the Victory had upwards of 40 men killed and wounded. About an hour and a quarter after the commencement of the battle, Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy were observed to be walking near the middle of the quarter-deck: the Admiral had just commended the manner in which one of the British ships near him was fought: Captain Hardy advanced from him to give some necessary directions; and his Lordship was in the act of turning near the hatchway, with his face towards the stern, when a musket-ball struck him on the left shoulder, and entering through the epaulet, passed through the spine, and lodged in the muscles of the back, towards the right side. He instantly fell with his face on the deck, in the very place that was covered with the blood of his Secretary. Captain Hardy, on turning round, saw three men raising him. “Hardy,” said his Lordship, “I believe they have done it at last; my back bone is shot through.”
An extraordinary instance of his Lordship’s presence of mind when in the arms of death, is related by Dr. Beatty, who has still in his possession the fatal ball which terminated the existence of the greatest naval commander that ever breathed. “While the men were carrying him down the ladder from the middle-deck, his Lordship observed that the tiller-ropes were not yet replaced, and desired one of the Midshipmen stationed there to go upon the quarter-deck, and remind Captain Hardy of that circumstance, and request that new ones should be immediately rove. Having delivered this order, he took his handkerchief from his pocket, and covered his face with it, that he might be conveyed to the cockpit at this crisis unknown to the crew.” When the Surgeon had executed his melancholy office of ascertaining the direction of the ball, expressed the general feeling that prevailed on the occasion, and repeatedly been urged by the Admiral to go and attend to the other wounded officers and men, he reluctantly obeyed, but continued to return at intervals. As the blood flowed internally from the wound, the lower cavity of the body gradually filled; his Lordship therefore constantly desired Mr. Burke, the Purser, to raise him, and, complaining of an excessive thirst, was supplied with lemonade by the Rev. Mr. Scott. In this state of suffering his noble spirit remained unsubdued. His mind continued intent on
