here. Saturday, sail for Old Road; Sunday, dine on Brimstone Hill; Monday, Mr. Georges' at Sandy Point, and in the evening the Freemasons give a ball. Tuesday, please God, we sail. I did not like the cast of the day at Mr. and I cannot carry two faces. Farewell till to-morrow, and be assured, I am, ever your affectionate, HORATIO NELSON. TO MRS. NISBET. [From Clarke and M‘Arthur, vol. i. p. 92.] March 3rd 1787. My journey to Nicholas Town was too great a fag in the height of the sun: I was very ill after it; and nothing but his Royal Highness's attention and condescension, could or should make me go through it. However, I am quite well this morning; and as we shall be pretty quiet to-day, I hope to be able to bear to-morrow and Monday, tolerably well. We shall most likely be at Nevis about the 18th; but keep this to yourself. I am, HORATIO NELSON. TO MRS. NISBET. [From Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. i. p. 93. This was Nelson's last Letter to Mrs. Nisbet before their marriage, which took place at Nevis, on the 12th of March 1787. The date of that event, (which is erroneously given, as well by Clarke and M'Arthur, as in the Nelson Pedigree in the Genealogical Books of the Knights of the Bath,) is shown to have been the twelfth of March, by the following passage in a Letter from Lady Nelson to her husband, written from Bath on the 11th of March 1797, immediately after she had heard of the Battle of St. Vincent: "To-morrow is our wedding day, when it gave me a dear husband, and my child the best of fathers." His Royal Highness fulfilled his promise, by giving away the bride. Frances Herbert Woollward was the only child of William Woollward, Esq., Senior Judge of Nevis, by Molly, sister of John Richardson Herbert, Esq., President of the Council of that Island. She was born about 1763, and married first, Josiah Nesbit, M.D., who died eighteen months afterwards, leaving an only child, Josiah. At the time of her marriage with Captain Nelson, she was about twenty-five years of age, and died on the 4th of May 1831, aged 68. Her uncle, Mr. Herbert, died on the 18th January 1793, leaving an only child, Martha Williams, wife of Andrew Hamilton, of Nevis, Esq., who died without issue in August 1819; and in the following year, Mr. Herbert's nephew, Magnus Morton of Nevis, Esq., pursuant to directions in his Will, assumed the Name and Arms of Herbert. He married Christian, daughter of George Forbes of Bush Hill, in that Island, who is mentioned in one of Nelson's Letters. Boreas, Sandy Point, 6th March 1787. How uncertain are the movements of us Sailors. His Royal Highness is rather unwell; therefore I have given up the idea of visiting Tortola for the present. To-day we dine with Mr. Georges, at his Country-house. I am now feeling most awkwardly: his Royal Highness has been with me all this morning, and has told me, that as things here are changed, if I am not married when we go to Nevis, it is hardly probable he should see me there again; that I had promised him not to be married, unless he was present; that he wished to be there, to show his esteem for me, and should be much mortified if impediments were thrown in the way. He intends this as a mark of honour to me; as such I wish to receive it. Indeed his Royal Highness's behaviour throughout has been that of a friend, instead of a person so elevated above me. He told me this morning, that since he had been under my command he has been happy; and that I should find him sincere in his friendship. Heaven bless you; and I need scarcely say, how much I am Your affectionate, HORATIO NELSON. TO PHILIP STEPHENS, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Boreas, Nevis, March 15th, 1787. Sir, February the 9th, I had last the honour of writing you from English Harbour. On the 10th I sailed with the Solebay and Pegasus, leaving the Rattler at the wharf to be repaired, she having been found exceedingly bad, and her timbers rotten. The builder, however, is of opinion that she may be put in a state to undertake a summer's passage. I have ordered her to be sheathed with wood, as the expense is so much less, and the copper would be only taken out of this Country merely for a passage, when it must come off again. I hope their Lordships will approve of what I have done. The Boreas, I must also observe, begins to get rather bad. In the beginning of May I shall carry her to English Harbour, to be made fit for a passage home, as I dare say their Lordship's intentions are not to keep her in these Seas longer than the hurricane season. I have attended his Royal Highness since our sailing, to Montserrat, Nevis, and St. Christopher's, and shall sail for the Virgins on Monday the 19th instant, from whence, after calling at English Harbour for a few days, I shall attend his Royal Highness to Grenada, which will finish his tour. After wooding at Prince Rupert's and visiting Barbadoes, May will be advanced; and the Pegasus will be fitted for [her] voyage to the place mentioned in their Lordships' secret orders. Herewith I have the honour to transmit you the State and Condition of his Majesty's Ships and Vessels on the Leeward Island Station. I am, Sir, &c. HORATIO NELSON. TO CAPTAIN WILLIAM LOCKER, ROYAL NAVY, KENSINGTON. [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.] Boreas, on Her passage to Tortola, March 21st, 1787. My dear Friend, Your letter of December 26th I received a few days ago: as this is the second letter I have received, dated Kensington, I shall direct this thither. I wish I may be able to procure any of the things your friend wants, but I fear it is too late on the Station to expect much: indeed, my time since November, has been entirely taken up attending the Prince in his tour round these Islands. However, except Grenada, this is the last, when I shall repair to English Harbour, and fit the Boreas for a voyage to England. Happy shall I be when that time arrives: no man has had more illness or trouble on a Station than I have experienced; but let me lay a balance on the other side-I am married to an amiable woman, that far makes amends for everything: indeed till I married her I never knew happiness. And I am morally certain she will continue to make me a happy man for the rest of my days. I shall have great pleasure in introducing you to her. Prince William did me the honour to stand her Father upon the occasion, and has shown every act of kindness that the most professed friendship could bestow. His Royal Highness leaves this Country in June, by which time I hope my orders will arrive, or somebody be appointed to the Command of this Sta. tion. The wonder to me is, that any independent man will accept [it,] for there is nothing pleasant to be got by it. Farewell, my dear [illegible] and believe me to be Ever your affectionate Remember me kindly to the [illegible] and Commissioner Kirke when you see him, and I am much obliged by their kind inquiries. TO PHILIP STEPHENS, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Boreas, Antigua, April 14th, 1787. Sir, I have lately received a letter from my Agent acquainting me that the Navy Board had deducted £12. 188. sterling, from my wages, for some Supernumeraries, which were borne for wages on the Books of his Majesty's Ship under my command. I must therefore submit the propriety of their conduct to my Lords' Commissioners of the Admiralty; as from the nature of the circumstances which obliged me to bear those men on the said List, I am confident their Lordships will allow I am not in the least culpable. I must beg leave to acquaint you that on my joining the Boreas I found a vast number of men on board her who indeed appeared to me to have been very improperly entered into the Service, for several of them were fit objects to be invalided; and as the Boreas was ordered on a Foreign Station, I therefore sent them to the Hospital; at the same time discharging them to the Supernume 1 rary List for wages (from whence they were D. S. Q.6 before the complement was full,) for if I had kept them on the Ship's Books and carried them to a hot climate, the consequence must have been dreaded. I therefore hope their Lordships' will consider my conduct in this case as undeserving of pecuniary punishment, for I could not have a wish to bear more Seamen than my complement, as undoubtedly I knew it was contrary to establishment, and that it would bring an additional expense on Government. I must also beg leave to acquaint you that the Navy Board have likewise deducted £5. 188. 9d. for some Supernumeraries borne for victuals only, without order, part of which Supernumeraries were passengers going out to join Sir Richard Hughes, one of them his own son, two Midshipmen, a servant to Lady Hughes, and two boys, who were servants to the Gunner who deserted. If there is an error in respect to bearing them without order, I am induced to think it is not their Lordships' desire that I should be amenable, by paying for their victualling; for their being discharged to a King's Ship, with their original entries, which is agreeable to the rules of the Service in those cases, must entirely clear me; and I cannot be supposed to be any longer reponsible for them. I must therefore request their Lordships will please to direct that the Navy Board do grant a Certificate, that I may receive my full wages. In I am, Sir, &c. HORATIO NELSON. respect to Faster Doudle, one of the Supernumeraries, I did not know of his being on board till the Ship was at Sea, when I thought it rather hard that the man should be obliged to serve his King without receiving some gratuity or other. I therefore entered him, as appears by the Books, but on the Ship's arrival at Barbadoes, he deserted her, and consequently wages are forfeited. his 6 "D. S. Q," the indication of having been " Discharged to Sick Quarters." |