TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR GILBERT ELLIOT. My dear Sir, [Autograph, in the Minto Papers.] Calvi, August 10th, 1794. As the Corsican cannot enter the Town with me, I shall give him this letter the moment we get possession of the gates. The Garrison will lay down their arms at the waterside, and before night I hope to have them all embarked. The business is certainly done, and high time it is. We are all sick. Our Transports are in the harbour; and I have an Officer and men ready to go on board the Frigates. The Enemy are said to have lost eighty killed and wounded,— the Town and Works much damaged. Believe me, dear Sir, Your very obedient Servant, Your letter of the 7th I sent on board Lord Hood the 8th, in the evening. mand of the Seamen, will show the daily occurrences of the Siege, and whose unremitting zeal and exertion, I cannot sufficiently express, or of that of Captain Hallowell, who took it by turns to command in the advanced battery twenty-four hours at a time, and I flatter myself they, as well as the other Officers and Seamen, will have full justice done them by the General: it is therefore unnecessary for me to say more upon the subject. But I have to lament, and which I do most sincerely, the loss of a very able and valuable Officer, Captain Serocold, who was killed by a grape-shot whilst getting the last gun in its place soon after the Enemy had discovered our battery. The King has not a more meritorious young Captain in his Majesty's Navy. He commanded the floating-battery which was burnt by red-hot shot before Bastia, and afterwards served with infinite reputation at the batteries on shore. Independent of my regard and esteem for him, I feel his loss to be a public one. "Much credit is due to Captains Wolseley, Hood, Sir Charles Hamilton, Sir Harry Burrard, Cunningham, Macnamara, and Robinson, for their vigilance in keeping succours out by a steady perseverance in preserving their respective stations under manifest difficulties, and I ought not to omit to mention my tribute of praise to Mr. Gibson, commanding the Fox hired Cutter, of whom all the Captains speak in the handsomest manner for his diligence and punctual obedience to orders. For near two months they did not receive at Calvi any intelligence from the Continent until the night of the 29th, when four boats got in, the Port not being then so well and closely guarded, having been obliged to send three Frigates to Naples, and other places for stores, which the General pressed for, and the night's being dark. "On the 27th I arrived off Calvi, and have kept close off the Port ever 10 Sir, TO H. R. H. THE DUKE OF CLARENCE. [From Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. i. p. 186.] Camp before Calvi, August 6th and 10th, 1794. The Gazette will tell your Royal Highness the general outlines of this Siege, which I believe is novel in its form. We landed about four miles to the Westward of Calvi on the 19th of June: on the 19th of July we were in full possession of every outpost of the Enemy, with very trifling loss. Our batteries were erected with impunity in situations which the Enemy ought to have prevented. Had they kept even a since, in order to relieve the wants of the Army every morning, having stationed a Frigate at anchor off Cape Reveliata, and another off Point D'Espana. I have landed from this Ship seven of her lower-deck guns, and from time to time all requisitions for various other stores, as well as for men, the General has made, have been complied with, under great inconvenience, that the operations of the Army should not stand still. "On the 29th of last month, I had the honour of a visit from General Stuart, who brought letters that bad passed between him and the Commandant of the French Troops, relative to a Truce for twenty-five days, which appearing to be inadmissible, in the afternoon of the S0th of July, our batteries were opened, and on the morning of the 1st instant the White Flag was displayed on the Citadel under the National one, and the firing ceased." In his Letter of the 9th of August, Lord Hood said :— “Victory, off Calvi, August 9th, 1794. I herewith have the honour to transmit for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, duplicates of my Dispatches of the 5th from Martello Bay. I sailed on the 7th, and got off here the next morning, and herewith transmit a Copy of Captain Nelson's Journal from the 28th of last month to the 8th of the present one: also the copy of a Letter I have received from him highly creditable to Lieutenant Harrison, a Transport Agent, as well as to Mr. William Harrington, Master of the Willington, and the Transports' men, who were all anxiously eager either to serve on shore or on board his Majesty's ships."-London Gazette. By neither Commander was the severe wound which Nelson had received, and which deprived him of the sight of his right eye, even mentioned. Without adopting the strong opinions of some of Nelson's Biographers at the manner in which his services at Calvi were treated in these Dispatches, it is certain that, as at Bastia, they were not duly appreciated, and that he deeply felt the neglect. He is stated by Harrison (vol. i., p. 127) to have said in a Letter to his eldest Sister, Mrs. Bolton, "They have not done me justice in the affair of Calvi; but never mind, I'll have a Gazette of my own;" and in a Letter to Captain Locker in May in the following year, he still more strongly expressed his dissatisfaction. Lord Hood, in a Letter to Nelson of the 1st of December 1794, censured General Stuart for not mentioning him in his Dispatch. (Vide p. 502.) moderate look-out, our loss of men must have been great, every battery being within reach of grape-shot from its opponent. On the 19th of July, General Stuart sent in to ask, if they had any terms to propose to him; their answer was the Motto of the Town,-Civitas Calvis semper fidelis. We were then only 650 yards from the centre of the Citadel, and they allowed us to erect very strong batteries under a mask -they must, and ought to have known what we were after -without firing a single shot or shell. On the 28th, in the morning, our batteries, 560 yards from the Citadel wall, were ready to open their force, consisting of twenty-one cannon, five mortars, and four howitzers. The General sent in to say that he should not fire on the black flags (hospitals). This Note produced a negociation, by which the Enemy wanted to obtain a Truce for twenty-five days; when, if no succours arrived, they agreed to surrender the Town, Frigates, &c. Hood and the General agreed to give them six days; but, whilst this was going on, four small Vessels got in, which gave them hope, I suppose, of more effectual relief; for on the 30th of July they rejected our offer; and our fire opened with all the effect we could expect. Lord On the 1st of August, at eleven o'clock, when much of the parapet was beat down, and the houses in the Citadel were either in ruins or in flames, the Enemy hung out a White flag, and requested a suspension of hostilities for a few hours, to prepare terms. In twenty-four hours everything was settled,―That on the 10th of August we were to be put in full possession, and the Garrison, and such of the Inhabitants as chose, were to be transported to Toulon, with out being Prisoners of War; provided no effectual succours were thrown in by the French. Thus is likely to end the attack of Corsica, the possession of which will, I hope, benefit our Country. Whilst there are such men as Sir Gilbert Elliot, to point out the advantages, it would be impertinent in me to attempt it. The loss to the French will be great they got from it all the deals, that are excellent, for their decks, and timbers for their topsides, with pitch and tar, which, although of an inferior quality, they employed at Toulon for many uses. We also get the Mel pomene, the most beautiful frigate I ever saw, fourteen ports, tumeen eighteen-pounders The Mignonne with twelvepounders, but not a very fine Ship, at least if compared with De Cher. The chmate here, from July to October, is most unfavouralue Sur Militar cperations. It is now what we call the drg-days, here is termed the Lion Sun; no person can ende : we have upwards of one thousand sick out of two thousand and the others not much better than so many phan We have lost many men from the season, very few from the Enetry. I am here the reed amongst the oaks: the preving disorders have attacked me, but I have not strength for them to fasten upon: I bow before the storm, whist the sturdy oak is laid low. One plan I pursue, never to empiry a Doctor; Nature does all for me, and Providence protects me. Always happy, if my humble but hearty endeavours can serve my King and Country. The French Fleet are still at Gourjean Road, and so securely moored that it is said we cannot get at them with our Ships They are guarded as much as possible from Fire-ships by a line of Frigates outside the large Ships, and a line of Gus-boats outside them, and at night a line of Launches; the whole is protected by very formidable batteries. When they came out of Toulon, by some mistake, they were represented to Admiral Hotham as nine Sail of the Line, whereas time has shown they were only seven; which induced a most gallant Officer to bear up for Calvi, and there he intended to fight them, sooner than they should throw in succours: had he known they were only an equal force, I am sure he would have given a good account of them. I have written thus much, that your Royal Highness may be assured of my compliance with your desire of knowing what we are about; and that I am ready to obey your orders; being, with the highest respect, your Royal Highness's most dutiful servant. HORATIO NELSON. TO ADMIRAL LORD HOOD. [Autograph, in the Hood Papers.] My dear Lord, Camp, August 10th, 1794. A bag of Letters are come from Mr. Hunter, of Bastia, which I send off with another letter left at my tent by a Corsican. Sir Gilbert Elliot's servant has just brought a letter for Lady Elliot, which he requests may be given to the SeaOfficer going to England. We took possession between ten and eleven o'clock, and I have endeavoured, as well as a momentary arrangement would allow, to dispose of the Garrison and Seamen, their baggage, &c., on the wharf, and the General, as well as the Governor, wished to get them on board as soon as possible. I therefore sent the Troops, 547 men, besides women and children, on board the Mather, and Alice and Jane, the Seamen, about three hundred, on board the Nancy. The Officers and Staff, with some of the principal Inhabitants, on board the Mary (4th,) 313 sick to be put as many as possible on board the Sovereign. If not able to hold them all, the Mary to take some. There are also 400 inhabitants to be embarked. The Transports here having no provisions, I ordered the Transports from Fiorenzo to bring provisions for 12,050 men, which can easily be removed out of them to these Transports. I have endeavoured to act as I think you would wish me. I am the best in health, but every other Officer is scarcely able to crawl. I have got the Agamemnon's three guns to the water-side, but to-day it is as easy to keep a flock of wild geese together as our Seamen. We number ninety sick. Thirty of the Agammenon's I shall send on board this afternoon if possible. Lieutenant Moutray took possession of the Melpomene and Mignonne, with the Gunboat, who has a fine brass-gun in her prow. Every sail is cut up for sand-bags, and delivered the Ships to Captain Wolseley. Mr. Harrington, Master of the Willington Transport, who has served his time in the Navy, and passed, has requested me to mention him to your Lordship. He is a deserving young man, and has been very active and attentive to his duty. I could do nothing more than pro 1 Mr. Harrington was made a Lieutenant in 1796. |