Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/97

Rh the Commander-in-Chief relative to these actions, in which la Minerve had a Midshipman and 6 men killed, 1 Lieutenant, the gunner, boatswain, and 41 wounded, we extract the following passage relative to her Captain and Officers:–

“You are, Sir, so thoroughly acquainted with the merits of Captain Cockhurn, that it is needless for me to express them; hut the discipline of la Minerve does the highest credit to her Captain and Lieutenants, and I wish fully to declare the sense I entertain of their judgment and gallantry. Lieutenant Culverhouse is an old officer of distinguished merit. LieutetantsLieutenants [sic] Hardy, Gage, and Noble, deserve every praise which gallantry and zeal justly entitled them to, as does every other officer and man in the ship. You will observe, Sir, I am sure with regret, amongst the wounded, Lieutenant James Noble, who quitted the Captain to serve with me, and whose merit and repeated wounds received in fighting the enemies of our country, entitle him to every reward which a grateful nation can bestow .”

The Commodore arrived at Porto Ferrajo Dec. 27, and la Minerve was there repaired. On the 29th Jan. 1797, the whole of the naval establishment having been withdrawn from that station; the necessary arrangements made for the removal of the troops under General de Burgh; and the late Viceroy of Corsica with his suite embarked on board that ship, the squadron and transports sailed for Gibraltar, where they arrived in safety on the 10th of the following month. Nelson remained but one day at that place, and then proceeded in search of his Admiral. Off the mouth of the Straits he fell in with the Spanish fleet under Don Josef de Cordova, by two of whose ships he had been chased in the Gut; and on the 13th reaching the rendezvous off Cape St. Vincent, communicated intelligence of the force and situation of the enemy to Sir John Jervis, by whom he was immediately