TO VICE-ADMIRAL COLLINGWOOD. [Autograph, in the possession of the Honourable Mrs. Newnham Collingwood.] My dear Friend, Victory, March 13th, 1805. Many, many thanks for your kind remembrance of me, and for your friendly good wishes, which, from my heart, I can say are reciprocal. I am certainly near going to England; for my constitution is much shook, and nothing has kept me here so long but the expectation of getting at the French Fleet. I am told the Rochfort Squadron sailed the same day as that from Toulon. Buonaparte has often made his brags, that our Fleet would be worn out by keeping the sea-that his was kept in order, and increasing by staying in Port; but he now finds, I fancy, if Emperors hear truth, that his Fleet suffers more in one night, than ours in one year. However, thank God, the Toulon Fleet is got in order again, and, I hear, the Troops embarked; and I hope they will come to sea in fine weather. The moment the Battle is over, I shall cut; and I must do the same, if I think, after some weeks, that they do not intend to come out for the summer. We have had a very dull War; but I agree with you, must change for a more active one. We are in a sad jumble with Sir John Orde off Cadiz; but let him do as absurd things as he pleases about blockading the Ships under my command-even to be angry at my sending Ships to Lisbon with my dispatches, and angry at my sending Ships to a part of the station under my orders, before I knew of his arrival to take that lucrative part of my station from me--I shall never enter into a paper war with him, or any one else. We have lost one Convoy, I think, by it, and we shall lose more; between two stools, &c. &c. &c. I beg, my dear Coll., that you will present my most respectful compliments to Mrs. Collingwood; and believe [me] for ever, and as ever, your most sincere and truly attached friend, that it NELSON and Bronte. Sir, TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original in the Admiralty.] Victory, at Sea, 14th March, 1805. You will be pleased to acquaint the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the Fleet under my command arrived off Toulon yesterday evening, and that by the information I have received from the Frigates stationed to watch the Enemy, their Fleet is all in the above harbour, apparently in perfect readiness to put to sea. Whether their Troops, who were disembarked on their late return, are again put on board, has not been learnt, but there is reason to believe they are. Their Lordships may rest assured, in the event of the Enemy putting to sea again, that I shall use every possible means to fall in with them, and bring them to Action. I, at the same time, received their Lordships' duplicate order of the 14th December last, relative to the detention of all Spanish Ships and Vessels; and your several letters, &c. acknowledged under this date, brought out in the Amphion. to Gibraltar, and from thence in the Fisgard, which sprung a leak, and was obliged to return to that place immediately, to have it stopped. Their Lordships' dispatches sent out in the late Raven, and Arthur' Cutter, have, with those unfortunate Vessels, been lost; the former, I have reason to believe from Captain Layman, were sunk when the Raven struck; but the latter dispatches, brought by the Cutter, which was captured by the Enemy's Fleet on its return into Toulon, I fear may have fallen into their hands, as the Officer who commanded her, presuming, probably, that it was the Fleet under my command, may have been taken by surprise. This, however, is matter of conjecture, and may not be the case. I am, Sir, NELSON AND Bronte. TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Sir, Victory, at Sea, 14th March, 1805. I herewith transmit you a copy of an appointment which I have this day given to Mr. William Bunce, Carpenter of his The Arthur, Hired Cutter, Lieutenant R. Cooban, of six guns. Majesty's Ship Victory, to be Master-Shipwright of his Majesty's Yard at Gibraltar, in room of the late Mr. Burnett, which you will be so good as to lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, for their information, and move their Lordships to confirm the appointment. I must, at the same time, request that you will be pleased to acquaint their Lordships, that Mr. Bunce is a very able and experienced Officer, of great abilities and quick resources; and that, from his long and faithful servitude, he is most deservedly entitled to their Lordships' patronage. I, therefore, hope this appointment will meet their approbation. I am, Sir, &c. NELSON AND BRONTE. TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original in the Admiralty.] Sir, Victory, at Sea, 14th March, 1805. I have received your letter of the 21st November, relative to the French Prisoners of War at Malta, being sent to England in King's Ships, as opportunities may offer, from the reasons mentioned in your said letter; and you will please to acquaint their Lordships that I shall direct the Senior Officer at Malta, and Agent for Prisoners of War, to attend most strictly to these instructions, and send the French prisoners to England agreeably thereto; but I must desire to observe that the Ships leaving Malta with Convoys are in general so crowded with invalids (being Frigates and other small Vessels) that but very few prisoners can be accommodated: their Lordships' direction shall, however, be duly attended to. I am, Sir, &c. NELSON AND Bronte. TO CAPTAIN SUTTON, H. M. SHIP AMPHION. Victory, March 14th, 1805. My dear Sutton, I am much obliged by your kind letter, and return you many thanks for the good things which you was so good as to bring me from England, which will be most acceptable, for I have had nothing to eat but what my friends in the Fleet have supplied me with. Sir William Bolton has not yet joined; he has been sent to Madeira. The sheep, I hope, will come up in the first Frigate. I hope your expectations of gain by the Galleons will be realized; and I hope you will get enormously rich, for your own and good Captain Hardy's sake,' although an Admiral of more interest than I have, will take what ought to belong to me. I should think that the whole of this Fleet will be put under Sir John Orde's command; or, when he has made money enough, he will be removed, and the responsibility left where it was before. We have had a long run to Egypt and back; but as the French Fleet are now ready for sea again, I fully expect we shall meet them; and then I would change with no man living. My health is but so-so; and the moment after the Battle, I shall go home for a few months. I think you will soon be drove off your Cruizing ground; the Rochfort Squadron will be with you before long, therefore make hay whilst the sun shines. I am sorry to hear George Martin' has quitted his Ship from ill-health. I wish I could have changed with you when you went to Merton; but I hope to see it very soon. Hardy is very well, and as good as ever; he hopes he will get something by the French Fleet, for your sake. If Sir John Orde condescends to ask after me, make my respectful compliments; and to George Hope.' And, believe me, dear Sutton, your much obliged and faithful friend, NELSON AND BRONTE. Sir, TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY. [Original, in the Admiralty.] Victory, at Sea, 14th March, 1805. I have received your letter of the 15th November, together with the copy of a letter from Mr. Hammond, and the several papers therein referred to in original, containing a representation from the Neapolitan Minister of violations committed by his Majesty's Ships in the Territory of the King of Naples. In answer to which, I herewith transmit you my letter to Captain Schomberg, dated the 11th November, directing an 7 Vide p. 287, note 6, ante. Now Admiral Sir George Martin, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., Vice-Admiral of England. Captain George Hope, of the Defence. inquiry into the conduct of Lieutenant Spencer, commanding the Renard Schooner,' together with the inquiry, and several other papers in original, relative to this circumstance, from Number 1 to 7, which I request you will be pleased to lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for their information; and acquaint their Lordships that the Neutrality of his Sicilian Majesty's Dominions has been most shamefully violated by the French Privateers and Row-boats, which have been suffered to shelter themselves in the different Ports of his Kingdom, from whence they have issued forth and captured our Coasting Trade under their Forts. I am perfectly aware of the delicate situation of the King of Naples, and, consequently, gave the most strict orders to the Commanders of his Majesty's Ships on no account to commit the least violation of Neutrality in any part of his Kingdoms; but where French Privateers have so daringly and piratically captured our Trade, his Majesty's Officers would have been highly reprehensible to have witnessed it without attempting to destroy the unwarrantable offenders. It is but justice for me to repeat, what I have frequently mentioned, that the Ships under my command have invariably adhered to the strictest Neutrality, and that they cannot, without being guilty of a breach of my most positive orders, commit the least violation of Neutrality in any place. It is worthy of remark, that the French Minister's complaint relative to the Bittern (even by his own account) has no foundation, as no French Vessel was boarded by any of her Boats. This circumstance would have been noticed by me to Mr. Elliot, had I been in possession of Captain Corbet's statement, which was perfectly correct, and shows his conduct to have been Officer-like and regular, in the search for the Seamen who had deserted from the Bittern at Naples, so that the French Minister has taken up the affairs of those of other Courts, which he had nothing to do with, and made the concern his own. I am, Sir, &c. NELSON AND Bronte. P.S.-I return the several papers which accompanied your said letter. This Vessel, which has been so often mentioned, was afterwards called the Crafty, and, still under the command of Lieutenant Spencer, was captured in March 1807 by three Spanish privateers, near Tetuan, after a gallant resistance. |