Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

to me, as well as of your intentions of sending all English seafaring Prisoners to this Fleet, in the room of Spanish Prisoners taken by the Ships under my command.

I am perfectly satisfied with your exertions for the Public Service, and that everything in your department will meet with due and proper attention, and that you will afford Mr. Cutforth the necessary Transports for carrying the provisions on demand for the Fleet. Your sending the Officers and Seamen belonging to his Majesty's late Bomb-Vessel Acheron, &c. by the Amazon, meets my approbation; and with respect to the ten French Prisoners alluded to in your letter, as the Acheron's people have met with so ready a release, I would recommend their being immediately released and sent into Spain; and as the Spanish Government has behaved so handsomely to our Prisoners, I would also recommend, if there is no reasonable objection to the contrary, and it meets with the approbation of Lieutenant-General Fox, that they are all immediately released, agreeable to the usual custom, and your instructions on that head, and sent into Spain. This mutual accommodation to all parties, I would desire may be adopted on every future occasion, while Spain continues to act with the liberality she has done; and another very humane and strong reason for this line of conduct being carried into effect is, that there is no place for the accommodation of Prisoners at Gibraltar, nor is it safe or consistent with the health of that place, to keep them on board the Guerrier, as appears from the representation of the Surgeon of the Naval Hospital, which I have transmitted to the Admiralty for their Lordships' consideration. I am, Sir, &c.

NELSON AND BRONTE.

TO THE PRINCIPAL OFFICERS AND COMMISSIONERS OF HIS MAJESTY'S NAVY.

[From a Copy in the Admiralty.]

Gentlemen,

Victory, at Sea, 18th March, 1805.

I have received your duplicate letter of the 22nd November, acquainting me that you had ordered Mr. Gayner's bill for the amount of the expenses paid by him on account of

[blocks in formation]

the Company of his Majesty's late Ship Hindostan, to be honoured, and charged as an impress against me until regular vouchers were received; and also requesting that some certificate, or other sufficient attestation (in lieu of vouchers) should be transmitted to you, that the sums therein charged were incurred and paid on his Majesty's Service, for the services therein expressed; and that fuller information be transmitted in respect to the following articles-viz., the names of the Deserters on account of whom eighteen dollars five reals were incurred, in conducting them from Gerona, &c. to La Escala; and also the names of twenty-one Deserters from La Escala to Rosas, that the amount may be charged against their wages; also relative to the disposal of the stores saved from the said late Ship; and likewise from where the Express was sent by Captain Le Gros to me, for which three hundred dollars was paid, and the manner in which he travelled:

In answer to which, as I considered Mr. Gayner's Account, transmitted you in my letter of the 17th September last, to be perfectly just, and extremely moderate in every particular charge, I did not judge it either necessary or consistent to call upon an honest man, who had paid the principal part of the sums stated in the said Account, in the presence of Captain Le Gros, to produce vouchers for every trifling dollar he had disbursed on the score of humanity, and for the accommodation of his Majesty's Subjects; and although Mr. Gayner did not put his name immediately at the bottom of the said Account, (which perhaps might have been more consistent with the forms of your Office,) yet I considered his attached receipt for the amount of the said Account, as fully sufficient, and all that was necessary; and my transmitting it to you was a most full approbation thereof. I was not a witness on the spot, and therefore my signature to it did not appear necessary or proper. With respect to a certificate or attestation, in lieu of vouchers, that the sums charged in the said Account were incurred and paid on his Majesty's Service, I shall not trouble Mr. Gayner, whose conduct was so friendly and honourable to the late Hindostan's people, (as acknowledged by the Admiralty, and for which he is to be presented with a silver cup,

value one hundred pounds,) by calling upon him for any other voucher than has already been transmitted to your Board, as I consider it would be injurious to his Majesty's Service, in the event of a similar misfortune happening, and am perfectly and most fully satisfied that his charges barely covered his actual disbursements.

On the subject of transmitting you the names of the Deserters alluded to in your said letter, and for which eighteen dollars five reals are charged, it is impossible to comply with your request, as their names most likely were not known to Mr. Gayner, or the people who brought them to him; and I must here beg to observe to you, Gentlemen, that those poor sufferers, more than probable, were not Deserters, but looking about them for some friendly retreat after their misfortune, which I trust the Sea-Officers of your Board, who are very capable of judging its extent, as well as the hardship of charging any sum whatever against their wages, admitting it was possible to ascertain their names, will perfectly agree with me.

The stores saved from the late Hindostan, were not worth altogether ten pounds, although great exertions, as I understand from Captain Le Gros, were used by Mr. Gayner for this purpose; they have consequently been charged to the different Ships which received them, and will be accounted for by the Officers into whose charge they were delivered in the proper and usual manner. A list of them was not called for, as they consisted chiefly of the ends of a few burnt Spars and other trifling articles, and were kept by the Ships which received them on the spot, except a Yawl that was afterwards supplied to the Cameleon.

With respect to the distance and manner the Express came to me with an account of this misfortune, I desire to acquaint you that Mr. Gayner hired a Vessel, at the request of Captain Le Gros, for which the sum of three hundred dollars was to be given, and sent her from Rosas off Toulon in search of me; and I further desire to observe that this sum was by no means equal to the service required, and length of time the Vessel was in search of the Squadron.

I have transmitted to Mr. Secretary Marsden, a copy of your said duplicate letter, together with that of my answer; likewise Mr. Gayner's Account, and Captain Le Gros's

agreement for the hire of the Vessel, together with two certificates from that Officer, relative to the hire of a house, and fifteen Deserters being taken up at Gerona, and put on board the Seahorse at Rosas, copies of which I also herewith transmit for your information; and must request, if you judge it necessary, that you will be pleased to apply to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, for their authority to remove the impress from my Account. I am, Gentlemen, &c. NELSON AND BRONTE.

TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY.

[Original, in the Admiralty.]

Victory, at Sea, March 19th, 1805.

Sir, I herewith transmit you a copy of my letter, of yesterday's date, to Captain Mouat, Agent for Transports and Prisoners of War at Gibraltar, which I request you will be pleased to lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for their information; and on the exchange and release of Prisoners of War therein mentioned, I beg to observe, for their Lordships' information, that every principle of humanity recommends Prisoners being released immediately, more particularly at Gibraltar, where no proper accommodation is for their security; and the keeping them crowded on board the Guerrier, as the warm season' sets in, may be attended with unpleasant consequences. I must also here observe that the great attention and ready release which our Prisoners have met with from the Spanish Government, deserve on our part a liberal return, and as much as possible, consistent with the rules of exchange, to cause it to be done immediately. I therefore hope their Lordships will approve of my recommendations to Captain Mouat, and be pleased to order his being furnished with further instructions on this head, if they shall judge it necessary. I am, Sir, &c.

NELSON AND BRONTE.

Lord Nelson had received a letter from Mr. Magrath, Surgeon to the Naval Hospital at Gibraltar, stating that a malignant fever had made its appearance among the Prisoners on board the Guerrier, and that the accommodation in that Ship was not sufficient, which he transmitted to the Admiralty on the 19th of March.

Sir,

TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ., ADMIRALTY.

[Original, in the Admiralty.]

Victory, at Sea, 20th March, 1805.

Having received information that upwards of seventeen Sail of the Convoy, under the protection of the late Arrow, and Acheron Bomb Vessel, are at Gibraltar, and it being very unsafe, from the Enemy's numerous Gun-Boats and Fire-Vessels fitting out at Algesiras, that they should be left there unprotected, I have, contrary to my intentions, and their Lordships' instructions, directed Sir Richard Strachan of the Renown to take the whole of them, together with any other Vessels bound to the United Kingdom, under his protection, and convoy them in safety to Spithead, dropping such as are bound to Plymouth, and the different Ports in the Channel on his way up, which I hope will meet their Lordships' approbation.

5

I also herewith transmit you, for their Lordships' information, a copy of a list of the Convoy under the protection of his Majesty's late Sloop Arrow, and Acheron Bomb-Vessel, and beg to acquaint you, that those named in the margin have arrived at Malta, and that the Adventure was sunk, being in a leaky state, to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Enemy, as mentioned in Lieutenant Coggan's letter, transmitted in mine of the 21st ultimo. I have also great hopes that some of the said late Convoy have got into Algiers, and, consequently sent the Morgiana on the 10th instant to that place, for the purpose of convoying any that might be there to Malta, in order to their proceeding with the Anson and Convoy from that place, which is appointed to sail about the middle of next month for England. Three of the said Convoy were sunk by the Enemy after the Action on the 4th February; and I am led to believe that few, if any, others have either been destroyed, or fallen into their hands. The gallant resistance made by the late Arrow and Acheron in Action with the Enemy, for their own defence and the protection of

5 Active, Elizabeth, Triad, Cora, Hope, Jupiter.

"Lieutenant Richard Coggan, (Agent for Transports,) who obtained that rank in 1794, and died a Lieutenant in 1828 or 1829.

« AnteriorContinuar »