1805. vendre les noirs à la Martinique et à la Guade June. loupe."* Departure fleet nique. Having done all this, and waited in the Antilles for the Brest fleet 35 days from the day of receiving his despatches, vice-admiral Villeneuve was to proceed straight to Ferrol, to carry into effect, in the way already explained,† the ultimate object of the expedition; and, compared to which, in the eyes of Napoléon, the capture and pillage of the british West-India islands was mere child's play. On the 4th of June the combined fleet, composed of com. of the same vessels with which it had anchored, bined except the Santa-Madalena, Torche, Naïade, and from Cyane, and having on board, in addition to the Marti- troops it had brought out, a portion of the garrison of Martinique, set sail from the harbour of FortRoyal, steering a northerly course. On the same or following day the two 74s, Algésiras and Achille, which had arrived at Guadeloupe on the 29th of the preceding month, and had sailed again on the 2d of June in search of the admiral, effected their junction. On the 6th M. Villeneuve lay to off the road of Basse-Terre, and received on board his fleet a portion of the garrison of Guadeloupe. Thus reinforced, the french admiral, with his 20 sail of the line, seven frigates, and two brigs, passed to-windward of Montserrat and Redundo, and to-leeward of Antigua, with what precise object in view has never been satisfactorily explained. However concealment or a distortion of facts might suit the policy of Napoléon, it was aiming a deadly blow at the reputation of his officers to make their public letters the channel of his falsehoods. In M. Villeneuve's letter of 8 thermidor, (26th of July,) pub, lished in the Moniteur of August 11, a void occurs between the day of his departure from Martinique, "le 16 prairial," or 4th of June, and that on which he made Cape Finisterre," le 21 messidor," or 9th * Précis des Evénemens, tome xi. p. 234. of July. Not a word is there about the junction of 1805. the two 74s, or the abstraction of the colonial gar- June. risons; a tolerable proof that one or more important paragraphs had been suppressed. ture of convoy. On the 8th, having doubled Antigua, as if with the Capreal intention of operating among the british islands, a briM. Villeneuve received intelligence from an american tish schooner, that in the north-north-east he would find a british homeward-bound convoy, which had sailed the day previous from that island. Chase was immediately given; and before night the franco-spanish fleet overtook 15 sail of merchant vessels, under the protection of the british 28-gun frigate Barbadoes, captain Joseph Nourse, and 14-gun schooner Netley, lieutenant Richard Harward. The two men of war effected their escape; but the merchantmen, valued with their cargoes at five millions of francs, were captured. The prizes were given in charge to the Sirène frigate, with orders to escort them to Guadeloupe, and rejoin the fleet off the Western Islands. Ville. neuve's telli gence Nelson of him. Scarcely had the frigate and her rich convoy parted company, than a rumour reached admiral Villeneuve, derived no doubt from some of the prisoners, that lord Nelson had arrived in the West that Indies in search of him. Smarting under their lord heavy losses, and suspecting from the troops on was in board, that the combined fleet, even yet, was des- pursuit tined to act against some of the british colonies, (nearly the whole of which, according to a french writer, had drawn up the capitulations they meant to propose to M. Villeneuve, and counted out the sums of money they could afford to pay him for their ransom,*) the merchant-masters did, most probably, exaggerate the british force under lord Nelson, in the hope to drive the french admiral back to Europe. effect. If So, the plan produced its effect; for, on the 9th Its imor 10th, all the troops which had been withdrawn portant from Martinique and Guadeloupe were precipitately embarked on board the Hortense, Didon, Hermione, * Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xvi. p. 121. June. 1805. and Thémis frigates, with orders to captain LaMarre-la-Meillerie, of the Hortense, the senior officer, to disembark them at the last-named island, and then to rejoin the fleet at the appointed rendez bility neuve was still acting vous. Proba- That, in acting thus, the french admiral was but that M. obeying his orders, is to be inferred from the fact, Ville- that Napoléon anticipated that M. Villeneuve would return straight to Europe on learning that he was pursued. "Je hâterai mon arrivée (à Boulogne) under de quelques jours, parce que je pense que l'arrivée orders. de Nelson," (whose force he in another place states at" dix seuls vaisseaux,")" en Amérique, pourrait pousser Villeneuve à partir pour le Ferrol." The only act, for which Napoléon blamed M. Villeneuve, was for not leaving at Martinique and Guadeloupe the troops which the fleet had carried out. In his pet, at the partial failure of his projects, the french emperor did certainly attribute this omission on the part of M. Villeneuve, to fright, " épouvante," at the rumour of his being pursued; but, at a subsequent day, when the thoughts of invading England had long ceased to agitate his breast, Buonaparte frankly admitted that Villeneuve was a brave man.+ On the 26th of June, when, having executed their mission, they were returning to the fleet, the Didon, Hermione, Hortense, and Thémis fell in with the Sirène and her valuable charge; and that but a short distance to-windward of the spot whence the latter had made sail 17 days before. Coupling the time already lost with the time it would still take to get a fleet of dull-sailing merchantmen so far to-windward Suc- as Guadeloupe, captain La-Marre-la-Meillerie detercessful mined to bear up with them for Porto-Rico. On captain the following day, the 27th, when about 180 miles Cribb. to the north-east of Barbuda, the british 18-gun ship ruse of sloops, Kingfisher, captain Richard William Cribb, and Osprey, captain Timothy Clinch, appeared in * Précis des Evénemens, tome xi. p. 282. † See O'Meara's Napoléon in Exile, vol. i. p. 57. sight to-windward, and were chased by the french 1805. frigates. In making sail to escape, the two sloops June. hoisted signals and fired guns, as if to a fleet ahead. This had the desired effect. The chasing ships immediately bore up; and, in a very little time, the whole 15 merchant vessels, with all the rum and sugar and coffee on board, were in flames. A french writer confirms the fact; calling by mistake the two sloops "frigates," and seeming to be unapprized of the ruse that was practised.* Mars and her On the 30th of June, when about 20 leagues to the north-east of the island of Corvo, the northernmost of the Azores, M. Villeneuve was rejoined by his five frigates. On the same day the Didon captured and burnt an english privateer, of 14 guns and 49 men. On the 3d of July the fleet recaptured the July. late spanish galleon Matilda, with treasure on board Capto the estimated value of from 14 to 15 millions of ture of francs; and at the same time captured the privateer, privathe Mars, of Liverpool, who had made prize of the teer, galleon, and was conducting her to an english port. recapThe privateer was set on fire, and the galleon taken ture of in tow by the Sirène frigate. Nothing further of prize. consequence happened to the combined fleet until it arrived off Cape Finisterre on the 9th of July; on which day a violent gale of wind from the northeast carried away the main topmast of the Indomptable, and otherwise slightly damaged some of the Adm. ships. The wind moderated, but continued to blow Villefrom the same adverse quarter, until a day or two off before the 22d; when, along with a favourable change in of wind, occurred an event, the account of which had terre. best be deferred till we have brought up the proceedings of the chasing fleet. After quitting Antigua on the 13th of June,† lord Nelson, still with no more than his own discretion for a guide, hastened towards Europe, and on the 17th of July came in sight of Cape St.-Vincent; "making," observes the admiral in his diary, * Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xvi. p. 128. † See p. 485. neuve Cape off St. cent. 1805. "our whole run from Barbuda, day by day, 3459 miles. Our run from Cape St.-Vincent to Barba Lord does," he adds, "was 3227 miles; so that our run Nelson back was only 232 miles more than our run out, Cape allowance being made for the difference of the latiVin- tudes and longitudes of Barbadoes and Barbuda ; average per day 34 leagues wanting nine miles." On the following day, the 18th, being on his way to Gibraltar for provisions for his fleet, lord Nelson fell in with vice-admiral Collingwood, with the Dreadnought 98 and two other sail of the line; but who had not the slightest information to communicate beyond what his own sagacity, and that was of no common kind, suggested. Vice-admiral Collingwood considered the voyage to the West Indies in the right point of view, merely as a means of drawing off the british force from the Channel, to admit of an attack upon Ireland; and, it will be recollected, a disembarkation on Ireland was one of the preliminary steps in Napoléon's plan.* July. Nelson. On the 19th of July the british fleet anchored in Lord Gibraltar bay; and "on the 20th," says lord Nelson at Gib- in his diary," I went on shore for the first time raltar. since June 16, 1803, and from having my foot out of the Victory, two years wanting 10 days." On the 22d the fleet weighed and stood across to Tetuan to water, anchoring at 8 P. M. in Mazari bay. On the 24th, at noon, the fleet again got under way and steered for Ceuta, and remained during the night in the gut, with variable winds and a thick fog. On the 25th the 18-gun ship-sloop Termagant, captain Robert Pettet, from England, joined, with information that the brig-sloop Curieux, on her way home with lord Nelson's despatches, had, on the 19th of June,† in latitude 33° 12′ north, longitude 58° west, * See p. 315; also a letter from vice-admiral Collingwood to lord Nelson on this subject, Appendix, No. 37. † Both Southey in his, and Clarke and M'Arthur in their, "Life of Nelson," make this the 19th of July; a serious mistake. See p. 437. |