by Dean King
The steward demanded me to give him somthing to put my days allowance in. I had nothing. He took my hat and put bisquit and chees into my hat, then on locked the bars and put me on a stair case that led me into the hole [hold]. Coming to the bottom there was a demand for a shilling to drink. There was about 14 prest men. They had a candle burning, and the liquor was soon got by a hailing line from the upper deck. I discovered an old shipmate that had run away from the Brumswick and was pressed again. I put my bisquit and cheese on a platform that was made to lay on, having no apetite for eating, but in less than five minutes there was not a crum to be foun, and when I laid down to take a nap, they would be draging at my close [clothes], which were large Norway rats that ware so numerous and ravenous you could get no rest for them.5
The next morning Capt[ain] Terrel came on board, and I was call’d up on the quarter deck. He asked me if I would go on board his ship. I told him through the treatment I had received I did not care where I went to, and I was American. He new he could not get me, as I was pressed on board the tender, unless I entered particularly for his ship, being a Kings transport, and I would be sent on board some line a battle ship. He told me he took a great liking to me, and if I would go on board his ship he would let me come up to London till the ship was ready for see. Likewise he would get me the large bounty which was then allowed for seeman. I new if I did not except of that offer, my portion was a three decker at the Nore, therefore I agreed. The whole sum amounted to 35 Ld. sterling.
The next day I went down in the tender that took all the prest men down to the Nore, but I was not put below as the rest ware. Coming to Wollige [Woolwich], we hail’d the Gorgon and a jolly boat was sent, and I came aboard and went on the quarter deck and enquired for the commanding officer. He came up and told me he had just received a litter from the capt[ain] to let me come up to London amediately. I received a ticket.
My wife being with me, the boatswain, being a Merican and his wife being on board, they invited us to dinner, and after dinner the leutenant maned the boat and took us on shore. Took stage and arrived in London, went to my boarding house, and from thence to hur fathers. Hur father was about moving to Portsmouth. His son being a ship carpenter, and he a boat builder, he thought he would do better there with his son.6
By the time my liberty ticket was out, the capt[ain] send for me, and Mr. Goodall went with me, he boarding on Little Tower Hill. When we arived we ware introduc’d up stairs and a great number of capt[ains] in the navy ware there. My capt[ain] was much pleased with me and asked for my ticket. I gave it to him, and he backe my ticket, week after week, till I did not wish to remain any longer, and every time he sent for me, he treated me very hansomely in whatever I chused to drink.
During this time Mr. Smith, that I came home with in the Indiaman, sent the pusser [purser] after me, he going capt[ain] of the same ship, that if I would desert, he would send me into the country till the ship was ready for sea and give me 10 Lb. sterling pr. month. I told the pusser I new the danger and death would be my portion if caught again, therefore I would not atempt it.7 After being a month in London, I returned on board.
Nagle’s service on board the Gorgon would not be happy, nor would his subsequent service on board the frigate Blanche, which was commanded first by Captain Charles Sawyer, a homosexual who lost effective control of his crew, and later by Henry Hotham, an officer whose reputation for harsh discipline caused the crew to rebel when he came on board. It was apparently Nelson himself who appealed to the good senses of the crew of the Blanche and brokered their reluctant acceptance of Hotham. Nagle’s career eventually took a turn for the better aboard an experimental sloop that proved quite successful—despite its innovation; see “Mad Dickey’s Amusement, 1798–1800,”.
1 The ships that bore down on the Rose on July 17 included the “Poliphemus 64, Apollo, Cerberus & Margretta frigates & Hazard under Capt. Manly.” Log of Alexander Gray, Rose,L/MAR/59D, India Office Library, London.
2 A general history of the Quiberon Bay invasion fiasco, and the political and diplomatic background, can be found in John Ehrman, The Younger Pitt: The Reluctant Transition (London, 1983), 567–79. The troops that had assembled in the area were not raised to repel a French invasion but to be part of the French invasion themselves. Nagle’s group avoided the main roads until they got to Poplar. Although he notes that there were reportedly four press gangs in the village, it was essentially an East India Company town at this period, and the men felt relatively safe beyond this point.
3 The White Swan tavern was apparently very near the East India Company headquarters on Leadenhall Street, and from Nagle’s comments concerning arrangements for his voyages of 1795 and 1805–7, it appears that the company had an official or unofficial arrangement with the tavern for recruiting men. While the company had to be careful about the methods it used, the tavern and its landlord could and apparently did resort to whatever practices would raise men for the company and make money for themselves.
4 Although the eastern, riverside gate to the Tower of London was eliminated in the late eighteenth century, Irongate Stairs, giving access to the Thames, remained in Nagle’s day. The name was apparently used by a nearby tavern, where Captain Edward Tyrrell established the “rendezvous” for his press gang. Tyrrell was an interesting, resourceful man, and his correspondence to the Admiralty concerning the problems associated with impressment is interesting to read. Captain’s Correspondence “T,” ADM/1/2596 (1795) and ADM/1/2597 (1796–97), PRO; John Charlton, The Tower of London (London, 1978), 112–13.
5 There may have been an unusual infestation of rats on shipping at this time. The log of George Chatterton, Master on the Gorgon, to which Nagle was assigned, contemporaneously noted that the crew was “pointing the Foresail and repairing the Damaged Mainsail which had beeneat by the Rats in several Places.” HMS Gorgon, Master’s Log, ADM/52/3057, PRO.
6 According to George Rude in Hanoverian London, 1714–1808 (Berkeley, Cal., 1971), 228–29,shipbuilding was the most depressed of the major industries of Britain in the 1790s, particularly along the Thames. Nagle’s in-laws, the Pitmans, were a family of boat and shipbuilders who apparently had migrated from their home on the Isle of Wight in the 1780s or at the beginning of the French Wars. As of 1795, they were thinking of going back, and by 1796, it would seem that the Pitmans were at Portsmouth.
7 Presumably John Great rise Smyth, who had been first mate on the Rose under Captain Gray on the previous voyage. Rose, “Ledger” and “Receipt Book,” L/MAR/B/59V, L/MAR/59 V-2, India Office Library, London.
An Old Agamemnon
They Would as Soon Have Faced the Devil Himself as Nelson
1796
IN 1796, WITH NAPOLEON on the move in Italy, and Spain entering the war against Britain, the Royal Navy was on the retreat in the Mediterranean. Much to the chagrin of the more hard-nosed naval officers, like Sir John Jervis, commander in chief in the Mediterranean, and Captain Horatio Nelson, the theater would have to be abandoned altogether. On October 19, the French invaded Corsica, a British possession from 1793 to 1796. By November 2, Nelson, on board the Captain, 74, and in company with the Egmont, 74, had evacuated Bastia, capital of the island of Corsica, including the viceroy, Sir Gilbert Elliot. The author of this passage, An Old Agamemnon who signed the piece “M.C.,” describes the scene.
IN THE YEAR 1796 [actually, 1795] Captain Nelson had charge of a small squadron, under Admiral [of the Blue William] Hotham, which was sent to co-operate with the Austrian general, in order to drive the French from the Riviera de Genoa. It was during the night that the admiral got under weigh, but did not get sight of the enemy for several days, when a partial action took place [on July 13,1795]. L’Alcide (74) struck, but the rest of the fleet got a wind, which blowing right on the land, enabled them to get close in shore, while the English fleet, at seven miles distance, were completely becalmed. About half an hour after L’Alcide struck, a box of combustibles, which were stowed in her foretop, accidentally caug
ht fire, and, despite of all exertions to extinguish it, the flames spread so quickly that the ship was soon an entire mass of flame. The crew were seen running to and fro in a state of distraction. Our fleet lost no time in manning their boats, and we succeeded in rescuing upwards of 200 of the crew. Our boats were the last that left the vessel, and had not got a mile from her ere she blew up, with a tremendous explosion, scattering in the air those of her unfortunate crew that remained on board, and who could not have been less than 300 souls. Our ship, the Agamemnon, had none killed, and not more than one or two wounded. But we got a number of shots under water, and we had sharp work at the pumps to keep her dry. We anchored only a few hours at St. Fiorenzo, and then Captain Nelson was again despatched in the Agamemnon.
Nelson at this time was made colonel of Marines, which he had long wished for, but little expected. It was pretty well known that great changes were about to take place in the fleet, and Nelson expressed an ardent hope that he should be commissioned for some ship. His health, however, had been much impaired, and until this promotion occurred he had harboured a wish to return to England, and rest awhile; but the events that intervened effectually prevented it. Admiral Jervis was appointed to the command of the Mediterranean fleet early in November [1795] and his penetration soon discovered that Nelson possessed a combination of resources and abilities rarely to be met with, and he determined to give him immediate opportunities of signalizing himself.
The Agamemnon, having been severely cut to pieces by shot in the late engagement, had been brought into Leghorn to refit, and it was expected she would be sent home; and Captain Nelson intended to return in her to England. But Admiral Jervis did not feel inclined to part with him; he therefore offered him the St. George, 90 guns, or the Zealous, 74, which he, however, declined, but at the same time expressed a great wish to serve under the admiral, should the war continue.
The candid manner in which Nelson expressed himself made a most favourable impression on Admiral Jervis, and they soon became mutually attached. Jervis quickly fathomed the disposition of Nelson; he saw that his great aim was command, and that he yearned to try his fortune as a Commander. He, therefore, convinced Nelson that it would be folly to think of going to England at a moment when every chance of rapid promotion offered itself; and finding that Nelson’s resolution wavered, he at once promoted him to the rank of temporary commodore. The lure was too tempting to be evaded, and Nelson at once resolving to forego his intended trip to England, hoisted his pendant on board his old ship, the Agamemnon. There was little or nothing to be done; Buonaparte was then the great meteor of France, and affairs were undergoing a rapid change. Nelson was now established in permanent rank, and appointed to the Captain, 74; having a Captain appointed to command under him.
We gained intelligence that six vessels, laden with ordnance and ammunition, had sailed from Toulon, for the siege of Mantua. Nelson, having the aid of Captain Cockburn, in the Meleager, went in pursuit, and drove them under a battery, which kept up a sharp cannonade; but we soon silenced it, and, pursuing the flying enemy, succeeded in capturing the whole of them. In addition to the ordnance and warlike stores on board, we found military books, plans and maps of Italy, and many very useful papers, intended for Buonaparte’s use. The consequence of this victory was disastrous to the French, who, being deprived of their expected supply of ammunition, were obliged to raise the siege of Mantua, and if the Allied Powers had taken more active measures on land, they would doubtless have improved this success, and prevented Buonaparte from taking possession of Leghorn [Livorno],which he did soon after; but Nelson was on the alert, and closely blockaded him in Leghorn, while, at the same time, he landed a British force on the island of Elba.
In consequence of the war with Spain,1 orders were received that Corsica was immediately to be given up, and the fleet were to quit the Mediterranean. Nelson was paralyzed. This intelligence was so contrary to the orders he had received from Admiral Jervis that he knew not how to act. He immediately sent a despatch to the admiral, and loudly lamented the present orders, which he openly characterized as disgraceful to the honour of England. His chagrin was too great to be concealed from his officers or crew, and in the bitterness of his disappointment he remarked, “The Ministers at home do not seem to know the capabilities of our fleet. I frankly declare I never beheld one in point of officers and men equal to that under Sir John Jervis, who is a commander-in-chief fully capable of increasing the glory of England.”
Sir John Jervis was as much chagrined as Nelson, and although the bluff sailor concealed his feelings from those around him, yet the whole fleet were well aware that he was prepared to act very differently. However, much as we all regretted it, there was no help. The orders had arrived, and must be obeyed.
On the 13th of October, Captain Nelson was close in with Bastia by daylight, in the Diadem, Captain Towry; and, before it came to anchor, Nelson, accompanied by his boat’s crew, went on shore to visit the viceroy, who was rejoiced to see him, and requested that his valuable papers might immediately be sent on board by our boat, for it was impossible to foresee how long they might be safe on shore at Bastia.2
We went to the viceroy’s house, and got all the valuables safe into the boat, which we took on board ship, and then returned with a further supply of boats and men. It now appeared that the Corsicans had taken up arms, and that a committee of thirty had seized and detained all the property of the English, and that a plan had been laid to seize the person of the viceroy. General de Burgh also reported to Captain Nelson, that, from the number of armed Corsicans, there was little or no prospect of saving either stores, cannon, or provisions. But Nelson, whose decision was promptitude itself, ordered the citadel gate to be shut, in order to prevent any more armed Corsicans from entering, and gave immediate orders to moor his ships opposite the town. The merchants and owners likewise informed him that even their trunks of clothes were refused them, and that they would be complete beggars unless he could help them. A privateer had been moored across the mole-head by the Corsicans, which would not even allow a transport boat to pass. Nelson requested them to remain easy, and assured them that he would soon find means to relieve them.
At this time, while our boat’s crew were waiting on shore, we observed several armed Corsicans making towards the citadel, who seemed struck with surprise when they found the gate closed upon them. We could not refrain from laughing at their disappointment; which provoked them to such a degree, that one fellow had the temerity to present his piece at us, exclaiming, “Brigands Anglais!” (rascally Englishmen!) intending to fire amongst us: but, unfortunately for him, Archibald Menzies, our stroke-oar (whom we nicknamed “Scotch Hercules” on account of his immense strength), who was taking his cutty, or short pipe, comfortably near the gate, caught sight of this maneuver, and, rushing up to the dastard Corsican, gave him such a severe blow under the ear with his iron fist that he fell and completely rolled over in the dust with the force of the blow. His companions paused for a moment in surprise, as they eyed the tall gaunt figure of Archibald, but suddenly rushed in a body upon him; but Archibald, having torn up a wooden rail that ran along the road-side, laid about him with such fury that the cowardly Corsicans threw down their arms and ran for their lives; and before we could reach the spot, although we ran as quickly as we could, to assist our messmate, Archibald was master of the field, his assailants having all decamped except two unfortunate fellows whom he held fast in his iron gripe.
“Deil tak you!” exclaimed Archy,—“d’ye ken me? Never show your ugly walnut-coloured faces to a Briton again, unless you can behave like cannie men, or, by Saint Andrew! I’ll batter your faces against each ither till ye shallna ken whether you be yourselves or no. Get awa wi’ ye, ye cursed black-nebs! I dinna like to swear, but I’ll be d—d if I don’t mak haggis-meat o’ ye, if I catch you here again.”
Having let them loose, which he did with a kick behind, the fellows made swift work of it, and were soon out of sight. We collected the arms th
ey had left, and stowed them safely in the boat.
Nelson having returned from the citadel, we quickly got on board in order to commence operations. The Egmont, Captain [John] Sutton, had now arrived, and was ordered to moor the same as the Diadem. At noon, Captain Nelson made the signal for the boats manned and armed, and Captain [George Henry] Towry [of HMS Diadem] proceeded into the mole with them, in order to open the passage for all vessels which might choose to come out. Captain Towry had also received instructions from Nelson to take the first English vessel in tow which he met with; and, if the slightest molestation was offered, he was to send to the municipality in his (Nelson’s) name, to tell them that if any obstruction was thrown in the way of getting any vessel out of the mole, or removing any of the property belonging to the English, he would instantly batter the town about their ears.
Now it has always been said, that the great John Duke of Marlborough created such terror and dismay among the enemies of England, by his rapid and surprising succession of victories, that he was in France held up as a bugbear3; and nurses were accustomed to frighten refractory children into submission by telling them Malbrouk would come and take them away. The name of Nelson was not without its terrors among the Corsicans, and they never heard it without a feeling of fear; and I believe they would as soon have faced the devil himself as Nelson, as the sequel will show.
Captain Towry proceeded to the mole, when the privateer, which was moored across it, immediately pointed her guns at him, and at least an hundred guns were levelled from the mole-head. On observing this, Capt. Sutton immediately sent Nelson’s message on shore, which threatened to batter down the town if a single shot was fired, and, taking out his watch, said he would give them a quarter-of-an-hour for a reply, which if not fully satisfactory the ships would instantly open their fire.