Nelson (160 page)

20
. Nelson to Jervis, 1/5/1797, Monmouth MSS, E988. For Fremantle’s voyage see the log of the
Inconstant
, ADM 51/1179.

21
. Anne Fremantle, ed.,
Wynne Diaries
(1935–40), 2, p. 176, which also contains a journal of Nelson’s return journey; Nelson to Jervis, 21/4/1797, 1/5/1797, ADM 1/396; Spencer to Jervis, 8/7/1797, Add. MSS 75812.

22
. Cockburn to Nelson, 24/7/1797, Add. MSS 34906.

23
. Udny to Nelson, 11/4/1797, Add. MSS 34906.

24
. Ogle to Nelson, 22/3/1797, Add. MSS 34905; Nelson accounts in Morrison,
Hamilton and Nelson Papers
, 2, pp. 382–99.

25
. For the missing ship see De Burgh to Elliot, 21/5/1797, 6/7/1797, NMM: ELL/148; Nelson to Jervis, 5/5/1797, Monmouth MSS, E988.

26
. Sutton to Pole, 28/4/1797, NMM: WYN/101; Nelson to Spencer, 28/5/1797, BL: A. M. Broadley, ‘Nelsoniana’, 1, facing p. 24.

27
. Nelson to Clarence, 26/5/1797, NMM: AGC/27; Nelson to Calder, 17/6/1797, Monmouth
MSS, E988; Nelson to Hoste, 30/6/1797,
D&L
, 2, p. 401. The first complaint of the mutineers, as given in the
Queen Charlotte
petition of 18/4/1797, concerned pay: G. E. Manwaring and Bonamy Dobree,
Floating Republic
, p. 265.

28
. Court martial, 20/5/1797, ADM 1/5339; Jervis to Nepean, 21/5/1797, ADM 1/396; Fremantle,
Wynne Diaries
, 2, p. 184.

29
. Nelson to Miller, 24/5/1797, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Nelson to McArthur, 1/6/1797, Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

30
. Weatherhead was made acting lieutenant on 2 April 1797, filling the place of the promoted Noble, and Nisbet received a similar commission two days later, although in his case it was regularised in May (Add. MSS 31176: 117; muster, ADM 36/14801; Nisbet’s return of service, 1817, ADM 9/2: no. 94). The other transferring lieutenants were Summers and Compton, and two recruits to the
Captain
, John Davies and Richard Hawkins, originally recruited from the
Lively
and
Egmont
respectively. The seven petty officers included Bolton, Hoste and Schroder of the
Agamemnon
, and Joseph Peraldi, a nineteen-year-old Corsican from Ajaccio. The important posts retained by
Theseus
men were those of captain of marines (Thomas Oldfield), master (Thomas Atkinson) and purser (John Hopper).

Among the ratings following Nelson into his new ship were nineteen
Agamemnons
: Tom Allen, Francis Cook, Mark Cooper, John Cross, Charles Fenwick, William Fearney, John Hagan, Arthur Johnson, George Jones, William Levett, George Logan, John Lovell, Thomas Ramsay, Michael Riley, Samuel Shillingford, William Short, William Sparks (a boy), John Sykes and John (Jack) Thompson (muster of the
Theseus
, ADM 36/12648). Lovell, Short and Cook later served under William Hoste, when he eventually got a command of his own. Francis Cook lost his hand in a boat action and became a cook on Hoste’s
Mutine
. See Joseph Allen, ‘England’s Wooden Walls’, pp. 348–9.

31
. Report of the
Theseus
, 30/5/1797, enclosed in ADM 1/396: no. 107.

32
. Hoste to his father, 27/5/1797, NMM: MRF/88/1; logs of the
Theseus
, ADM 51/1173 (Aylmer), 51/1221 and 52/2993, and NMM: ADM/L/T87A.

33
. Nelson to Clarence, 15/6/1797, NMM: AGC/27. For the more usual wording see Nelson to Fanny, 15/6/1797, Monmouth MSS, E930.

34
. Nelson to Jervis, 9/6/1797, 10/6/1797,
D&L
, 2, pp. 393, 395; Jervis to Nelson, 10/6/1797, Add. MSS 34938. The original of the first of these letters, written by Nelson on 9 June (filed in NMM: JER/3–4) does not include the quotation about the two prisoners. Nicolas took his version (cited here) from Clarke and McArthur, but they reproduced documents inaccurately, and sometimes put material from two or more original letters together, publishing them under one date as if they belonged to a single communication. Probably Clarke and McArthur took the description of the prisoners from another Nelson letter, and incorporated it into the 9 June document in that way.

35
. Nelson’s letters to Jervis and Calder, 9/7/1797,
D&L
, 2, pp. 408, 409.

36
. Nick Slope, ‘The Trials of Nelson: Nelson and the
Emerald
’.

37
. In addition to musters of the
Theseus
, see Jervis to Nelson, 2/6/1797, Add. MSS 34938, in which the commander-in-chief reports issuing a warrant as second master of the
Ville de Paris
to satisfy Nelson.

38
. Nelson to Fanny, 9/3/1797, 2/4/1797, Monmouth MSS, E923–924.

39
. Letter to Tyson, 1800, Add. MSS 34916: 187; Nelson to Fanny, 9/3/1797, 12/4/1797, Monmouth MSS, E923, E926; Nisbet’s return of service, 1817, ADM 9/2: no. 94. Nisbet may even have avoided taking his lieutenants’ examination. Spencer complained that lieutenants were being made in the Mediterranean fleet without certificates being forwarded, specifically mentioning Nisbet: Spencer to Jervis, 1/7/1797, Add. MSS 75812.

40
. Maurice to Nelson, 16/5/1797, 4/8/1797, Add. MSS 34988, and NMM: BRP/5; Add. MSS 31176: 159; Jervis to Nelson, 17 and 19/6/1797, Add. MSS 34938; Nelson to Jervis, 18/9/1797, NMM: JER/3–4; Nelson to Fanny, 2/4/1797 and 30/6/1797, Monmouth
MSS, E924, E932. Later Bolton served under Nelson again and received a knighthood through the association.

41
. Nelson to Hoste, 30/6/1797 and September 1797,
D&L
, 2, pp. 401, 442; Fanny to Nelson, 3/4/1797, Add. MSS 34988.

42
. Nelson to Clarence, 15/6/1797, NMM: AGC/27. Nelson to McArthur, 1/6/1797, Rosenbach Museum and Library.

43
. For the disposition of the ships see the map by a British officer, 18/5/1797, Add. MSS 34906: 124, and the drawings made by Thomas Buttersworth, NMM. The Spanish side of the blockade was described by Augusto Conte y Lacave,
Ataque de Cadiz
. Jervis’s letters to Nelson can be read in Add. MSS 34938–34939, but his journal may be consulted in Add. MSS 31186: 189 following.

44
. Nelson to Saumarez, 9/6/1797, Ross,
Saumarez
, 1, p. 180; Nelson to Mazzaredo, 30/6/1797, Monmouth MSS, E988.

45
. Information of Duff, 29/5/1797, FO 72/45; Jervis to Nepean, 30/6/1797, ADM 1/396; map of Cadiz harbour,
NC
, 21 (1809), facing p. 476.

46
. Plan to attack Cadiz, April 1797, Add. MSS 75812.

47
. Nelson to Jervis, 7/6/1797, 6/6/1797, NMM: JER/3–4, and
D&L
, 2, p. 392; Ross,
Saumarez
, 1, p. 180; Add. MSS 34906: 135; Jervis to Nelson, Add. MSS 34938: 210; Jervis to O’Hara, 18/6/1797, Add. MSS 31166.

48
. Jervis to Nelson, 10/7/1797, Add. MSS 34939.

49
. Mazzaredo’s letters to Nelson, Add. MSS 34941: 176–86, and Nelson letter book, Monmouth MSS, E988.

50
. Nelson to Inglefield, 11/7/1797,
D&L
, 2, p. 411; Nelson to Jervis, 13/6/1797, Add. MSS 75812; Nelson to Fanny, 11/7/1797, Monmouth MSS, E934.

51
. Jervis to Walpole, 6/7/1797, Add. MSS 31160.

52
. Nelson to Clarence, 28/6/1797, NMM: AGC/27.

53
. Jervis to Nelson, 3/6/1797, Add. MSS 34938; Nelson to Jervis, 3/7/1797, NMM: JER/3–4; Jervis to Nepean, 5/7/1797, ADM 1/396; Jervis to Nelson, 3/7/1797, Add. MSS 34939; Jervis to Spencer, 15/6/1797, Add. MSS 75812. The most useful account of the bombardments of Cadiz was given by Miller and dated 9/7/1797. It was rediscovered and published by Kirstie Buckland, ed.,
Miller Papers
, pp. 8–15.

54
. Nelson to Jervis, 3/7/1797, NMM: JER/3–4. In addition to the logs of the
Theseus
, I have used those of the
Goliath
(ADM 51/1205),
Terpsichore
(ADM 51/4507),
Emerald
(51/1166) and
Seahorse
(51/1190). Jervis thought Nelson’s dispatch covering the attack (Nelson to Jervis, 4/7/1797, enclosed in ADM 1/396: no. 124) ‘characteristic of your noble soul, and cannot be improved by the ablest pen in Europe’ (Jervis to Nelson, 5/7/1797, Add. MSS 34939).

55
. Buckland,
Miller Papers
, p. 9.

56
.
Guiana Chronicle
, 21/3/1836, which contains a statement supposed to have been made by a participant.

57
. Allen, ‘England’s Wooden Walls’, pp. 348–9;
D&L
, p. 11;
Guiana Chronicle
, 21/3/1836; James Stanier Clarke and John McArthur,
Life and Services
, 2, p. 39; medical journal of the
Theseus
, ADM 101/123/2. Nelson referred to Sykes in his dispatch, and offered to pay his ongoing medical expenses. Prompted by Maurice Nelson, Fanny also sent him an inscribed small cased silver watch, which, with related relics, is preserved at Monmouth. Sykes recovered and returned to duty on 23 July. Fanny and Peirson were able to serve him in England, and through Nelson’s influence he was transferred to Jervis’s
Ville de Paris
and in October appointed a gunner of the
Andromache
. Unfortunately, he was accidentally killed when a gun burst on 1 May 1798; his estate, valued at under £300, went to his mother, Hannah. Consult Nelson to Huddlestone, 23/9/1797, NMM: AGC/18/5; Maurice Nelson to Nelson, 4/8/1797, NMM: BRP/5; Jervis
to Nelson, 30/10/1797, Add. MSS 34939; Matthew H. Barker,
Life of Nelson
, pp. 165–6; E. H. Fairbrother, ‘John Sykes’. The story of Sykes’s saving of Nelson seems to have become so popular that other sailors attempted to appropriate it for themselves:
NC
, 30 (1813), p. 120.

58
. Fremantle to William Fremantle, 4/7/1797, CBS, D-FR/45/2; Nelson to Jervis, 7/7/1797,
D&L
, 2, p. 407; Fremantle,
Wynne Diaries
, 2, p. 183; report enclosed in ADM 1/396: no. 124. I dismiss the Spanish claim that six British boats attacked the
San Pablo
(Conte y Lacave,
Ataque de Cadiz
, 68). Nelson mentioned Miller and Fremantle in his dispatch, but exaggerated his own exploit in ‘Sketch of My Life’ by implying that his boat’s crew captured the Spanish barge unaided. The other vessels taken were the
Pelayo
, under Don Juan Cabaleri, who was killed in the fight, and the
Glorioso
, under Don Pedro Ferriz, who was wounded.

59
. Buckland,
Miller Papers
, pp. 10–11. A witness aboard the
Goliath
wrote frankly of ‘the ridiculous bombardment’ (NMM: 85/015).

60
. Return of casualties enclosed in ADM 1/396: no. 124; medical journal of the
Theseus
, ADM 101/123/2.

61
. Jervis to Nelson, 4, 5/7/1797, Add. MSS 34939.

62
. Buckland,
Miller Papers
, p. 12.

63
. Jervis to Walpole, 6/7/1797, Add. MSS 31160; Buckland,
Miller Papers
, p. 13; the
Theseus
log; Oliver Davis narrative, NMM: WAL/21B. Nelson was rowed forward to the bomb vessel during the action, returning to the
Theseus
at about three-thirty to four in the morning.

64
. Jervis to Nepean, 10/7/1797, ADM 1/396; Nelson to Fanny, 11/7/1797, Monmouth MSS, E934; Buckland,
Miller Papers
, pp. 14–15; Jervis to Spencer, 9/7/1797, Add. MSS 75812.

65
. Nelson to Mazzaredo, 8/7/1797, Monmouth MSS, E988; Nelson to Scrivener, 15/6/1797, Fiske,
Notices of Nelson
, p. 13.

66
. Nelson to McArthur, 16/3/1797, Add. MSS 34905.

67
. Jervis to Nelson, 4/4/1797, Add. MSS 34938.

68
. Nelson to Jervis, 21/4/1797, NMM: JER/3–4.

69
. Jervis to Nelson, 17/6/1797, Add. MSS 34938; Elliott to his wife, 27/6/1797, NLS, 11051: 73.

70
. Jervis to Spencer, 10/4/1796, Add. MSS 75793; Hood to Nelson, 4/7/1797, Add. MSS 34906. Tom Wareham,
Star Captains
, pp. 172–4, discusses Bowen.

71
. Nelson to Commandant General of the Canaries, 20/7/1797, Add. MSS 34906; instructions of Jervis, 14/7/1797, Add, MSS 34939: 42.

72
. Nelson to Sykes, 14/7/1797, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

73
. Nelson to Jervis, 6, 7/6/1797, NMM: JER/3–4, and
D&L
, 2, p. 392.

74
. Jervis to Nelson, 15/7/1797, Add. MSS 34939.

XXVI More Daring Intrepidity was Never Shown (pp. 750–77)

1
. Waller journal, enclosed in ADM 1/396: no. 151.

2
. Miller’s account in Kirstie Buckland, ed.,
Miller Papers
, p. 16.

3
. The issue is a theme in Russell F. Weigley,
Age of Battles
.

4
. John Knox Laughton, ed.,
Letters and Despatches of Horatio, Viscount
Nelson, p. 150. For the development of Nelson’s system see M. A. J. Palmer, ‘Lord Nelson’, and Brian Lavery,
Nelson and the Nile
.

5
. Francisco Lanuza Cano,
Ataque
, chaps 4–7, with appended plans and illustrations, gives a comprehensive picture of the defences of Santa Cruz.

The principal British sources for the attack on Tenerife are the log books in ADM 51/1166, 1190, 1199, 1201–2, 1221, 4507, and NMM: ADM/L/C246 and ADM/L/S224; ADM 1/396: no. 151, which contains the public dispatches, Waller’s journal, and other
documents; Add. MSS 34906; Add. MSS 34938–9 (St Vincent letters);
D&L
, vols 2 and 7; Miller’s account, written soon afterwards, and cited in note 2 above; John McDougall to his parents, 8/9/1797, in Pedro Ontorio Oquillas, Luis Cola Benitez and Daniel Garcia Pulido, eds,
Fuentes Documentales
, p. 348; Oliver Davis narrative, NMM: WAL/21B; and William McPherson’s account in Sydney Fremantle, ‘Nelson’s First Writing’, p. 210. Two solid secondary accounts from the British side are J. D. Spinney, ‘Nelson at Santa Cruz’, and Colin White,
1797
.

British and Spanish accounts of the Tenerife affair are often widely disparate. The Spanish documents are comprehensively gathered in Lanuza Cano,
Ataque
, and the exemplary Oquillas, Benitez and Pulido,
Fuentes Documentales
, but English-speaking readers may consult the translation of Bernardo Cologan’s account in ‘Nelson at Tenerife’,
Daily Telegraph
, 18/8/1896; Michael Nash,
Santa Cruz
; and the garbled translations in Add. MSS 34906: 215, 218. Spanish historians have shown more interest in the engagement than their British counterparts: Don Jose de Monteverde,
Relación
; Leopoldo Pedreira, Mario Arozena, et al.,
Recuerdo del Centenario
; and Agustin Guimera,
Nelson at Tenerife
.