CHAPTER I.

FROM SCHOOLBOY TO CAPTAIN.

(1758-1780.)

Nelson at school-Enters the Navy in his twelfth year-A good pilotThe North Pole Expedition-The White Bear Hunt-Examination for his Lieutenancy-Appointed to the Lowestoffe-The American Privateer-Commander of the Badger, 1778-Post-Captain in the Hinchinbrook, 1779-The San Juan Expedition, 1780-Invalided home.

S far as the close of the year, 1799, the simple Autobiography which Nelson then sent to Dr. McArthur forms the most reliable and natural ground of any Memoir of the Hero of the Nile. I commence, therefore, with his own "Sketch of his life" from his schooldays until he became qualified for his Lieutenancy.

"I was born Sept. 29, 1758, in the Parsonage-house (Burnham Thorpe), was sent to the High School at Norwich, and afterwards removed to North Walsham; from whence, on the disturbance with Spain relative to the Falkland Islands, I went to sea with my uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling, in the Raisonable of 64 guns (at. 12). But the business with Spain being accommodated, I was sent in a West India ship belonging to the house of Hibbert, Parrier, and Horton,

1

Nelson thus briefly states his parentage: "Horatio Nelson (fourth) son of the Rev. Edmund Nelson, Rector of Burnham Thorpe, in the County of Norfolk, and of Catherine his wife, daughter of Dr. Suckling, Prebendary of Westminster, whose grandmother was a sister of Sir R. Walpole, Earl of Orford."

with Mr. John Rathbone, who had formerly been in the Navy, in the Dreadnought with Captain Suckling. From this voyage I returned to the Triumph at Chatham, in July, 1772, and if I did not improve my education, I returned a practical seaman, with a horror of the Royal Navy, and with a saying then constant with the seamen, ‘ Aft the most honour, forward the better man.'-It was many weeks before I got reconciled to a Man of War, so deep was the prejudice rooted, and what pains were taken to instil this erroneous principle in a young mind. However, as my ambition was to be a seaman, it was always held out as a reward, that if I attended well to my navigation, I should go in the cutter and decked long-boat which was attached to the Commanding Officer's ship at Chatham. Thus, by degrees, I became a good pilot, for vessels of that description from Chatham to the Tower of London, down the Swin and the North Foreland, and confident of myself amongst rocks and sands, which has many times been of great comfort to me. In this way I was trained, till the Expedition towards the North Pole was fitted out, when though no boys were allowed to go in the ships (as of no use), yet nothing could prevent my making every interest to go with Captain Lutwidge in the Carcass, and as I fancied I was to fill a man's place, I begged I might be his cockswain; which finding my ardent desire for going with him, Captain Lutwidge complied with, and has continued the strictest friendship to this moment. Lord Mulgrave, whom I then first knew, maintained his kindest friendship and regard to the last moment of his life. When the boats were fitting out to quit the two ships blocked up in the ice, I exerted myself to have the command of a four-oared cutter raised upon, which was given me, with twelve men (æt. 15); and I prided myself in fancying I could navigate her better than any other boat in the ship.

"On our arrival in England, being paid off, Oct. 15, I found that a squadron was fitting out for the East Indies, and nothing less than such a distant voyage could in the least satisfy my desire of maritime knowledge. I was placed in the Seahorse of 20 guns, with Captain. Farmer, and watched in the foretop; from whence in time I was placed on the quarter-deck; having in the time I was in this ship, visited almost every part of the East Indies, from Bengal to Bassorah. Ill health induced Sir Edward Hughes (Commander-in-chief in the East Indies), who had always shown me great kindness, to send me to England in the Dolphin of 20 guns, with Captain James Pigot, whose kindness at that time saved my life. This ship was paid off at Woolwich, on the 24th Sept., 1775. On the 26th I received (from Sir

1764-70.]

NELSON AT SCHOOL.

5

James Douglas, who commanded at Portsmouth) an order to act as Lieutenant of the Worcester 64, Captain Mack Robinson, who was ordered to Gibraltar with a convoy. In this ship I was at sea with convoys till April 2, 1777, and in very bad weather. But although my age (æt. 19) might have been sufficient cause for not entrusting me with the charge of a Watch, yet Captain Robinson used to say, 'he felt as easy when I was on deck, as any Officer in the ship.""

Of the schoolboy period of Nelson's life, we have the following anecdotes :

"The Master, Mr. Jones, had some remarkably fine pears, which his scholars had often wished for, but the attempt to gather them was in their opinion so hazardous, that no one would undertake it; when Horatio, on seeing all his companions so staggered, came forward, and offered to brave the danger. He was accordingly one night lowered down from the dormitory by some sheets tied together, and thus at considerable risk secured the prize; but the boldness of the deed was all that the young adventurer regarded: for on being hauled up again, he shared the pears among his schoolfellows without reserving any for himself; and added, I only took them because every other boy was afraid.' Five guineas was offered next morning to discover the plunderer; but young Nelson was too much beloved for any boy to betray him." I

It is also related of him, by the same writer, that at an earlier period, when he was quite a child, he strayed from his grandmother's house at Hillborough, after birds' nests with a cow-boy. The dinner-hour arriving without his appearance, the alarm of the family became very great; for they apprehended that he had been carried off by the gipsies. Search was instantly made in various directions, and at length he was discovered, without his companion, sitting with the utmost composure by the side of a stream which he had been unable to pass. "I wonder, child," exclaimed the old lady on seeing him, "that hunger and fear did not drive you

Clarke and McArthur's "Life of Nelson," vol. i. p. 15.

"

home.' "Fear never came replied Horatio.1

near me, grandmamma,”

"When the brothers, William and Horatio, were going to school on their ponies, William, who did not much like the journey, having advanced a short distance from his father's gate, and found that a great deal of snow had fallen, returned with his brother to the parsonage and informed Mr. Nelson that the snow was too deep to venture.' If that be indeed the case,' replied the father, you shall not go but make another attempt, and I will leave it to your honour. If the road should be found dangerous, you may return. Yet, remember, boys! I leave it to your honour.' They accordingly proceeded, and though various difficulties presented themselves, which offered a plausible reason for their return home, Horatio was proof against them all, exclaiming, 'We have no excuse! Remember, brother, it was left to our honour.'” 2

In 1802, Mr. Levett Hansom, a Hansom, a schoolfellow of Nelson at North Walsham, in a letter respecting Lord Nelson being offered the dignity of a Knight Grand Commander of the Chapteral Order of St. Joachim, makes the following reminiscence of their schooldays :

"HAMBURGH, September 29, 1802.

"MY LORD,-Dean Swift closes, or terminates, a letter to the great Earl of Peterborough, by telling that nobleman that he should be happy to show one of his Lordship's letters to his parishioners.' You, my Lord, have not suffered me to languish respecting that point. For these some months past I have had it in mind to show to my acquaintance and friends a letter from you, and thereby to convince them I had once the pleasure of being your schoolfellow, and have

'Clarke and McArthur, vol. i. p. 18. On this incident, which, with the previous ones, I have taken from Clarke and McArthur, a late writer remarks: "As to the reply to his grandmother about fear, Nelson's temperament was not impervious to fear-his daring was full of consciousness of the danger. He could not but see fear very closely, and the absolute charm that he experienced in going into the hottest fire was due to the mastery of mere physical shrinking, and the delight of subordinating it to his will" (Edinburgh Review, vol. clxiv. p. 563). 2 Clarke and McArthur, vol. i. p. 16.

1770.]

WHY NELSON ENTERED THE NAVY.

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now the honour of being considered your friend. In truth, my Lord, we never were otherwise, though not intimate.

"Your Lordship, though in the second class when I was in the first, were five years my junior, or four at least, and at that period of life such a difference in point of age, is considerable. I well remember where you sat in the schoolroom. Your station was against the wall, between the parlour door and the chimney: the latter to your right. From 1769 to 1771 we were opposites. Nor do I forget that we were under the lash of Classic Jones, as arrant a Welshman as Rees-ap-Griffith, and as keen a flogger as merciless Bushby, of birch-loving memory. Happy I am, indeed, my Lord, to find, by your very kind letter, that Hæc Meminisse Juvat! According to an old sentimental toast, we imprecate the meeting an old friend with a new face.' Consequently, how very pleasing it is to find that not to be the case respecting an old schoolfellow! As a philosopher, I observe, my Lord, with great satisfaction, that your honours have not changed you. Reasonable men always behold those things through the proper medium. Titles and peerages may honour Lord Barington, or Lord Carrington, cr Lord Lavington, or Lord. Boringdon Lord Nelson confers an honour upon them by his acceptance. 'I regard my old schoolfellow as the saviour and deliverer of Europe in general, and my country in particular and in my eyes those titles are superior to all honours.'" I

"In 1770, when his father was at Bath for his health, on reading in the papers that his Uncle Maurice Suckling was appointed to the Raisonable 64, young Nelson, then only twelve years old, asked his elder brother to write to their father and tell him that he should like to go to sea with his uncle. To the letter which his father wrote to Captain Suckling, came this reply. What has poor Horatio done, who is so weak, that above all the rest, he should be sent to rough it at sea? But let him come; and the first time we go into action a cannon-ball may knock off his head and so provide for him.""

In consequence of the speedy settlement of the dispute with Spain, Nelson's first experience of the navy was Pettigrew's "Nelson," vol. ii. pp. 267 3.