1805.] 



Memoirs of LordNeJfan. 



An 



snd on being interrogated relative to his 

 coniiuit, pointed to a ilcad bt- ar, and ob- 

 fervei, at ihe fame time, '• Thit he wifli. 

 ed to obtain the fkin U.r his father. "- 



At iengrh, on the 7th of Ausjuft, the 

 vv;nd Kifkiiy changed, and fet in from the 

 eaft^arJ ; ai:d on the gth the cuirent hav- 

 ing change! fo as to aflume an oppofite 

 direflion, they were borne to the open Tea, 

 and the adventuroui navigators thus 

 delivered from the apprehenfion of 

 perilhing by the intenfity of the p lar 

 cold. Finding it now utterly impoifihle 

 to penetrrfte any furiher in this intended 

 courfe, they entered the Aaibour of Sniee- 

 renbtirg, whence they fliapcd their way 

 home vards, and on th- a4th of Seplcin- 

 ber srnved fafe at Orf rdnefs, afitr an 

 abfcnceofo e hundred .snd fourteen d ty*. 



Soin after his rrturo, inllead ot being 

 appalled by th' -ttangers recently encoun- 

 tertd, young Nelfon applied tor and was 

 appointed to a birth in the Seahoife, a 

 twenty-eun (liip, \n wh'ch he repaired to 

 the Ealt-Indies, and, by vifiting every part 

 of the coaft f om the Bay ot Bengal to 

 Euflorah, was expofed to an extreme of 

 keat m the c-iurfe of this voyage, neoiy 

 equal to the degree of cold he had experi- 

 enced in the former. Thefe Aidden 

 changes could not but piove very inju- 

 rious, and his health accordingly yield- 

 ed to the prtlfjre, (b tha: he was obliged 

 t 1 reuirn home en purpofe to breathe his 

 ii tiveiir. 



This being fortunately accomp!i(hed, 

 on the Sih ot Apiil, 1777, he palTed the 

 uAial examination before the B ^ard for the 

 ir.nk of lieutenant, and on the fubfequtnt 

 diy received his ccmm (ll.in as fecond of 

 the LoweiioiTe, of 32 guns. In tnis vef- 

 lel he cruized againfl the Americans, and 

 hap()e ing to captuie a letter of marque 

 beiona;ing to the C ioniei, then in a (tare 

 of infurrefiion, the fiiit-lieutenaiit proved 

 unable to take noff ITio;! of her, in confe- 

 qnence of a nl^ft tremendous (ea, that 

 Itemed to interJift all approach. The 

 Captain, piqued a' this circumftance, and 

 defirous of cfF'-'-ting the objtift of his 

 wifhes, inquiied " Whether he had not 

 an officer capable of hoardii>g the prize?" 

 On hearing this, L eutenant Nelf;n iui]) e- 

 rfiattly jumped into the boat, and t d I the 

 Malter, who wifhtd to have anticipated 

 him, " Ttiat if he came back without 

 I'liccefs, it would be his tuin." 



In 1778 he was appoirited to ihe Biif- 

 tol, and rofc by feniority to be fir(t lieu- 

 tenant. In the courlie of 'he foccetding 

 year (June 11, i77y) he obiaiii-d the rank 

 of poll- captain, on which occalion he was 



Monthly Mac. No. 136. 



appointed fo the command of the H'n- 

 chinbrcke. Having failed in this veli^l 

 for the Weft Indies, he repaired to Port- 

 Roya! in the 'fljnd of Jamaica, and an ex- 

 pedition ag..in:t one of the Spanilh fcttle- 

 ments beincj then in conte-nplation, he 

 had noAT an oppi^riunitr, for the firft 

 time, of diitinguiniiiig himie f as a com- 

 manding-' fticer. Tne entcrpr!ze to which 

 we Mlliide was planned by Sii John l)?.l- 

 iing, the then governor, f.^r tne 1 urp ife 

 of ii;!zina on Fort St. Ju-.r, in iheGuiph 

 of Mexico. On ihi« occafi )n tlie com- 

 mander of the Hinchinbi'-.kc conveyed 

 the trooj's, which were fo few in point of 

 rnmber, that they were defliiiite of a 

 field officer. E Iward Ma'xos Dcfpaul, 

 whi> aherwards fufFered for high trealbn, 

 aSfed as chief-eugineer ; while Captain 

 Pallbn commaiuled the land ioices ; hut 

 the place would never have been taken hsd 

 not the firif of thele officers landed, di- 

 recfed the aflault, and fven pointed the 

 guns u«itli hi., own hand.* 



His (flip being paid iff on his return to 

 England, he retired to the place of his 

 nativity, the parf nage-houfe of Burn, 

 him Thorpe. But he did not remain 

 the e long, for he was nominated to the 

 command of the Boreas, m which be re- 

 paired to the Letwird-Iflands, and had 

 under him his Roy d H.ghnefs the D y.e 

 of Clarence, '^ho then lomm^.nded the 

 Pegaius While on this ftation, he than. 

 gcd his con'.ition in life, on the iith of 

 March, 1787, by a mnriage wiih Fran- 

 c s Woodwird, daughter and coheir of 

 William W'joiiwaril, E'q icmor judge 

 of the Kland of N.-v:s, and widow of Jo- 

 fiah N.fbir, M. D., of th.t ilhnd, by 

 who.Ti (he hid a £ ,:\, now a captain in lae 

 navy, who will be mefti .ned hrieaitcr. 



On his letirn from ihe Wc(f Indies 

 Captain Nelf-n repaired with his wife 'o 

 the parfonage-houle ot his father, whicii 

 tliat veneiable clergyman gladly relln- 

 quiflied for their ace mrno la ion, and 

 there, at a dirtance trom bultle and fl'i e, 

 he -palled a quiet anil happy life, iin:il 

 a^ain called into adion by the cencur- 

 renceof udcrel'een events. He ap;ieaied, 

 iideed, during the " piping time, of 

 pe:ice," to affeil a tafte tor rwial affaiis ; 

 to be addu'lel to qiict, and ev. n to f))i- 

 tude i to hate the '' bufy huin" of m.m j 



• Captain (af'erwar.ls Major) Polfor;, (^at- 

 ed in his ilil'patch, '* That there w.isfrarcely 

 a f;un liicJ but what wa-, puintcd by, CaptJin 

 Nelfoii, of the HInchinliroke, or Lieutenant 

 Dcfpard, chicf-cngincer.'' 



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