The Story of Nelson | Page 5

Captain Nelson had commissioned the `Boreas.'
I went and joined him. He received me heartily, and away we sailed for
the West Indies.
"Young as was our captain, he found himself senior officer on the

station--that is to say, second in command under the admiral; for in
those days we had old heads on young shoulders; so we should now, if
boys would try to imitate the example of wise and noble men, not to ape
the folly of foolish ones. We were chiefly among the Leeward Islands.
"While visiting the island of Nevis, the captain fell in love with a lady, a
Mrs Nisbet, and they married: a very good, kind young lady she was,
that I remember; but after we returned home I saw no more of her. The
`Boreas' was paid off in 1787. Thus I have told you most of what I
remember about Nelson's early days. He was soon to be known to the
world as the greatest naval captain of his time."

VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWO.
"You have heard speak of the `Agamemnon' of 64 guns. I was one of the
old Agamemnons, as we called ourselves. We, all her crew, were proud
of her, and good reason we had to be so. Captain Nelson commissioned
her on the 26th of January, 1793, and it wasn't many days after this
that I joined her. You see I kept my eye on him. When a man has found
a good captain, if he's wise he will follow him whenever he can.
"I can't now remember all the places we went to. First, we were one of
the Channel fleet. Then we were sent out to the Mediterranean, where
our captain astonished the admirals, and made the soldier-generals
almost tear their eyes out by the way he did things. He took care that
the weeds should not grow to the bottom of the ship he commanded.
First we had to conquer the island of Corsica. [See Note.] We drove
the French out of every place but the strong fort of Bastia, so we
landed, and hauled our guns up the heights, and kept up such a hot fire
on the place that it gave up, and then the soldiers marched in and
gained the glory. Then we took a place called Calvi. Here it was that a
shot, striking the ground, threw up some sand in the captain's eye, and
though we thought but little of it at the time, he never saw again with
that eye. It was very hard work, and the country was unhealthy, and
many of us grew sick, so that we were heartily glad when it was over.
There was something better in store for us too. News was brought us

that the French fleet, nearly twice as strong as ours, was on the
look-out for us. Our fleet was under the command of Admiral Hotham.
You may be sure that we kept a bright look-out for the enemy. At last
they hove in sight, and one of our frigates, the `Inconstant,' got so close
that she brought to action the `Ca Ira,' a French eighty-four, which had
carried away her main and foretop masts. The `Inconstant,' however,
was obliged to bear away, and a French frigate came up and took the
line-of-battle ship in tow, while two other line-of-battle ships guarded
her on her weather bow.
"Our captain had been watching all that took place, and, though we
had no line-of-battle ship to support us, we made all sail in chase.
There was not a man on board whose heart didn't beat high with pride
at the way we went into action against odds so great; but we
Agamemnons knew well enough what our captain could do and would
do. As soon as the enemy could bring their guns to bear, they kept
firing away their stern-chasers at us. We stood on, without answering a
shot, till we were within a hundred yards of them. `Starboard the helm!'
cried the captain. The after-sails were brailed up, and the ship falling
off, our broadside was brought to bear on the retreating enemy. Now
we opened a tremendous fire on them, every gun telling. Then the helm
was put a-port, the after-yards braced up, and again we were after
them.
"Again and again we practised the same manoeuvre, never allowing
the `Ca Ira' to get a shot at us with one of her broadside guns. The
enemy, however, were not idle with their after-guns, though it was not
till we had torn her sails almost to ribbons that the French frigates
began to open their fire upon us. Then down came more of the enemy's
ships towards us. The captain seemed only the better pleased at seeing
this, and it's my opinion he