THE life of Nelson abounds with illustrations of naval daring, but most of these are well known. One, however, narrated by Colonel Drinkwater Bethune, the historian of "The Siege of Gibraltar," and an eye-witness of what follows, is as well Worthy of general fame as some of Nelson"s more splendid achievements. It is the more interesting as, on this occasion, that personal affection for his more immediate followers, which in every case secured their devoted attachment to himself, was the inciting cause of a display of unwonted gallantry.
Commodore Nelson, whose broad pendant at that timewas hoisted in the Minerve , Captain Cockburn, got under weigh from Gibraltar on the 11th of February 1797, in order to join Sir John Jervis"s fleet. The frigate had scarcely cast round from her anchorage, when two of the three Spanish line-of-battle ships in the upper part of Gibraltar Bay were observed also to be in motion. The headmost of the Spanish ships gaining on the frigate, the latter prepared for action, and the Minerve"s situation every instant becoming more hazardous, Colonel Drinkwater asked Nelson his opinion as to the probability of an engagement. The hero said he thought it was very possible, as the headmost ship appeared to be a good sailer; "but," continued he, looking up at the broad pendant, "before the Dons get hold of that bit of bunting I will have astruggle with them; and sooner than give up the frigate, I will run her ashore."Captain Cockburn, who had been taking a view of the chasing enemy, now joined the commodore, and observed that there was no doubt of the headmost ship gaining on the frigate. At this moment dinner was announced; but before Nelson and his guests left the deck, orders were given to setthe studding-sails.
Seated at dinner, Colonel Drinkwater
was congratulating Lieutenant Hardy, who had lately beenexchanged, on his being no longer a prisoner of war, when the sudden cry of "a man overboard" threw the dinner-party into disorder. There is, perhaps, no passage in naval history of deeper interest than the following account of what then occurred: -"The officers of the ship ran on deck; I, with others, ranto the stern windows to see if anything could be observed of the unfortunate man. We had scarcely reached them beforewe noticed the lowering of the jolly-boat,in which was mylate neighbour, Hardy, with a party of sailors; and before many seconds had elapsed, the current of the Strait (which runs strongly to the eastward) had carried the jolly-boat far astern of the frigate, towards the Spanish ships. Of course the first object was to recover, if possible, the fallen man; but he was never seen again. Hardy soon made a signal to that effect, and the man was given up as lost.
"The attention of every person was now turned to the safety of Hardy and his boat"s crew. Their situation was extremely perilous, and their danger was every instant increasing fromthe fast sailing of the headmost ship of the chase-the Terrible ,-which by this time had approached nearly within gunshot of the Minerve . The jolly-boat"s crew pulled "might and main" to regain the frigate, but apparently made little progress against the current of the Strait. At this crisis, Nelson, casting an anxious look at the hazardous situation of Hardy and his companions, exclaimed, "No, it shall not be; I shall not lose Hardy: back the mizzen-topsail!""No sooner said than done. The Minerve"s progress wasretarded, having the current to carry her down towards Hardy and his party, who, seeing this spirited man?uvre to save them from returning to their old quarters on board the Terrible , naturally redoubled their exertions to rejoin the frigate. To the landsmen on board the Minerve an action now appeared to be inevitable; and so, it would seem, thought the enemy, who, surprised and confounded by this daring man?uvre of the Commodore"s (being ignorant of the accident that led to it), must have construed it into a direct challenge.
"Not conceiving, however, a Spanish ship of the line to be an equal match for a British frigate with Nelson on board of her, the captain of the Terrible suddenly shortened sail in order to allow his consort to join him, and thus afforded time for the Minerve to drop down to the jolly-boat to pick up Hardy and the crew; and the moment they were on board the frigate, orders were given again to make sail. Being now under studding-sails, and the widening of the Strait allowing the wind to be brought more on the Minerve"s quarter, the frigatesoon regained the lost distance, and in a short time we had the satisfaction to observe that the dastardly Don was left far in our wake; and at sunset, by steering to the southward, we lost sight of him and his consort altogether; and CommodoreNelson thus escaped, to share in the Battle of St. Vincent, and win fresh laurels from the Spaniard."- GIFFARDQUESTIONSWhen did this incident occur? How many Spanish ships followed the Minerve ? What caused the latter to stop in its course? Who were placed in great peril? What order did Nelson give? Whom was he unwilling to lose? What did the Terrible immediately do? What did the Minerve do when the jolly-boat"s crew was picked up? What was the result?