Horatio Nelson and the naval supremacy of England . es as a man, andthe opinion he formed by personal knowledge of theHero of the Nile cannot but prove interesting. Itwas never, he says, my good fortune to serveunder his Lordship either at that or any subsequentperiod. During our stay at Palermo I had, however,opportunities of personal conversation with him, andfrom one of his frequent injunctions, Never mindmanoeuvres; always go at them, I had subsequentlyreason to consider myself indebted for successfulattacks under apparently difficult impression left on my mind during the
Horatio Nelson and the naval supremacy of England . es as a man, andthe opinion he formed by personal knowledge of theHero of the Nile cannot but prove interesting. Itwas never, he says, my good fortune to serveunder his Lordship either at that or any subsequentperiod. During our stay at Palermo I had, however,opportunities of personal conversation with him, andfrom one of his frequent injunctions, Never mindmanoeuvres; always go at them, I had subsequentlyreason to consider myself indebted for successfulattacks under apparently difficult impression left on my mind during these oppor-tunities of association with Nelson was that of hisbeing an embodiment of dashing courage, whichwould not take much trouble to circumvent anenemy, but being confronted with one would regardvictory so much a matter of course as hardly to deemthe chance of defeat worth consideration. This wasin fact the case; for though the enemys ships werefor the most part superior to ours in build, thediscipline and seamanship of their crews were in that. 1800] Capture of Le Guillaume Tell. 155 day so inferior as to leave little room for doubt ofvictory on our part. * Another distinguished naval officer, Sir JahleelBrenton, preserves a characteristic story of Nel-son, which also belongs to this period. Brenton hadcommand of a sloop-of-war, and was ordered witha convoy of Neapolitan vessels to Cagliari, wherethey were to load with corn and return to theports of Italy. Brenton, then a very young man,sensible of the importance of his trust, and awarethat the policy of the British Government towardsthe States of Barbary was one of extreme caution,asked Nelson what he should do in the event of theAlgerines attacking his convoy. Let them sink youanswered the Hero ; but do not let them touch thehair of the head of one of your convoy. AlwaysFIGHT AND YOU ARE SURE TO BE RIGHT. Nelson was cheered on the 30th by the capture ofLe Guillaume Tell, eighty-four guns, the remainingship that had escape
Size: 1231px × 2031px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1890
