Page 123 - Il Mediterraneo quale elemento del Potere Marittimo - Atti 16-18 settembre 1996

NELSON IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 109

damaged ship against the "San Nicolas", led the boarding party which took this
vessel and then onto the larger .. San]osef' alongside her. Jervis gladly forgave Nel-
son's technical disobedience which had won the battle and from now on Nelson's
reputation and glory were ensured. Even for his setbacks · at Cadiz where he led
an unsuccessful attempt to assault the town and at Santa Cruz, Tenerife, where
he led a disastrous expedition co take the port and lost his arm, he gained in public
acclaim.
But soon once more the French became dominant in che Mediterranean. Na-
poleon was confident enough now co be planning a major expedition and reports
were coming out of a vast fleet assembling in Toulon.
Nelson again blockanding that port in che "Vanguard" was caught in a fear-
ful storm and his ship put out of action and nearly wrecked. Napoleon with his
armada cook advantage of che continuing westerly gale and sailed past Nelson's
dispersed fleet. God. knew where he was headed. News depended then on reports
by informants on captured or merchant vessels or by persons on islands where pare
of a fleet might have only been briefly sighted on the Horizon - weeks before -
or on che smaller faster vessels in his fleet, che frigates, his "eyes" as he called them,
of which he never had enough. These frigates were now all dispersed.
Nelson wrote to his wife Fanny ''I believe firmly that it was the almighty's goodness
to check my consummate vanity. l hope it has made me a hetter officer as l feel confident it
has made me a better man. Figure yourself this proud, conceited man, when the sun rose on
monday morning, his ship dismasted, his fleet dispersed and himself in such distress that the
merest /rigate out of France would h ave heen a very unwelcome guest' •.
Then began one of che great Mediterranean pursuits. Even such a large arma-
da could be lost among che thousands of square miles of sea an d islands. W ould
Napoleon attack Naples, Sicily, Malta or drive on co Egypt, che Levant, Greece,
Turkey?
Two months into che search Nelson learnt that Napoleon had taken Malta
and ali ics vast treasures and sailed East with 40 000 troops and an army of natura-
lists, mathemacicians, astronomers and scientists. Nelson righdy guessed that this
vast expedition was headed for Egypt but he·arrived there ahead of them, and fin-
ding them not there, assumed they were further east and sailed on. Failing to find
them in the eastern Mediten~anea-n ·he sailed · back fearful that they would- after a-Il
be intent on attacking ltaly. Finding Sicily and Corfu unharmed he set off east again
for Greece. At last at Koroni he had definite information that che French had been
sighted - "A thousand ships headed for Egypt".
As the Bricish approached Alexandria only cransports were spotted. Then as
che first of the fleet drew near Aboukir Bay a great forest of spars could be seen
above a spie of land.
Napoleon had indeed decided co postpone che invasion of England and the
mounth an expeditionary force co take Egypt and then invade India. Nelson had
just missed catching this force at sea and so achieving possibly an even greater vie-