The Story of Nelson | Page 8

was difficult work, for she had
grounded. We pulled close under the battery to avoid the heavy fire
from it. As we moved on, all we could see was the bright flashes from
the guns extending in a long line in front of us. On again pulling out, a
fearful cry was raised. It came from the `Fox' cutter. A shot had struck
her between wind, and water, and down she went, leaving her crew
struggling in the waves. The admiral had just before been lifted up in
the stern-sheets by Mr Nisbet to look about him.
"`Give way, lads--give way,' he shouted, forgetting his own desperate
wound. `We must save them.'
"Soon we were in among the struggling men, and hauling them into the
boats as fast as we could, the shot all the time rattling about us. The
admiral seemed to have recovered his strength, and worked away with
his left arm, assisting in saving a great many. Eighty men were saved,
but more than half the crew were lost. The first ship we came to was the
`Seahorse.' Her captain's wife, Mrs Freemantle, was on board, but he
was with the boats, and no one could tell whether he was alive or dead.

"`No, no,' exclaimed the admiral; `I can give the poor lady no tidings of
her husband; she shall not see me in this state. Pull to another ship.'
"We managed to reach the `Theseus,' a rope was lowered, he sprung up
the side, and would have no help. We could scarcely believe our eyes,
for we thought he was half dead. His was a wonderful spirit. Then he
sent us off to try and save a few more of the poor fellows from the
`Fox.' When we got back we found that he had made the surgeon at
once cut off his arm. We brought him the news that Captain Freemantle,
though badly wounded, had got off in safety to his ship. You may be
sure that both he and all of us were very anxious to know what was
going forward on shore. At length we heard that Captain Troubridge
had managed to collect two or three hundred men--all who were not
drowned or killed by shot--and having marched into the square, had
taken the town. Of course, he could do nothing against the citadel.
Some eight thousand Spanish troops were collecting about the place,
but he was not a man to be daunted; telling them that he would burn
the town if they molested him, he was able to draw off all his men in
safety. During that business we lost two hundred and fifty men and
officers. It was a sad affair, but though it was a failure every man
engaged in it did his duty bravely, and no one could blame the admiral
for what had happened. We heard that the Spaniards treated our
wounded men who were left on shore with the greatest kindness and
care. No one among the wounded suffered more than the admiral, and
it was some months, I've heard say, before the pain left his arm.
"Once more we returned to old England, and the admiral went up to
London to try and get cured of his wound. Since he left home he had
lost an eye and an arm, and had been terribly knocked about besides;
but people thought of what he had done, not of how he looked, and he
was received with honour wherever he went.
"I and a few others of his old hands lived on shore, keeping a look-out
for when he should get another command. We were afraid of being
pressed, and made to serve somewhere away from him. One and all of
us were ready enough to fight for our king and our country, provided
we could fight under him. We had not long to wait. We soon got news

that the `Vanguard' was to be commissioned to carry Sir Horatio
Nelson's flag to join the Mediterranean fleet under Earl Saint Vincent.
That was in the year 1798.
"We sailed from Gibraltar on the 9th of May with three line-of-battle
ships, four frigates, and a sloop of war, to look after the French fleet,
which consisted of thirteen ships of the line, seven frigates, twenty-four
smaller ships of war, and a fleet of transports, bound, as we afterwards
learned, for Egypt. If the French had conquered that country, they
would have gone on, there is no doubt of it, to attack our possessions in
India. The admiral, I dare say, knew the importance of stopping that
French fleet. In spite of their numbers we did not fear them. Proud we
were of our ship, and prouder still was our admiral of her and her crew
and the fleet he commanded.