personal risk, in bringing off three men from a wreck. The boat's crew seemed unwilling to make the attempt, on which Hood himself jumped in, saying, ‘I never in my life gave a sailor an order that I was not ready to execute myself,’ and shoved off. The House of Assembly of Jamaica voted a hundred guineas for a sword to be presented to him, to mark their sense of this gallant act.
The Juno returned to England in the summer of 1791, and through the autumn and the following year was stationed at Weymouth, in attendance on the king. Early in 1793 she went out to the Mediterranean with the fleet under Lord Hood, and was with it at the occupation of Toulon. She was then sent to Malta to bring up supernumeraries, and during her absence Toulon was evacuated. On her return she made the harbour about ten o'clock on the night of 9 Jan. 1794. It was dark, with drizzling rain, and Hood, ignorant of what had occurred, and without having his suspicions roused, stood in, passed into the inner harbour, and let go his anchor. A French boat came on board and directed him to go into another branch of the harbour for quarantine; but while he was endeavouring to find out from the pretended health officers where Lord Hood was, a gleam of moonshine revealed their tricoloured cockades. Finding themselves discovered, they admitted that ‘the English admiral had been gone some time.’ At the same moment a flaw of wind came down the harbour; and Hood, promptly taking advantage of it, sent the Frenchmen below, made all sail, and cut the cable. As the Juno gathered way, the batteries opened fire on her, but in the rain and darkness the ship got out with little damage.
During the following months Hood was engaged in the operations on the coast of Corsica, and after the capture of S. Fiorenzo was transferred to the Aigle, a 36-gun frigate, in which, in 1795, he commanded a small squadron sent into the Archipelago to protect the trade and watch some French frigates which had taken refuge in Smyrna. For the able execution of this service he received the complimentary thanks of the English merchants. In April 1796 Hood was moved into the Zealous of 74 guns, one of the fleet with Sir John Jervis (afterwards Earl St. Vincent) [q. v.] off Toulon, and in 1797 off Cadiz. She was absent from the battle of Cape St. Vincent, being at the time refitting at Lisbon; but in July she was one of the squadron with Nelson at Santa Cruz; and after the failure of the attack, Hood was employed by Troubridge [see TROUBRIDGE, Sir THOMAS] to conduct the extraordinary negotiations by which the squadron was released from its dangerous position. During the early months of 1798 the Zealous was in the Bay of Biscay and off Rochefort; but having again joined the fleet before Cadiz, she was one of the ships sent in May to reinforce Nelson in the Mediterranean, and under his command to win the battle of the Nile. In that action the part of the Zealous was particularly brilliant: closely following the Goliath [see Foley, Sir Thomas], Hood let go his anchor on the bow of the Guerrier, the leading French ship, which was completely beaten within twelve minutes, her masts shot away, her side smashed in, most of her guns disabled, and half her ship's company killed or wounded (James, ii. 184–7; Chevalier, Histoire de la Marine française sous la première République, p. 372). The loss of the Zealous was trifling, and she passed on to engage other ships. The next morning she was starting in pursuit of the French ships that escaped; but alone and unsupported, the odds against her would have been too great, and she was recalled by signal. When Nelson quitted the coast of Egypt, Hood was left as senior officer in command of the squadron which continued the blockade of the French army, and captured or destroyed some thirty of their transports. In February 1799 he rejoined Nelson at Palermo, and was employed during the spring in the defence of Salerno, and afterwards as governor of Castel Nuovo at Naples. As an acknowledgment of his services the king of the Two Sicilies conferred on him the order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit.
In May 1800 the Zealous was paid off, and Hood was appointed to the Courageux, which formed part of the squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren [q. v.] off Ferrol. In January 1801 he was moved into the Venerable, which after a few months in the Channel joined Sir James Saumarez (afterwards Lord de Saumarez) [q. v.] in time to take prominent parts in the unfortunate action at Algeciras on 6 July, and in the brilliant victory in the Straits on the 12th. On this occasion the Venerable had all her masts shot away and sustained a loss of thirty killed and a hundred wounded. The Venerable was paid off at the peace, and in October 1802 Hood was sent out as a commissioner for the government of Trinidad. By the death of Rear-admiral Totty he became commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands station, hoisting a broad pennant on board the Centaur; and on the renewal of the war captured, in conjunction with the land forces, the islands of St. Lucia and Tobago, and, on the mainland, Demerara, Essequibo, Berbice, and Surinam. Under his command also a large number of the enemy's privateers and ships of war were
