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 any occasion for so powerful a force there, he returned from thence in the St. George.

Soon after Captain Hardy’s arrival in England he was appointed to the Isis of 50 guns; and in the spring of the following year he conveyed H.R.H. the late Duke of Kent to Gibraltar. He next commanded the Amphion of 32 guns, and carried out Lord R. Fitzgerald on an embassy to the Court of Portugal. The Amphion returned to Spithead from Lisbon, Dec. 10, 1802.

It was on the 16th May, 1803, that a royal message to both Houses of Parliament announced a fresh rupture with France. The eyes of the British public were instantly directed toward their invincible Admiral; and, agreeably to the national wish, Lord Nelson was immediately appointed to the chief command of the Mediterranean fleet. His Lordship sailed for that station in the Victory of 100 guns, accompanied by Captain Hardy in the Amphion; and on his arrival off Brest shifted his flag to that frigate, where it remained till he was rejoined by the Victory off Toulon at the latter end of July. From this period till the termination of that hero’s glorious career, Captain Hardy was his constant companion.

The particulars of Lord Nelson’s memorable excursion to the West Indies, will be found under the head of Sir Pulteney Malcolm, in of our first volume; at the conclusion of which we left his Lordship returning to Spithead, filled with mortification on account of the combined squadrons of France and Spain having eluded his vigilance .