Blockade of Cadiz.—A few days after the victory he became rear-admiral by seniority, but continued with Jervis, who was made a peer under the title of Earl St. Vincent. Nelson's own services were recognized by the K.B. During the trying months in which discontent in the fleet was developing toward the mu tinies at Spithead and the Nore, he remained with the flag, and in the blockade of Cadiz. In July 1797 he was sent to Santa Cruz de Tenerife and made a desperate attempt to capture the place. The enterprise was, in fact, rash in the last degree, for the soldiers from the garrisons of Elba and Corsica having gone home, no troops were available for the service, and a fortified town was to be taken by man-of-war boats alone. The Spaniards were on the alert, and the attack, made with the utmost daring on the night of July 24, was repulsed with heavy loss. Some of the boats missed the mole in the dark and were stove in by the surf, others which found the mole were shattered by the fire of the Spaniards. Nelson's right elbow was shot through, and he fell back into the boat from which he was directing the attack. The amputation of his arm was badly performed in the hurry and the dark. He was invalided home, and spent months of extreme pain in London and at Bath. On April 1o, 1798, he came back to the fleet off Cadiz as rear-admiral, with his flag in the "Vanguard" (74)• He was now one of the most distinguished officers in the navy. Within the next six months he was to raise himself far above the heads of all his contemporaries. A great armament was pre paring at Toulon for some unknown destination. To discover its purpose, and to defeat it, the British government resolved to send their naval forces again into the Mediterranean, and Nelson was chosen for the command not only by Jervis, with whom the immediate decision lay, but also by ministers.
Command in the Mediterranean.—Having joined the flag of Lord St. Vincent outside of the straits of Gibraltar on April 3o, Nelson was detached on May 2 into the Mediterranean, with three line-of-battle ships and five frigates, to discover the aim of the Toulon armament. Napoleon had, however, enforced rigid secrecy, and beyond the fact that a powerful combined force was collected in the French port he could learn nothing. On May 20 the "Vanguard" was dismasted in a gale. "I ought not," wrote Nelson, "to call what has happened by the cold name of acci dent ; but I believe firmly that it was the Almighty's goodness to check my consummate vanity." The "Vanguard" was saved from going on shore by the skill of Captain Ball of the "Alexander," for whom Nelson had henceforth a peculiar regard. The "Van guard" was refitted under cover of the little island of San Pietri off Sardinia. In the meantime the frigates attached to his com mand had returned to Gibraltar, in the erroneous belief that the liners would be taken there to make good the damage suffered in the gale. "I thought Hope would have known me better," said Nelson. On April 3o he was off Toulon again, only to find that the French were gone. Deprived of his best means of obtain
ing information by the disappearance of his frigates, he remained cruising till he was joined, on June 7, by Troubridge with ten sail of the line. And now he started on his fierce pursuit of the enemy, seeking him in the dark, for there were no scouts at hand; exasperated at being left without the eyes of his fleet; knowing that St. Vincent would be blamed for choosing so young an ad miral; but resolved to follow the enemy to the antipodes if necessary. From Sardinia to Naples, from Naples to Messina, from Messina to Alexandria, from Alexandria, where he found the roadstead empty, back to Sicily, and then when at last a ray of light came to him, back to Alexandria—he swept the central and eastern Mediterranean. Unlike most admirals of his time, he freely discussed his plans with his captains. He had his reward in their devotion and perfect comprehension of what he wished them to do. At the same time he acquired an absolute confidence in the efficiency of his squadron, the magnificent force which had been formed by years of successful war, and by the careful train ing of his predecessors. The captains were the band of brothers he himself had made them.
The great victory of Aug. I, 1798 (see NILE, BATTLE OF), brought Nelson yet another wound. He was struck on the fore head by a langridge shot, and had for a time to go below. For this victory he was made a baron.
Blockade of Naples.—Af ter providing for the blockade of what remained of the French in Alexandria, Nelson set sail for Naples and arrived there on September 22nd. Pitt's Second Coali tion against France was then on the point of completion, and Naples, naturally enough in view of the French behaviour on her borders, was preparing to side with Austria and Russia in the defence of monarchy; indeed she was already organising an army under the direction of the Austrian general, Mack, but no decision as to how the troops should be used had as yet been arrived at.
Nelson immediately tried to enliven the proceedings and sug gested what should have been a perfectly feasible plan, by which the Neapolitan Army was to advance northwards against the French front, while the fleet was to capture Leghorn, thus cutting the French communications. Leghorn was duly taken, but the army showed little aptitude for fighting, soon becoming a mere disorderly rout, pursued by the French. This had the effect of rousing all the Jacobins in the country which was soon in such an uproar that the royal family found it necessary to retreat to Palermo—an evacuation carried out of course by Nelson and his ships, with the valuable co-operation of Lady Hamilton (q.v.), wife of the British Ambassador. From Palermo, Nelson kept up a double blockade—one squadron under Captain Ball was de tached to force Malta to capitulate, and another, under Captain Troubridge, was sent to the Bay of Naples to operate against the Neapolitan Jacobins.