138 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



Nelson was next, at the age of 26, appointed to the command of the Boreas 

 frigate, in which he sailed for the West Indies. Here his breadth of view and 

 tenacious temperament showed themselves markedly. When his ship entered 

 the French harbor at Martinique and did not receive the proper salute from land, 

 Nelson demanded and received amends; when at Antigua he found a British 

 vessel, whose captain was junior to him, flying a commodore's pennant (signifying 

 superiority in rank and command), he demanded the meaning of this. Informed 

 that the venerable captain who was commissioner of the navy at the dockyard 

 there had so ordered it, Nelson took the ground that no civil appointee could 

 exercise naval command and he refused to obey the captain's orders. Again 

 he insisted that, under the navigation laws, American merchantmen could not 

 trade in the West Indies. In this stand Nelson opposed his own easy-going 

 admiral and the desires of the governors and peoples of the islands; but he was 

 technically correct and was supported by the government. Here, at Nevis, he 

 met and married the widow of Dr. Josiah Nisbit. 



After some years of non-employment in the navy, Nelson, now 34 years of 

 age, was given command of the Agamemnon. This was in 1793, during the height 

 of the French revolution. Nelson's rise was henceforth to lie parallel to that of 

 Napoleon; and the defeat of the plans of the latter on the sea was due primarily 

 to the genius of the former. Nelson now entered the Mediterranean, which was 

 to be the scene of his activity for the next seven years. He helped in the blockade 

 and occupation of Toulon and cooperated from his squadron with the Austrian 

 army which was disputing Napoleon's progress into Italy along the Riviera. When 

 it seemed to the admiralty wisest to abandon the Mediterranean, Nelson evacu- 

 ated Bastia, on Corsica, bringing with him all the British property, despite the 

 resistance of the inhabitants; and later he effected the evacuation of Elba. Under 

 Jervis he fought in the battle of St. Vincent. As his ship proceeded in battle- 

 line, according to orders, past the enemy's fleet, he saw clearly that the thing to 

 do was to leave the battle-line to prevent the separated portions of the enemy's 

 fleet from uniting. This he did, singlehanded, without orders, and his ship was 

 terribly punished before he was supported by Collingwood and others; but his 

 action prevented the union of the enemy and insured the greater victory. In 

 this engagement two of the enemy's ships had become entangled in each other's 

 rigging. Nelson ran alongside of one and boarded both of them, receiving the 

 swords of two vanquished Spanish captains at once. Again he had seen the big 

 thing to do and had done it. For his gallantry and intelligence he was knighted. 

 He next attempted to capture the island of Teneriffe, but was defeated and lost 

 his right arm in the effort (July 1797). 



The way was now prepared for Nelson's three great campaigns, hi which he 

 showed his unrivaled strategy and tactics. The first was his campaign to inter- 

 cept Napoleon's naval expedition to Egypt. Though Napoleon eluded him, 

 Nelson found the French fleet in Aboukir bay as the day was closing. Without 

 hesitation he descended on the fleet and fought into the darkness; and only two 

 of the French vessels escaped, to yield to his ships some months later. 



Ordered west, he sailed for Naples to make repairs. Here he met Lady 

 Hamilton, his infatuation with whom persisted throughout his life and led to the 

 divorce of his wife and the scandal of England. At Naples he wasted much of 

 two years. In 1800 he returned overland to England in the company of Sir 

 William and Lady Hamilton. In the spring of 1801 he was sent, under Admiral 



