Page:Memoirs of the life and gallant services of Admiral Lord Nelson.pdf/3

 The Life and gallant Services, &c. 3 ſhould be received on board, but the interpriſing Horatio was ſo anxious to be of the party, that he ſolicited to be appointed cockſwaia to Captain Lut- widge, and his request was readily granted. The following anecdote may ſerve as a proof of the cool intrepidity which our young mariner poſſeſſed. In thoſe high northren latitudes, the nights are gede- rally clear: Daring one of them, not with ſtanding the extreme bitterneſs of the cold, young Nelſon was miſſing, and every ſearch was inſtantly made in queſt of him, and it was imagined he was loſt ; when, lo! as the rays of the riſing ſun opened the diſtant horizon, to the aſtoniſhment of his meſs- mates, he was diſcerned at a conſiderable diſtance on the ice, armed with a ſingle muſket, in anxious purſuit of an immenſe bear. The lock of the piece having been injured, it would not go off; he had therefore purſued the animal in hopes of tiring him, and at length was able to effect his purpoſe with the butt end. Being repremanded for leaving the ſhip without leave, the young hero replied, “I " wiſhed, Sir, to get the ſkin for my father.” Re- turning to England, he obtained a birth in the Sea- Horſe of twenty guts, and failed in it with a ſqua- dron to the Eaſt-Indies. In this ſhip Mr. Nelſon was ſtationed to watch in the foretop, and after- wards he was placed on the quarter-deck. In this veſſel he viſited almoſt every part of the Eaſt-Io- diss, from Bengal to Buſſora. A ſeries of ill health however, rendered it expedient for him to return to England, in conſequence of which, the Captain cauſed him to be conveyed hither. On the 8th of April, 1777, Mr. Nelſon paſſed his examination for the rank of Lieutenant, and the next day received his commiſſion as ſecond of the Loweſtoſſe, of thir- ty-two guns: The following anecdote concerning our hero, ought not to be ſuppreſſed. In a ſtrong gale of wind, and a heavy ſea, the Loweſtoſſe cap- tured