Page:Memoirs of the life and gallant services of Admiral Lord Nelson.pdf/4

 4 The Life and gallant Services tured an American letter of marque. The Captain ordered the firſt Lieutenant to board her, which he readily attempted, but was not able to effect, ow- ing to the tremendous ſea running. On his return to the ſhip, Captain Locker exclaimed, “ Have I " then no officer who can board the prize?" On hearing this, the maſter immediately ran to the gang-way, in order to jump into the boat; when Lieutenant Nelſon ſuddenly ſtopped him, ſaying, " It is my turn now; if I come back it will be “ yours." In 1778 he was appointed third Lieute- nant of the Briſtol; from which, by rotation, he be- came the first. He obtained his poſt rank on the 11th of June, 1779, and was appointed to command the Hinchinbroke. In July, 1780, an expedition was reſolved on for the deſtruction of Fort Juan, in the gulph of Mexico, when Captain Nelſon was ap- pointed to command the naval department, and Ma- jor Polſon the military; in effecting this arduous ſer- vice, Captain Nelſon diſplayed his uſual intrepidity which, according to the Major's declaration, was the principal cauſe of our ſucceſs in reducing Fort Juan. After a variety of ſervice, in which nothing very material occured, the Boreas, which he then com- manded, was paid off, and he retired to the perſon- age-houſe of Burnham Thorpe. In 1793, he was appointed to the Agamemnon, of ſixty-four guns. At the ſiege of Calvi, in July and Auguſt, 1794, he behaved with great intrepidity, and juſtly merited the encomiunis he received from the admiral, it was here that a ſhot from the enemy's battery, deprived him of the fight of his right eye. In December 1796, Captain Nelſon holſted his broad flag as Commo- dore, on board La Minerve frigate, and captured La Sabina, of forty geos, and two hundred and eighty men, commanded by Captain Don Jacobo Stuart. Commodore Nelſon joined the Admiral, Sir John Jervis, oft Cape St. Vincent, on the 14th of February,