THE SIEGE OF TOULON. 7 



ships the Heros and Themistocle filled with French prisoners. Although the latter were 

 greatly superior to the attacking force, they were so terrified that they agreed to be removed 

 and landed in a place of safety, after which the ships were destroyed by fire. Having done all 

 that man could do, they were preparing to return, when the second powder- vessel, which should 

 only have been scuttled by the Spaniards, exploded. Wonderful to relate, although the little 

 Swallow, Sir Sidney's tender, and three boats were in the midst of the falling timbers, and 

 nearly swamped by the waves produced, they escaped in safety. Nowadays torpedoes would 

 settle the business of blowing up vessels of the kind in a much safer and surer manner. The 

 evacuation was effected without loss, nearly 15,000 Toulonese refugees men, women, and 

 children being taken on board for removal to England. Fifteen French ships of war were 

 taken off as prizes, while the magazines, storehouses, and shipping were destroyed by fire. The 

 total number of vessels taken or burned by the British was eighteen of the line, nine frigates, 

 and eleven corvettes, and would have been much greater but for the blundering or treachery 

 of the Spaniards, and the pusillanimous flight of the Neapolitans. Thus the Victory was 

 the silent witness of an almost bloodless success, so far as our forces were concerned, in 

 spite of the noise and smoke and flame by which it was accompanied. A little later, 

 she was engaged in he siege of Bastia, Corsica, which was taken by a naval force num- 

 bering about one-fourth of their opponents ; and again at Calvi, where Nelson lost an eye 

 and helped to gain the day. In the spring of 1795 she was again in the Mediter- 

 ranean, and for once was engaged in what has been described as a "miserable action," 

 although the action, or want thereof, was all on the part of a vice-admiral who, as 

 Nelson said, " took things too coolly." Twenty-three British line-of-battle ships, whilst 

 engaging, off the Hyeres Isles, only seventeen French, with the certainty of triumphant 

 results, if not, indeed, of the complete annihilation of the enemy, were signalled by 

 Admiral Hotham to discontinue the fight. The disgust of the commanders in general 

 and Nelson in particular can well be understood. The only prize taken, the Alcide, blew 

 up, with the loss of half her crew, as if in very disgust at having surrendered, and we 

 can well believe that even the inanimate timbers of the Victory and her consorts groaned 

 as they were drawn off from the scene of action. The fight off the Hyeres must be in- 

 scribed in black, but happily the next to be recorded might well be written with letters 

 of gold in the annals of our country, although its glory was soon afterwards partially 

 eclipsed by others still greater. 



When Sir John Jervis hoisted his flag on board the Victory it marked an epoch not 

 merely in our career of conquest, but also in the history of the navy as a navy. Jervis, though 

 then over sixty years of age, was hale and hearty, and if sometimes stern and severe as a 

 disciplinarian, should long be remembered as one who honestly and constantly strove to raise 

 the character of the service to its highest condition of efficiency, and he was brave as a lion. 

 As the Spanish fleet loomed through the morning fog, off Cape St. Vincent, it was found 

 that Cordova's force consisted of twenty -nine large men-of-war, exclusive of a dozen 34-gun 

 frigates, seventy transports, and other vessels. Jervis was walking the quarter-deck as the 

 successive reports were brought to him. "There are eighteen sail of the line, Sir John." 

 "Very well, sir." "There are twenty sail, Sir John." "Very well, sir." "There are 

 twenty-seven sail of the line, Sir John ; nearly double our own." " Enough, sir, no more of 



