Corsica.... I purpose staying three days

in Port, when I shall get to Toulon, for I cannot bear the thought of

being absent from the scene of action.” His unsuccessful search for

the enemy had precluded him from accompanying such Neapolitan troops

as were ready to be sent to the scene of conflict. In addition a large

French frigate had put into the neutral port of Leghorn, which gave

him further anxiety. As her commander did not think it wise to attempt

an issue with the _Agamemnon_ Nelson left him to his own devices. He

anchored off Toulon, on the 5th October, to find Lord Hood “very much

pleased” with him. This must have been particularly gratifying after so

luckless a voyage, but what he most desired was action.

 

Within a few days of his arrival he received sealed orders from

the Admiral directing him to join Commodore Linzee off Cagliari,

the capital of Sardinia. His longing to get at the enemy was to be

satisfied in an unexpected manner. When he was nearing the island just

before dawn on the morning of the 22nd October, five strange sail made

their appearance. Later they resolved themselves into four of the

enemy’s frigates and a brig. After an engagement which lasted nearly

four hours and was ably contested on both sides, the action terminated

in the French _Melpomène_ being reduced to “a shattered condition,”

and the _Agamemnon_ having her “topmast shot to pieces, main-mast,

mizen-mast, and fore-yard badly wounded”--the last __EXPRESSION__ is

typically Nelsonian. The Frenchmen did not attempt to renew the fight;

Nelson was prevented from doing so because “The _Agamemnon_ was so cut

to pieces, as to be unable to haul the wind towards them.” The enemy’s

squadron made for Corsica, Nelson for Cagliari, according to orders,

with one man killed and six wounded.

 

When Nelson joined hands with Linzee he found that the immediate

business in hand was to endeavour to bring the Bey of Tunis to reason,

in other words, to the British side. The Bey was an exceedingly crafty

individual who, believing that the best time for making hay is when

the sun shines, had sided with the French because he saw an immediate

financial return. Another object was to secure a convoy which had put

in at Tunis under a sail-of-the-line, the _Duquesne_ (84) and four

frigates, the force with which Nelson had already dealt. As the Bey had

purchased the cargoes of the merchantmen at a handsome profit, he was

not disposed to change his policy. Nelson hated pacific overtures; he

was all for contest on the open sea. “Thank God,” he is able to write

to William Suckling, his uncle, on the 5th December 1793, “Lord Hood,

whom Linzee sent to for orders how to act, after having negotiated,

ordered me from under his command, and to command a Squadron of

Frigates off Corsica and the Coast of Italy, to protect our trade, and

that of our new Ally, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and to prevent any

Ship or Vessel, of whatever Nation, from going into the port of Genoa.

I consider this command as a very high compliment,--there being five

older Captains in the Fleet....

 

“Corsica, December 8th:--I have been in sight of the French Squadron

all day, at anchor; they cannot be induced to come out, notwithstanding

their great superiority....”

 

On the 19th of the same month Lord Hood vacated Toulon.[12] The

troops of the National Convention, aided by the consummate skill

of Napoleon Bonaparte, a young officer then beginning his amazing

career, had proved too powerful for the British, Spanish, Piedmontese

and Neapolitan forces. The British fleet carried away no fewer than

14,000 fugitives from the doomed city, which for hours afterwards was

given up to pillage. “Everything which domestic Wars produce usually,

is multiplied at Toulon,” Nelson writes to his wife. “Fathers are

here [_i.e._ Leghorn] without their families, families without their

fathers. In short, all is horror.... Lord Hood put himself at the head

of the flying troops, and the admiration of every one; but the torrent

was too strong. Many of our posts were carried without resistance;

at others, which the English occupied, every one perished. I cannot

write all: my mind is deeply impressed with grief. Each teller makes

the scene more horrible. Lord Hood showed himself the same collected

good Officer which he always was.” The siege of Toulon was a qualified

success. The place was lost, but a dozen French ships and the naval

stores were set on fire, and four sail-of-the-line, three frigates,

and several smaller vessels were secured as prizes. To cripple the

French navy was the most desired of all objects.

 

Meanwhile Nelson’s division was blockading Corsica, which had passed

from the Republic of Genoa into the hands of the French in 1768, to

the disgust of the patriotic party headed by Pascal Paoli. It was

arranged that Hood should assist the latter to rid the island of the

hated “tyrants,” and that in due course it should be ceded to Great

Britain. In the preliminary negotiations Nelson was represented by

Lieutenant George Andrews, brother of the young lady to whom Nelson

had become attached during his visit to France in 1783;[13] the final

arrangements were made by a commission of which the gallant Sir John

Moore was a member. Hood joined Nelson on the 27th January 1794, and

on the following day the fleet encountered “the hardest gale almost

ever remembered here.” The _Agamemnon_ “lost every sail in her,” her

consorts were dispersed “over the face of the waters.” This delayed the

landing of the troops Hood had brought with him, but Nelson had already

made a preliminary skirmish on his own account near San Fiorenzo,

the first object of the admiral’s attack. He landed 120 soldiers and

seamen, emptied a flour storehouse, ruined a water-mill, and returned

without the loss of a man, notwithstanding the efforts of the French

gunboats to annihilate the little force. Similar expeditions were

undertaken at the beginning of February, when four polaccas, loaded

with wine for the enemy’s fleet, were burned, four other vessels set

on fire, a similar number captured, and about 1,000 tuns of wine

demolished.

 

On the 7th of the same month the inhabitants of Rogliani showed

National colours, and the Tree of Liberty--the emblem of the French

Revolution--was planted. Nelson struck a flag flying on the old castle

with his own hand, and ordered the tree to be cut down. More craft and

wine were destroyed. Paoli was highly gratified by this performance,

carried out in the true Nelson spirit, and shortly afterwards the

Captain tells his wife with conscious pride, “I have had the pleasure

to fulfil the service I had been employed upon, since leaving Tunis,

neither allowing provisions nor troops to get into Corsica,”--which he

describes later as “a wonderfully fine Island”--“nor the Frigates to

come out.”

 

Hood now took over the command at San Fiorenzo and sent Nelson to

blockade Bastia. The latter calculated that “it would require 1000

troops, besides seamen, Corsicans, etc., to make any successful

attempt” against the place. Lieutenant-General David Dundas, the

commander of the military forces, refused his aid unless considerable

reinforcements came to hand, although he had at his disposal over

1700 regulars and artillerymen. Hood, relying on Nelson’s statements

to a certain extent, endeavoured to persuade Dundas that the task was

by no means so difficult as he imagined, but the military authority

positively refused to listen to the project. The General entered into

the arrangements for the capture of San Fiorenzo with more goodwill,

for in his opinion it was a less formidable undertaking. Without in

any way disparaging the exertions of the troops it must be admitted

that the gallant conduct of the sailors, who dragged heavy guns up the

heights in order to place them in a position to cannonade the tower of

Mortello, which commanded the situation, contributed largely to the

success of the operation. Dundas and Linzee attacked this formidable

fortification from the bay with a sail-of-the-line and a frigate on

the 8th February with ill success. Its defenders hurled hot shot at

the vessels with such precision that they were obliged to move to a

less dangerous position. The tower was bombarded from the steeps for

two days before its garrison surrendered. Meanwhile Lieutenant-Colonel

John Moore had carried the batteries of Fornelli, which led directly

to the fall of San Fiorenzo on the 17th instant. The French retreated

to Bastia, on the opposite side of the promontory, where Nelson was

exerting himself to the utmost. The British troops marched to within

three miles of the town, as noted below, and were then ordered to

return to San Fiorenzo.

 

On the 23rd February the _Agamemnon_ and two frigates dislodged the

French from a battery of six guns; “they to a man quitted the works.”

For Lord Hood’s encouragement he sent him word that shot and shells had

been hurled at the vessels “without doing us any damage of consequence:

our guns were so exceedingly well pointed, that not one shot was fired

in vain.... Indeed, my Lord, I wish the troops were here: Bastia, I am

sure, in its present state, would soon fall.”

 

In describing “our little brush” to his wife, he says it “happened at

the moment when part of our Army made their appearance on the hills

over Bastia, they having marched over land from St Fiorenzo, which is

only twelve miles distant. The General sent an express to Lord Hood

at Fiorenzo to tell him of it. What a noble sight it must have been!

indeed, on board it was the grandest thing I ever saw. If I had carried

with me five hundred troops, to a certainty I should have stormed the

Town, and I believe it might have been carried.... You cannot think how

pleased Lord Hood has been with my attack on Sunday last, or rather my

repelling of an attack which the Enemy made on me.”

 

Nelson’s ardent temperament, his longing to be up and doing, made him

think bitter things of Dundas. He confides to his Journal on the 3rd

March 1794 that it is his firm opinion that if the _Agamemnon_ and the

attendant frigates could batter down the sea-wall and then land 500

troops they would “to a certainty carry the place.” “God knows what

it all means,” he writes to his wife with reference to the general’s

retreat. “Lord Hood is gone to St Fiorenzo to the Army, to get them

forward again.... My seamen are now what British seamen ought to be,

to you I may say it, almost invincible: they really mind shot no more than peas.”