may judge proper that my Sovereign may be informed of my loss of an eye in His Service: nor do I think that his Majesty will consider that I suffered the less pain from my determination to do my duty in twenty-four hours after the accident, that those laborious duties intrusted by your Lordship to my direction might not slacken. I submit my Case entirely to your Lordship,5 resting assured you will mention me in this matter as I deserve, and will do ample justice to the gallant Officers and Seamen employed under me. I am, with great respect, Your Lordship's most obedient Servant, CERTIFICATES. These are to Certify, that Horatio Nelson, Esquire, Commander of his Majesty's Ship Agamemnon, did, on the 10th day of July 1794, while Commanding the Seamen before Calvi, receive a wound of the iris of the right eye, which has occasioned an unnatural dilatation of the pupil, and a material defect of sight. Given under our hands, on board his Majesty's ship Victory, off Calvi, this 9th day of August 1794. JOHN HARNESS. MICHAEL JEFFERSON, These are to Certify that Captain Horatio Nelson of his Majesty's Ship Agamemnon, now serving on Shore at the Siege of Calvi, was on the 10th day of July last, wounded in the face and right eye, much injured by stones or splinters, struck by shot from the Enemy. There were several small lacerations about the face; and his eye so materially injured, Lord Hood did not fail to recommend his case in the strongest manner to the first Lord of the Admiralty. Vide Lord Hood's Letter to Nelson, of the 1st of December, 1794, p. 502 post. that in my opinion, he will never recover the perfect use of it again. Calvi, August 12th, 1794. W. CHAMBERS, Surgeon to the Forces in the Mediterranean. TO MRS. NELSON. [From Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. i. p. 195.] Off Gourjean, October Srd, 1794. new Lord Hood is gone to Leghorn to receive his dispatches by a messenger, who is arrived from England, and most probably we shall only see him to take leave. Admiral Hotham will be Commander-in-Chief; and with new men, measures are generally adopted, therefore I can at present say nothing about myself, except that I am in most perfect health. We have here eleven Sail of the Line, the Enemy have fourteen; seven here, and seven at Toulon. They will probably before the winter is over effect a junction, when our Fleet will be kept together; but whenever they choose to give us a meeting, the event I have no doubt will be such as every Englishman has a right to expect. October 10th.-Lord Hood is to join us in a few days; I fear I have no chance whatever of going Home. My Ship's company are by no means recovered; and we are destined to keep the sea, until both Ship and Crew are rendered unfit for On the 30th of September Lord Hood directed Captain Nelson to proceed off Gourjean, and place himself under the orders of Vice-Admiral Hotham, or if he had not arrived, of Vice-Admiral Goodall. In a Private Letter of that date Lord Ilood said: "My dear Nelson,-My letters by the return of the courier I sent to Leghorn, make it necessary for me to go to that Port immediately, having reason tobelieve a messenger will be there before me with Dispatches of great importance for me to get as soon as possible. You will therefore herewith receive an order to proceed off Gourjean and put yourself under the command of Vice-Admiral Hotham, or Vice-Admiral Goodall, in his absence. So soon as I get my Dispatches you shall hear from me. I send you two Newspapers, by which you will see that Cunningham was arrived. You will give them to Admiral Hotham. Ever, my dear Nelson, most faithfully yours, HOOD."— Original, in the Nelson Papers. service. Pray let me hear often from you: it is my greatest comfort. October 12th.-Lord Hood left us yesterday: therefore our hopes of my guing Home at present are at an end; however, we must not repine: at all events I shall cheat the winter, and, as I understand I am to have a cruise, it may possibly be advantageous. Lord Hood is very well inclined towards me; but the service must ever supersede all private consideration. I hope you will spend the winter cheerfully. The Wolterton family, I am sure, will be happy to receive you for as long a time as you please. Do not repine at my absence: before Spring I hope we shall have Peace, when we must look out for some little cottage: I assure you I shall return to the plough with redoubled glee. October 15th.-Two of my opponents, whom I fell in with last year about this time, are now in England, or near it, the St. Fiorenzo, late La Minerve, and La Melpomene, both 40 guns, 18-pounders, two as fine Frigates as are in the world.1 I have been fortunate in being present at the taking and destroying of that whole Squadron; and which, but for our disabling them, intended to have returned to France: they are now better disposed of. Yours, &c. HORATIO NELSON. TO CAPTAIN WILLIAM LOCKER, LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR, GREENWICH HOSPITAL. [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.] Agamemnon, October 10th, 1794. Off Gourjean Bay. My dear Friend, I am just favoured with your letter of 3rd September, for which I sincerely thank you. My constitution is not the least impaired by my fag, which I assure you has been very great. I was almost the only person, in Army or Navy at the Siege of Calvi, who was not completely knocked up. Out of 1 Captured at the Surrender of Calvi. 2,000 men we have had died upwards of 300; and the others were so reduced that we had only 400 to take possession. My Ship's company, who were all landed, suffered with the others; nor can I get the better of the fever. Our Sick-list is now seventy-seven, almost all objects for the Hospital. What is to become of us I cannot guess, we are here making a show, but certainly unfit for a long cruise. The French Ships in the Bay are so fortified, that we cannot get at them without a certainty of the destruction of our own Fleet. At Toulon six Sail of the Line are ready for sea in the outer Road, and two nearly so in the Arsenal. When Victory is gone we shall be thirteen Sail of the Line, when the Enemy will keep our new Commanding Officer in hot water, (Hotham,) who missed, unfortunately, the opportunity of fighting them, last June. The French, if something capital is not done by the Austrians in the Piedmontese Territory, will in the spring overrun Italy, now they have got and fortified Vado Bay, and every Town belonging to the Genoese, as they advance. We shall lose the benefit of Port Especia if the Austrians do not make haste; and if the French get it, their Fleet may lay there with the greatest safety, and Italy is lost to us. Leghorn will fall in a week. Some of the French are more active [a word torn] than ourselves. We offend [torn] proceed, and then retreat. This [torn] our conduct respecting Genoa, a war against her would have starved the Southern Provinces. Our Allies in these Seas are useless to us, as I believe they are in all other parts of the world. My paper is full. Kind remembrances to Miss Eliza, and your Sons. Holloway of the Bri tannia, and John Sutton of the Egmont, desire to be remembered to you. Believe me your most affectionate Friend, H. N. Josiah is very well, and thanks you for your inquiries after him. 2 Vide p. 476. TO VICE-ADMIRAL HOTHAM. [From a Copy, in the Admiralty, transmitted by Vice-Admiral Hotham, on whom the temporary command of the Fleet in the Mediterranean had devolved, in consequence of Lord Hood's return to England.] Sir, Agamemnon, at Sea, 17 October, 1794. In obedience to your directions desiring me to inquire of Mr. William Bolton on what grounds he had written a letter to his relations in Suffolk, stating as a fact that Lieutenant Day and the crew of his Majesty's Ship Ardent, were prisoners in France, I have the honour to acquaint you, that I find from Mr. Bolton that he had heard such a report, and had written it to his friends, but that he was satisfied long since there was no truth in it. I have the honour to be, &c. HORATIO NELSON. TO MRS. NELSON. [From Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. i. p. 194.] Leghorn, October 24th, 1794. What changes, my dearest Fanny, our life is subject to. The other day, when I wrote, I was going up the Levant: now that is gone by, and I am under different orders. We came in here to get a few refreshments for my people, seventy of whom are still very ill, and I go to sea on the 26th to join the Fleet again. We have but little news here. I wish we could make a Peace on any fair terms, for poor England will be drained of her riches to maintain her Allies, who will not fight for themselves. [Apparently in continuation.] Leghorn, October 31st. It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good: being obliged by a gale to put back last night, I in consequence Then a Midshipman of the Agamemnon; afterwards Captain Sir William Bolton. Vide p. 542, ante. 9 The fate of the Ardent was never ascertained. It was supposed that she was blown up. |