of war with Spain. The dispute was settled, and Captain Suckling
was transferred to the “Triumph,” the guardship at Chatham, whither he took his nephew. In order that the lad might have
more practice than could be obtained on a harbour ship, his
uncle sent him to the West Indies in a merchant vessel, and on
his return gave him constant employment in boat work on the
river. In a brief sketch of his life, which he drew up in 1799,
Nelson says that in this way he became a good pilot for small
vessels “from Chatham to the Tower of London, down the Swin, and the North Foreland; and confident of myself among rocks and sands, which has many times since been of great comfort to me.” Between April and October of 1772 he served with Captain Lutwidge in the “Carcass,” one of the vessels which went on a not otherwise notable voyage to the Arctic seas with Captain Phipps, better known by his Irish title of Baron Mulgrave. On his return from the north he was sent to the East Indies in the “Seahorse,” in which vessel he made the acquaintance of his lifelong friend Thomas Troubridge. At the end of two years he was invalided home. In after times he spoke of the depression under which he laboured during the
return voyage, till “after a long and gloomy reverie, in which I almost wished myself overboard, a sudden glow of patriotism was kindled within me, and presented my king and my country as my patron. My mind exulted in the idea. ‘Well then,’ I exclaimed, ‘I will be a hero, and, confiding in Providence, I will brave every danger.’ ” He spoke to friends of the “radiant orb” which from that hour hung ever before him, and “urged him onward to renown.” On his return home he served during a short cruise in the “Worcester” frigate, passed his examination
as lieutenant on the 9th April 1777, and was confirmed in the rank next day. He went to the West Indies with Captain Locker in the “Lowestoft” frigate, was transferred to the flagship by the admiral commanding on the station, Sir Peter Parker (1721–1811), and was then by him promoted in rapid succession to the command of the “Badger” brig, and the “Hinchinbrook” frigate. By this appointment, which he received in 1779, he was placed in the rank of post captain (from which promotion
to flag rank was by seniority), at the very early age of twenty. His connexion with Captain Suckling may, no doubt, have been of use to him, but in the main he owed his rapid rise to his power of winning the affection of all those he met, whether as comrades or superiors. Sir Peter Parker and Lady Parker remained his friends all through his life. In 1780 he saw his first active service in an expedition to San Juan de Nicaragua, which was
rendered deadly by the climate. He was brought to death’s
door by fever, and invalided home once more. In 1781 he was appointed to the “Albemarle” frigate, and after some convoy service in the North Sea and the Sound was sent to Newfoundland and thence to the North American station. “Fair Canada,” as he has recorded in one of his letters, gave him the good health he had so far never enjoyed. At Quebec he formed one of those passionate attachments to women which marked his career. He now made the personal acquaintance of Sir Samuel Hood, Lord Hood. In the autobiographical sketch already quoted he
mentions the high opinion formed of him by the admiral who
presented him to Prince William, duke of Clarence, afterwards
King William IV., as an officer well qualified to instruct him
in “naval tactics,” by which we must perhaps understand
seamanship. Prince William has left a brief but singularly vivid
account of their first meeting. He appeared, says the Prince,
“to be the merest boy of a captain I ever beheld; and his dress
was worthy of attention. He had on a full-laced uniform; his lank unpowdered hair was tied in a stiff Hessian tail of an extraordinary length; the old-fashioned flaps of his waistcoat added to the general quaintness of his figure, and produced an appearance which particularly attracted my notice; for I had never seen anything like it before, nor could I imagine who he was or what he came about. My doubts were, however, removed when
Lord Hood introduced me to him. There was something
irresistibly pleasing in his address and conversation; and an
enthusiasm, when speaking on professional subjects, that showed
he was no common being.” The slight oddity of appearance,
the power to arouse affection, and the glow indicating the fire within, are noted by all who ever looked Nelson in the face.
In March 1783, at the very end of the American War, he saw his second piece of active service. He was repulsed in an attempt to retake Turk’s Island from the French. The peace gave him leisure to pay a visit to France, for which country and all its ways he entertained a dislike and contempt characteristic of his time. In France he formed another attachment, and went so far as to apply to a maternal uncle for an allowance to eke out his half-pay. It came to nothing, presumably by refusal on the lady’s part. And now when the navy was cut down to the quick on the peace establishment, and the vast majority of naval officers were condemned to idleness on shore, he had the extraordinary good fortune to be appointed to the command of the “Boreas” frigate, for service in the West Indies. Nelson found in this commission an opportunity for the display of his readiness to assume responsibility. He signalized his arrival in the West Indies by refusing to obey an order of the admiral which required him to acknowledge a half-pay officer acting as commissioner of the dockyard at Antigua as his superior. He insisted on enforcing the Navigation Laws against the Americans, who by becoming independent had become foreigners. He called the attention of the government to the corruption prevailing in the dockyard of Antigua. His line was in all cases correct, but it impressed the admiralty as somewhat assuming, and his strong measures against the interloping trade brought on him many lawsuits, which, though he was defended at the expense of the government, caused him much trouble for years. In the West Indies on the 12th of March 1787 he married Frances Nisbet (1761–1831), the widow of a doctor in Nevis, whose favour he first gained by being found romping on all fours with her little boy under the drawing-room table. The marriage was one of affection and prudence, rather than of love.
Though Nelson had as yet seen little active service, and that little had not been specially distinguished, he had already gained that reputation within his own service which commonly precedes public recognition. His character had been fully developed, and his capacity proved. His horizon was narrow, being strictly confined to his profession. He had all the convictions of the typical John Bull of his generation. The loyalty of a devoted subject was strong in him. He burned to win affection, admiration, distinction. He was a man to do whatever there was to be done to the utmost. A more magnificent instrument for use in the great Revolutionary struggle now close at hand could not have been forged.
War having broken out, he was appointed captain of the “Agamemnon” (64) on the 30th of November 1793; and joined his ship on the 7th of February. From this date till June 1800, rather more than seven years, he was engaged on continual active service, with the exception of a few months when he was invalided home. This period is the most varied, the busiest, the most glorious and the most debated of a very full career. It subdivides naturally into three sections; (1) From the date of his appointment as captain of the “Agamemnon” till he was disabled by the loss of his arm in the unsuccessful attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the 24th of July 1797 he served as captain, or commodore, under Hood, Hotham and Jervis, successive commanders-in-chief in the Mediterranean. (2) After an interval of nine months spent at home in recovering from his wound, and from the effects of a badly performed operation, he returned to the Mediterranean, and was at once sent in pursuit of the great French armament which sailed from Toulon under the command of Napoleon for the conquest of Egypt. His victory of the Nile on the 1st of August 1798 placed him at once in the foremost rank among the warriors of a warlike time, and made him a national hero. With his return to Naples on the 22nd of September the second period ends. (3) From now till he landed at Leghorn on the 26th of July 1800, on his return home across Europe, he was entangled at Naples in political transactions and intrigues, which he was ill prepared to deal with either by nature or training, and was plunged into the absorbing passion,
