Cadiz. I have sent directions to Rear-Admiral Duckworth to arrange all the Ships on the Coast of Portugal, and to correspond with you during my absence. I have the honour to be, &c., NELSON. 5 TO CAPTAIN RICHARDS, H.M. SHIP COURAGEUX. [Order-Book.] Foudroyant, Port Mahon, 15th October, 1799. Whereas, William White, Boatswain's mate of His Majesty's Ship Gibraltar, but serving on board His Majesty's Ship Courageux, hath been tried by a Court-Martial on charges exhibited against him by Lieutenant John Glover, of the said Ship, for having seized him by the collar, and wishing he had the said Lieutenant Glover on shore, he would then do his business, and other mutinous expressions; and the Court having found him guilty of the twenty-second Article of the Articles of War, hath adjudged the said William White to suffer death by being hanged by the neck at the yard-arm of such Ship, as the Commanding officer for the time being might direct; and, whereas, I think it proper that the said sentence should be carried into execution, You are hereby required and directed to see the said sentence of death carried into execution upon the body of the said William White, in the usual manner, on Thursday next, the 18th instant, at nine o'clock in the morning, by causing him to be hanged at the fore yard-arm of His Majesty's Ship Courageux under your command, according to the sentence, a copy of which you have enclosed. NELSON. TO EARL SPENCER, K.G. [Letter-Book.] My dear Lord, Port Mahon, October 15th, 1799. I have little to add to my letter to Mr. Nepean, except to assure you that all my exertions shall be used to meet your Captain John Richards: he was not made a Post Captain until June 1809, and died in 1830 or 1831. 56 wishes. You will believe I have but one object in view-that of faithfully serving my Country, in which I have considered the security of his Sicilian Majesty's Dominions as very near the heart of the King. This makes the reduction of Malta of the very utmost importance, and to accomplish which, is now, in Italy, the dearest object I have in view. If Niza has stopped their supplies I shall be happy; and I hope General Fox will spare us a part of this garrison to complete that good work, which has cost us so much labour in the blockade, and in keeping the poor Islanders in tolerable humour. I wish General Fox had arrived here, that the business might have been settled. I thank you for promoting Lieutenant Compton to the rank of Commander, and I shall always endeavour to merit your kindness, for believe me, my dear Lord, with the greatest regard, your obliged and affectionate, NELSON. Sir Edward Berry joined the Foudroyant by the Bulldog. I have put Captain Hardy into the Princess Charlotte, and, mustering a few men, I shall take her to sea with me. My friend Hardy will make a Man-of-War of her very soon, and I make it my earnest request, that if Captain Stephenson is not sent out to her, that Captain Hardy may be allowed to remain in her, and receive an Admiralty commission. I have given my brother belonging to the Navy Office a strong letter of recommendation to your Lordship, that he may be appointed a Commissioner of the Navy. I mention the circumstance that you may be aware such a letter is coming, and prepared, I most earnestly hope, to meet my wishes. TO THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIPS WHICH MAY BE IN MAHON HARBOUR. [Order-Book.] ORDERS LEFT WITH THE COMMANDING OFFICER FOR THE Foudroyant, Port Mahon, October 16th, 1799. The following Ships are to be considered as belonging to the Mahon station, and to be employed in cruizing for the • His eldest brother, Maurice Nelson. protection of the Island, going with Convoys, and for annoying the trade of the Enemy, when it can be done consistent with the other two objects: Mermaid, 32. Santa Teresa, 32. Peterel, 20. Dorotea, 32. L'Alceste, 32. Salamine, 18. Bulldog, 18. There will also be the Entreprenant Cutter, and Fulminante, to carry letters, or employed as the service may require. The Dover, while she remains, is a proper Ship for going with Convoys to Sardinia for bullocks; but she is never to be sent far from the Island, as she may be wanted to carry troops. The Ships are to be kept as constantly at sea as possible; and none of the above Ships, on pretence of being Commanding Officer, is to lay in Port when his Ship is ready for sea, and the cruize of no one is to be directed to extend more than fourteen or sixteen days without coming off the harbour. But she is not to enter the Port without permission of the Commanding Officer, as orders will most probably be immediately [sent] for her proceeding where the service may require her. All desires of his Excellency, the Commanding General or Governor, are to be paid the strictest attention to, and complied with as far as is possible. The Cutters are to be sent to me frequently with information necessary for me to be acquainted with. No Ship, under pretence of its being the Commanding Officer's Ship, is to take more stores from the Naval Yard than her fair proportion. In all other respects I must leave the service to be regulated according to the judgment of the Senior Officer, they being answerable to me for their conduct. NELSON. There are eight empty Transports to go down to Gibraltar, and from thence to be seen clear off the Gut by a proper force, and the Alliance is to take them on to England-therefore, when the Alliance comes, she and some other Ship is to see them safe to Gibraltar, and such of the Troop ships as the General does not wish to keep here. Between the 1st and 10th of every month, a Ship or Sloop of War is to go to Leghorn with such Vessels under convoy as may be bound to that place, and return with them when laden to this place. But, as it may be a week, ten days, or more, that the Convoy may be preparing, the Ship is at liberty to cruize during that time, or afford any assistance which may be required by His Majesty's Allies; and as there will be generally money to be brought from Leghorn for the use of the Army, it is advised that the Ships should, as nearly as the service will admit, take their turn. NELSON. N.B.—These directions to be delivered from one Commanding Officer to another, as they may arrive in port, or sail. TO COMMODORE SIR THOMAS TROUBRIDGE, BART. [Letter-Book.] My dear Troubridge, Port Mahon, October 17th, 1799. Nothing having arrived here, from either Palermo or Malta since my arrival, I am a little puzzled to know how to direct your, the Minotaur, and the Northumberland's further proceedings. You must be guided by the accounts brought me by the Salamine. All my letters from the Marquis de Niza and Ball you will open, but not those from Sir William Hamilton or Palermo, as there may be many things in them which I do not wish any one to be acquainted with. Should the French Ships, reported to have been seen on the 28th September, have actually got into Malta, the Ships on that service must be increased; and as the Marquis de Niza's Squadron is ordered to Lisbon, you must proceed off there, and prevent the French Squadron from doing any mischief; for, in that case, I suppose we shall have no footing on the Island; but you must judge of this when you see the letters. If Niza will not remain there, but obey his orders from Lisbon-even if the accounts of the French Ships should be false-still I must increase our force there, and keep a good look-out that they do not relieve it; therefore, at all events, we must look sharp towards Malta. Sir James St. Clair has a wish to send over to Algiers, and if you had arrived before my sailing, I intended getting you to go on the mission, for these pirates are getting saucy. They have taken many Vessels with passports signed by me, in which I cannot blame them; for every body knows, that when I signed any passports at Naples, it was against my inclination, and telling the people that brought them, my opinion of their inutility. If the Dey had respected them, we should have been obliged to him; but as he has not, we can only try if he will liberate the poor devils from slavery; and he ought to be sensible how kind I have been, in keeping the Portuguese Squadron hitherto from molesting him. This is what, my dear Troubridge, I would talk to you about, was you by my side, which I earnestly wish you were; and your going to Algiers must depend on what you hear from other quarters, and what you know. know. As General Fox is very soon expected here, not a troop can be moved, be the exigency of the service what it may; therefore I can only say, whether one, two, or three Ships come to me at Palermo, or go off Malta, that I leave with implicit confidence to your judgment. You will see the orders I have left for regulating the Ships named for the Minorca station; and ever believe me your affectionate friend, NELSON. TO CAPTAIN LONG, COMMANDING H. M. SLOOP VINCEJO. [Order Book.] Foudroyant, Port Mahon, 17th October, 1799. You are hereby required and directed to proceed, in the Sloop you command, off the Port of Toulon, and reconnoitre that harbour as near as you are able, consistently with the safety of your Ship, and to cruize in the vicinity of that place for fourteen days, looking into the harbour occasionally, as also into the Hieres Islands. And should you gain any intelligence which you think of consequence for me to know, you will either return and communicate the same to the Commanding Officer here, (but without coming into Port with your Sloop,) or to me at Palermo. And should you fall in with the French convoy, which are said to be fitting out at * Captain George Long, who was made a Commander in that year. He was killed while commanding the Vincejo, in September 1801, in an attack on the enemy at Elba. Vide "London Gazette" of the 14th of November, 1801. |