station. Pringle, in the Dædalus, is going to Newfoundland, after having seen the Convoy to Quebec. God bless you, and assure yourself I am ever faithfully yours, HORATIO NELSON. Remember me to the Bradleys. Charles Pole desires his compliments: his Ship is in the harbour. He is coming soon to London. My dear Sir, TO CAPTAIN LOCKER. [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.] Cork, April 20th, 1782. After a very long passage of ten days, owing to very bad weather, we are at last got here; the Dædalus, our consort, arrived the same day. To-morrow we sail, if the wind continues fair. Captain Pringle goes upon the Newfoundland station, after having seen us to the entrance of the River St. Lawrence. Our Convoy is between thirty and forty Sail. I know your goodness will say, 'I wonder how Nelson does?' I say, I am quite well, better than for a long time past. I hope by the time I get back, all your complaints will be removed. Remember me kindly to all the Bradleys, and don't forget me to Commissioner Kirke, nor to Charles Pole, when you see him: never a young man bore his own merits with so much modesty. Farewell, my dear Sir, and believe me to be Ever faithfully yours, The Preston, I understand, is to bring out the English Quebec Fleet. I should be happy to hear from you. Will you send to Mr. Paynter, and tell him I am at Cork? TO WILLIAM LOCKER, ESQ., GRAY'S INN. [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.] St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland, June 1st, 1782. My dear Sir, We arrived at this disagreeable place last Monday, at daylight (the 27th) with four Sail of the Convoy; we parted from the Dædalus on the 7th of May, three hundred leagues to the Westward of Cape Clear, in a hard gale of wind. As the wind has blown strong from the Eastward, ever since our arrival here, I imagine that Captain Pringle could not fetch this Port, and is therefore gone on to the Westward; if he is, this wind will carry him to Quebec, while I am so unfortunate as to be kept here with a fair wind; for the entrance of this harbour is so narrow, that you cannot sail unless the wind blows right out: as soon as the wind changes I shall sail. Leocadia arrived here three days before us with the Salt Ships from Lisbon. Captain Hope desires his compliments; he took a Ship privateer, the day he made the land, of fourteen guns. We have heard the news from the West Indies, but not particulars it is reported that the Duke blew up in the Action. I hope to God it is not true. I had rather the French were at the devil, than have lost Captain Gardner: he is a real loss to the Service. You know the particulars long before this. My second Lieutenant was appointed to the Preston, and left the Ship at Cork; the other Lieutenant not having joined the Ship, I gave Bromwich an order to act as a Lieutenant: it will in all probability get him some prize-money, and I hope get him confirmed a Lieutenant; he does his duty exceedingly well as an Officer: indeed I am very well off. They are all good. As to myself, the voyage agrees better with me than I expected. I hope you are much better in your head than when 5 Captain Charles Hope, grandson of Charles, first Earl of Hopetoun, and father of Captain Henry Hope, C. B. He was for some time Commissioner of the Navy at Chatham, and died in September 1808. Sir George Rodney's engagement with the French Fleet under Count de Grasse, on the 12th of April 1782. The report of the explosion of the Duke was unfounded. Captain Alan Gardner, who greatly distinguished himself in that battle, and on numerous other occasions, became an Admiral, was raised to the Peerage, both in England and Ireland, and died in December 1808. I sailed, and that Mr. James Bradley is got from under the Doctor's hands. Remember me to them all, and all my old friends that you may see. I think the chance is much against your getting this letter, as it goes by the way of Lisbon. Farewell, my dear Sir, and believe me to be Your much obliged faithful Servant, Bromwich desires his best respects. You must not forget mine to Commissioner Kirke when you see him. June 3. The remainder of the Quebec Fleet are arrived at a harbour a few leagues to leeward of this, and I am now getting under sail to join them with the other part of the Fleet from this place. The Irish Newfoundland Fleet arrived here on the 1st of June, and the Arethusa with the English Fleet at a place where the Quebec Fleet are, on the 2nd Instant, with their whole Fleets not a Ship taken in any of the Fleets. CERTIFICATE OF RELEASE OF AN AMERICAN PRIZE. [From Clarke and M'Arthur's Life of Nelson, vol. i. p. 49, who state that on the 14th of July 1782, the Albemarle captured an American fishing Schooner, belonging to Cape Cod, and not having any Officer on board who was acquainted with Boston Bay and the adjacent shoals, Captain Nelson ordered Nathaniel Carver, the Master of the Schooner, to come on board the Albemarle, and act as her Pilot. Having obeyed Captain Nelson's orders to his satisfaction, he said to him, "You have rendered us, Sir, a very essential service, and it is not the custom of English seamen to be ungrateful. In the name, therefore, and with the approbation of the Officers of this Ship, I return your Schooner, and with it this Certificate of your good conduct. Farewell! and may God bless you." The original MS. was framed and hung up in the house of Isaac Davis, Esq. of Boston. Judge Davis lately sent a copy of it to Page Nicol Scott, Esq., of Norwich.] These are to Certify, that I took the Schooner Harmony, Nathaniel Carver, Master, belonging to Plymouth; but, on account of his good Services, have given him up his Vessel again. Dated on board His Majesty's Ship Albemarle, 17th of August 1782. Boston Bay. VOL. I. HORATIO NELSON. F TO WILLIAM LOCKER, ESQ., GRAY'S INN. [Autograph, in the Locker Papers.] Albemarle, Isle of Bic, River St. Lawrence, Oct. 19th, 1782. My dear Sir, My letter from Newfoundland, by the way of Lisbon, if you ever will receive, you have got long before this time; but this I most sincerely hope will not find you at Gray's Inn; but that Old England, at this time of need, will have the services of so good an Officer. We arrived here with the Convoy on the 1st of July, and I sailed upon a cruise the 4th, and returned to Quebec on the 17th of September, knocked up with the scurvy; having [for] eight weeks, myself and all the Officers [lived] upon salt beef; nor had the Ship's company had a fresh meal since the 7th of April. In the end, our cruise has been an unsuccessful one; we have taken, seen, and destroyed more Enemies than is seldom done in the same space of time, but not one arrived in Port. But, however, I do not repine at our loss: we have in other things been very fortunate, for on the 14th of August, we fell in with, in Boston Bay, four Sail of the Line, and the Iris, French Man-of-War, part of M. Vaudreuil's Squadron, who gave us a pretty dance for between nine or ten hours; but we beat all except the Frigate, and though we brought to for her, after we were out of sight of the Line of Battle Ships, she tacked and stood from us. Our escape I think wonderful: they were upon the clearing up of a fog within shot of us, and chased us the whole time about one point from the wind: the Frigate, I fancy, had not forgot the dressing Captain Salter had given the Amazon, for daring to leave the Line of Battle Ships. 8 About a fortnight ago, when I was at Quebec, with no other expectation or desires than to return to England, arrives the Drake Sloop, and Cockatrice Cutter, with orders for the Transports to be fitted for the reception of Troops, and to 7 Vide" Sketch of Life." p. 10. 8 Captain Elliot Salter, in the Santa Margeretta, of 32 guns, and 220 men, captured on the 29th July 1782, after a gallant Action, the French frigate l'Amazone, of 36 guns and 301 men, off Cape Henry. be sent to New York: in consequence thereof, old Worth,9 has given me orders to carry the Fleet to New York-a very pretty job at this late season of the year, for our sails are at this moment frozen to the yards. The wind has at this instant flew round from the Eastward to the N.W., and I have just made the Signal to unmoor: you shall hear from me again when I reach New York. Farewell, my dear Sir, and assure [yourself] I am your much obliged, and Obedient humble Servant, HORATIO Nelson. Give my compliments to the Bradleys, Commissioner Kirke, or any others that ask after me. TO THE REVEREND MR. NELSON, BATH. [Autograph, in the Nelson Papers. The Reverend Edmund Nelson was then at Bath for the benefit of his health. He was at that time in his sixtieth year; and died on the 20th of April 1802.] My dear Father, Albemarle, Isle of Bic, River St. Lawrence, October 19th, 1782. I wrote to Mr. Suckling when I was at Newfoundland, but I have not had an opportunity of writing to you till this time. I expected to have sailed for England on the 1st of November, but our destination is now altered, for we sail with a Fleet for New York to-morrow; and from there I think it very likely we shall go to the grand theatre of Actions, the West Indies; but in our line of life we are sure of no one thing. When I reach New York you shall hear what becomes of me; but whilst I have health it is indifferent to me (were it not for the pleasure of seeing you and my brothers and sisters) where I go. Health, that greatest of blessings, is what I never truly enjoyed till I saw Fair Canada. The change it has wrought, I am convinced is truly wonderful. I most sincerely wish, my dear Father, I could compliment you the same way; but 9 Captain James Worth, of the Assistance of 50 guns: he was made a PostCaptain in November 1772, and died a superannuated Rear-Admiral. |