Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/116

64 danger was to be apprehended. This consisted in the contemplated junction of the French and Spanish fleets, which was to be effected while the eyes of England were exclusively fixed upon the land show of preparations going on at Boulogne. While these warlike boats were intended for transports, and nothing more, Napoleon's real design was to collect forty or fifty ships of the line in the harbour of Martinique, by operations combined in the harbours of Toulon, Cadiz, Ferrol, and Brest; to bring them suddenly back to Boulogne; and while thus making himself for fifteen days master of the sea, to have his whole army transported into England without interruption.

Never, perhaps, since the days of William the Conqueror, had England been in such imminent jeopardy. While her statesmen were still thrown off their guard, and imagining that the only danger lay in the flotilla, the vessels preparing in the ports of Ferrol, Cadiz, and Carthagena consisted of thirty-eight French, and thirty Spanish ships of the line; and these, if combined, would have been sufficient to hold the English Channel against all the force which our nation could muster. To attempt a blockade of the hostile harbours was the only expedient that occurred to the British government in this emergency, and the important task of blockading the ports of Ferrol and Corunna was intrusted to Sir Robert Calder. Even yet, however, the design of Bonaparte was so little surmised, that Sir Robert's force on this occasion was utterly incommensurate with the greatness of the crisis, for only seven sail were allowed him, which were afterwards raised to nine; and with these he was to prevent five French ships of the line and three frigates, and five Spanish ships of the line and four frigates, from leaving the hostile harbours. Thus the blockade was to be maintained by a force which was greatly inferior to that of the enemy. Undismayed by this disparity, Sir Robert entered his appointed station, and maintained it, notwithstanding the manœuvres of the Brest squadron to entice him into the open sea.

At length the moment arrived which Bonaparte had so keenly anticipated. The imperfect blockades of the British had been in several cases eluded; the West Indies had been reached by several hostile squadrons; and Nelson, who had gone in pursuit without being able to reach them, only learned at the last moment, that the combined French and Spanish fleets had set sail from Martinique, and were in full return to Europe. A swift sailing vessel, which he sent with this intelligence, happily outstripped the combined fleet, and thus, at the last moment, and by an intervention truly providential, the British government was put upon its guard. The first movement of the enemy, to which they were directed in consequence of the express command of Bonaparte, was to raise the blockade of Ferrol, and that accomplished, to proceed with the French and Spanish ships lying there to the relief of the other ports, by which their whole combined navy would be collected in full force in the English Channel. Sir Robert Calder was thus to abide the first brunt of the onset, and upon the stoutness of his resistance the issue of the great trial between France and England would mainly depend. Conscious of this, the British government despatched instant orders to rear-admiral Stirling, who commanded a squadron before Rochefort, to raise the blockade of that harbour, join Sir Robert Calder off Ferrol, and cruise with him off Cape Finisterre, to intercept the allied fleet of the enemy on their homeward passage to Brest.

As soon as the junction between the two British squadrons was effected, Sir Robert Calder stood out to sea, and quickly reached the station appointed for his cruise. Although the addition of Stirling's squadron raised his whole force to