essentially necessary for carrying on his majesty's service.' The admonition did him no harm, and in the course of a few months he was moved by the admiral, Sir Peter Parker, into the Lowestoft as first lieutenant, on the appointment to the flagship of Horatio Nelson, with whose career his own becomes curiously and closely connected. In June 1779 he was made commander into the Badger, vacant by the promotion of Nelson to post rank ; and on 22 March 1780 was posted into the Hinchingbrook frigate, from which Nelson was removed to the Janus. The Hinchingbrook was at the time employed on an expedition against San Juan, an expedition which was defeated by the pestilential climate. Nelson himself was for many months most dangerously ill, and of the original complement of 200, 180 were buried in the short space of four months. Collingwood was one of the few who escaped, and in the following December was appointed to command the Pelican of 24 guns, which was wrecked on the Morant Keys in August 1781, in a violent hurricane. The loss of life was fortunately small, and after ten days of extreme priva- tion on the barren Keys the men were rescued by a frigate sent from Jamaica. Shortly after his return to England, Collingwood was appointed to the Sampson of 64 guns, which was paid off at the peace, and her captain appointed to the Mediator frigate for service in the West Indies. It was during this time that his friendship with Nelson became most intimate, partly perhaps from the peculiar circumstances of their commission, which threw Nelson, then the senior captain on the station, into a most remarkable opposition to the commander-in-chief in reference to the strict carrying out of the navigation laws, which the admiral was disposed to relax [see Nelson, Horatio, Viscount]. Collingwood entirely agreed with Nelson in his line of conduct, and strictly followed the course which he prescribed ; but as a junior officer his name did not come into any prominence in connection with the dispute. Towards the end of 1786 the Mediator returned to England and was paid off. The next three years Collingwood passed in Northumberland, 'making,' as he said, 'acquaintance with his own family, to whom he had hitherto been, as it were, a stranger.' During the Spanish armament of 1790 he was appointed to the Mermaid, in which he afterwards went to the West Indies ; but returning, and being paid off the following year, he went back to Northumberland, and married Miss Sarah Blackett, apparently the grand-daughter of Admiral Roddam, his old captain in the Lennox.
Early in 1793 he was appointed to command the Prince, carrying the flag of Rear-admiral Bowyer [see Bowyer, Sir George, (1740 ?-1800)], with whom he afterwards, moved into the Barfleur, and had an important share in the battle of 1 June 1794 ; but though Bowyer's services on this occasion were acknowledged by a baronetcy, Collingwood's name was not mentioned by Lord Howe, and the gold medal was therefore not awarded to him. When Admiral Bowyer left the Barfleur, Collingwood was transferred to the Hector, and in the following year to the Excellent, in which he was sent to the Mediterranean, August 1795. It was really his first entry into that sea, though by some misapprehension Nelson wrote on his arrival, ' You are so old a Mediterranean man that I can tell you nothing new about the country.' During the rest of 1795 and the whole of 1796 the Excellent was one of the fleet guarding Corsica and keeping up a close blockade on Toulon, and which, being withdrawn from the Mediterranean when Italy was overrun by the French, and Spain had declared war, fought the action off Cape St. Vincent on 14 Feb. 1797. In this battle the Excellent, under Collingwood, had a very distinguished share, two Spanish ships, one of them a 1st rate, striking their flags to her ; after which, passing on to the relief of the Captain, she silenced the fire of the San Nicolas, which the Captain boarded and took possession of, and then engaged the great Spanish four-decker, the Santisima Trinidad. This huge ship had been already very roughly handled by the Captain and Culloden, and might, it was thought, have been compelled to strike to the Excellent, but, being to windward at the time, succeeded in effecting her escape. The assistance rendered to the Captain was most timely, and on the following day Nelson wrote : ' " A friend in need is a friend indeed " was never more truly verified than by your most noble and gallant conduct yesterday in sparing the Captain from further loss ; and I beg, both as a public officer and a friend, you will accept my most sincere thanks.' Collingwood, in replying, said : 'It added very much to the satisfaction which I felt in thumping the Spaniards, that I released you a little.' In a letter to his father-in-law three months later he said, in reference to the four-decker : 'I am sorry to see in the newspapers some reflections on Captain Berkeley of the Emerald (see James, Naval Hist. 1860, ii. 56). I do not believe the Trinidad was ever in so bad a condition as to submit to frigates, though she might have been taken by a line-of-battle ship. His losing sight of her was the conse-
