Page:Authentic narrative of the proceedings of His Majesty's Squadron.pdf/10

 dria, and carried all sail steering for that place, which we had the pleasure to descry on the 1st of August at noon;—but not as before, it now appearing full of vessels of various kinds! and we soon had the satisfaction of perceiving the French flag flying on board some of the ships. The utmost joy seemed to animate every breast on board the squadron at sight of the enemy; and the pleasure which the Admiral himself felt, was perhaps more heightened than that of any other man, as he had now a certainty by which he could regulate his future operations.

The Admiral had, and it appeared most justly, the highest opinion of, and placed the firmest reliance on the valour and conduct of every Captain in his Squadron. It had been his practice during the whole of his Cruize, whenever the weather and circumstances would permit, to have his Captains on board the Vanguard, where he would fully develope to them his own ideas of the different and modes of attack, and such plans as he proposed to execute upon falling in with the Enemy, whatever their position or situation might be, by night or by day. There was no possible position in which they could be found that he did not take into his calculation, and for the most advantageous attack of which, he had not digested and arranged the best possible disposition of the of their Admiral, therefore, on the subject of Naval Tactics, every one of the Captains of his Squadron was thoroughly acquainted; and upon surveying the situation of the enemy, they could ascertain with precision what were the ideas and intention of their commander, without the aid of any further instructions: by which means signals became almost unnessaryunnecessary [sic], much time was saved and the attention of every Captain could almost undistractedly be paid to the conduct of his own particular ship, a circumstance of which, upon this occasion, the advantages to the general service were almost incalculable.

It cannot here be thought irrelevant to give some idea of what were the plans which Admiral Nelson had