subject to Quarantine; but should she be subject to it, I then request that you will take the proper steps that Mr. Este and my dispatches may get on board the Packet destined for England. Captain Pettet will receive the Gibraltar and Malta mails. I am, Sir, &c. NELSON AND BRONTE. TO CAPTAIN ROBERT PETTET, H. M. SLOOP TERMAGANT. [Order-Book.] Victory, at Sea, 4th November, 1804. Having charged Mr. Este (Secretary to the late Mr. Lock) with my Public dispatches for Government, You are hereby required and directed to receive him on board his Majesty's Sloop Termagant, under your command, and proceed with him direct to Lisbon, without calling at, or communicating with Gibraltar; and on your arrival in the Tagus, you will put Mr. Este on board any Packet which may be laying there for England, acquainting the Captain thereof, and also the Agent for Packets that he is charged with my Government dispatches. From the uncertainty of the present state of affairs, the greatest caution is necessary in entering the Tagus, and in communicating with Lisbon, as it is impossible to say what the intentions of the Portuguese may be; you will therefore do so with the utmost care and circumspection, that his Majesty's Sloop under your command may not be brought into any unpleasant situation, from want of a due regard to the necessary precaution. And as I would not, on any account, have you subject yourself to Quarantine, I herewith transmit you an order directed to all Captains and Commanders, not to communicate with the Termagant on any account, till after her return from Lisbon; and not then, if they have been at any place where the present dreadful malady is raging. You will therefore pay due regard to this, and regulate your conduct in these particulars accordingly. Having put Mr. Este on board the Packet, or landed him at Lisbon, if there is none there, you will receive the Mails for Gibraltar and Malta, and return with them with all dispatch; and if you shall learn from any of his Majesty's Ships that the inhabitants of Gibraltar are become healthy, and that it is perfectly safe to refit there, you will proceed into the Mole, and put the Termagant in a state for being hove down, and her keel and other defects in her bottom made good, and new-coppered if necessary. In performing this service, the utmost dispatch is to be used, and every means taken to expedite the perfect equipment of the said Sloop; but if on your return to Gibraltar, the health of that place is still doubtful, you will land my Public dispatches through the Lazaretto Ship, and proceed (without communicating in any other way with that place) to Valetta Harbour, for the purpose of getting the defects of the Termagant made good, and put in a perfect state for winter's cruizing. Having so done, and completed your provisions to the usual time, you will return and join the Squadron on Rendezvous No. 97, where you will find me, or orders for your further proceedings. NELSON AND BRONTE N.B. If the Mails from England for Gibraltar and Malta are not ready to be delivered, you will on no account wait, but return as before directed. TO THE CAPTAINS OR COMMANDERS OF ANY OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIPS OR VESSELS WHICH THE TERMAGANT MAY FALL IN WITH. [Order-Book.] Victory, at Sea, 4th November, 1804. Having sent his Majesty's Sloop Termagant with my Public dispatches to Lisbon, in order that they may be forwarded from thence with the utmost dispatch, and as the communicating with her previous to her having been to Lisbon, would not only subject her to Quarantine, under the present dreadful circumstances, but prevent her from putting dispatches on board the Packet, You are therefore hereby required and directed, on no account or consideration whatever, to communicate with his Majesty's said Sloop, until her return from Lisbon. NELSON AND Bronte. TO CAPTAIN GORE, H. M. SHIP MEDUSA. [Autograph, in the possession of the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker.] My dear Gore, Victory, November 4th, 1804. Esperance is passed on to Madalena, therefore I have not seen her. You will receive a satisfactory order, I hope, for your future movements of the Medusa. The Merchants are tearing me to pieces for Convoys, and I dare not send a Frigate home without one. Indeed, I am positively ordered not to do it. Anson was ordered down when I received your wishes, before the Spanish business. She will be a powerful reinforcement to the Squadron. I wish you could get hold of a First-rate, loaded with money; not that you or I should get any of it, under the present circumstances, but a few millions would be useful to the State. I am very unwell to-day, and can hardly hold my head up. You will know before me who is my successor. May health and success attend you, my dear Gore, and believe me ever, your obliged and faithful friend, NELSON AND Bronte. We are remarkably healthy as to fevers. TO CAPTAIN GORE, H. M. SHIP MEDUSA. [Original, in the possession of the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker.] Victory, at Sea, 5th November, 1804. Sir, I have received your letter of the 9th September last, together with Mr. Frere's, dated the 31st July, and the one therein alluded to from the Spanish Government, relative to the excesses committed by the Enemy's Privateers between Cadiz and Algiers, &c., and I am sorry to find the tardiness with which all our just complaints are treated. I should hope our Minister most strongly demands redress. The letters from Captains Sutton and Rosenhagen, giving you an account of their proceedings, have also been received; and I hope Captain Rosenhagen has stated to the Admiralty the conduct of the Master of the Vessel which followed him, and afterwards fell into the hands of the Enemy, as mentioned in his said letter. If he has not, desire he may, and let this be the constant duty of all Officers charged with Convoys, when any of the Vessels improperly leave them. I am, &c. NELSON AND BRONTE. TO CAPTAIN RICHARD BUDD VINCENT, H.M. SLOOP ARROW. [Order-Book.] Victory, at Sea, 5th November, 1804. Whereas by the Defects and Report of Survey of his Majesty's Sloop Arrow, under your command, transmitted to me in your letter of the 20th ultimo, there appears an absolute necessity of sending her to England immediately, to be docked; and whereas I have received application for a Convoy to the Ships named on the other side hereof,' bound to the United Kingdom, and also been informed that several others may be expected from the different Ports in the Levant and Sicily, about the middle or latter end of this month; You are therefore hereby required and directed to take his Majesty's BombVessel named in the margin' under your command, (whose Captain is directed by the enclosed order to follow your instructions for his further proceedings,) and make the signal for, and take under your convoy and protection, the Merchant-Ships before-mentioned, with such as may have, or shall arrive at Malta, from any Port in the Levant or Sicily, this season, together with any Merchant-Ship or Vessel that may be ready, and bound your way; and when the whole of the Trade from the Levant and Sicily which may be expected for this season shall have arrived, and Captain Schomberg signifies his approbation to your leaving Malta, it is my directions that you take the Acheron with you, and proceed immediately with the whole of the Trade from Valetta harbour, which may be bound to any part of the United Kingdom, with as much expedition as possible, consistent with their safety, direct to England; and on no account or consideration whatever, touch at or go near Gibraltar, or allow any of the Convoy 1 Andromeda, Castle, Blades, William, Alert, Alert, Helen, bound to Lisbon; Bridget, bound to Hull; Lady Cotton, bound to Ireland; Elizabeth, bound to Leith; Pomona, bound to Liverpool. Acheron. under your command, at their peril, to communicate with that place, or with any Boat or Vessel belonging to it, but proceed direct through the Straits, and make the best of your way off Plymouth, where you will leave the Trade bound for Ireland and the British Channel in safety, to be sent from thence to their destination by the Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth, as the Acheron is by no means equal to protect them, or indeed herself, against a strong Privateer. Having hove-to sufficient time off the Ram Head, to see the Ships before-mentioned safe into the entrance of Cawsand Bay or the Sound, you will proceed on with the Acheron and the rest of the Convoy to the Downs, dropping such as are bound to Ports in the Channel, on your way up; taking care to proportion your rate of going to that of the worst sailing Vessel under your protection, and on no account part from them, or leave any of the Trade in danger of being captured by the Enemy. On your arrival in the Downs, you will acquaint the Secretary of the Admiralty thereof, and transmit an account of your proceedings, for their Lordships' information, and wait there, together with the Acheron, until you receive their orders for your further government.3 NELSON AND Bronte. TO CAPTAIN HENRY RICHARDSON, H. M. SHIP JUNO. [Order-Book.] Victory, at Sea, 8th November, 1804. Having received instructions from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to send a Frigate to such place as may be The Arrow and Acheron never reached England, being, with the Convoy, intercepted, off Cape Caxine, by two large French Frigates, on the 4th of February 1805, when both those Vessels were captured, after a most determined resistance. On the 31st of July, 1804, the Admiralty issued an Order to Lord Nelson, directing him to "hold in readiness, in such Port as may be agreed upon by you and Mr. Jackson, one of the Ships under your command, for the purpose of conveying his Sardinian Majesty to such Port in the Mediterranean as he may appoint; and to adopt such measures for the Naval defence of the Island of Sardinia as may be best calculated for that purpose, and as may be consistent with the other services entrusted to your care." |