The life of Nelson abounds with illustrations of naval daring, but most of these are well known. One, however, narrated by Colonel Drinkwater Bethune, the historian of “The Siege of Gibraltar,” and an eye-witness of what follows, is as well worthy of general fame as some of Nelson's more splendid achievements. It is the more interesting as, on this occasion, that personal affection for his more immediate followers, which in every case secured their devoted attachment to himself, was the inciting cause of a display of unwonted gallantry.

Commodore Nelson,whose broad pendant at that time was hoisted in the Minerve, Captain Cockburn, got under weigh from Gibraltar on the 11th of February 1797, in order to join Sir John Jervis's fleet. The frigate had scarcely cast round from her anchorage, when two of the three Spanish line-of-battle ships in the upper part of Gibraltar Bay were observed also to be in motion. The headmost of the Spanish ships gaining on the frigate,the latter prepared for action,and the Minerve's situation every instant becoming more hazardous, Colonel Drinkwater asked Nelson his opinion as to the probability of an engagement. The hero said he thought it was very possible, as the headmost ship appeared to be a good sailer; “but,” continued he, looking up at the broad pendant, “before the Dons get hold of that bit of bunting I will have a struggle with them; and sooner than give up the frigate, I will run her ashore.”

Captain Cockburn, who had been taking a view of the chasing enemy, now joined the commodore, and observed that there was no doubt of the headmost ship gaining on the frigate. At this moment dinner was announced; but before Nelson and his guests left the deck, orders were given to set the studding-sails. Seated at dinner, Colonel Drinkwater was congratulating Lieutenant Hardy, who had lately been exchanged, on his being no longer a prisoner of war, when the sudden cry of “a man overboard”threw the dinner-party into disorder. There is, perhaps, no passage in naval history of deeper interest than the following account of what then occurred:—

“The officers of the ship ran on deck; I, with others, ran to the stern windows to see if anything could be observed of the unfortunate man. We had scarcely reached them before we noticed the lowering of the jolly-boat, in which was my late neighbour, Hardy, with a party of sailors; and before many seconds had elapsed, the current of the Strait (which runs strongly to the eastward) had carried the jolly-boat far astern of the frigate, towards the Spanish ships. Of course the first object was to recover, if possible, the fallen man; but he was never seen again. Hardy soon made a signal to that effect, and the man was given up as lost.

“The attention of every person was now turned to the safety of Hardy and his boat's crew. Their situation was extremely perilous, and their danger was every instant increasing from the fast sailing of the headmost ship of the chase—the Terrible, , —which by this time had approached nearly within gunshot of the Minerve.The jolly-boat's crew pulled ‘might and main' to regain the frigate, but apparently made little progress against the current of the Strait. At this crisis, Nelson, casting an anxious look at the hazardous situation of Hardy and his companions, exclaimed, ‘No, it shall not be; I shall not lose Hardy: back the mizzen-topsall! ’

“No sooner said than done.The Minerve's progress was retarded,having the current to carry her down toward Hardy and his party, who, seeing this spirited maneuver to save them from returning to their old quarters on board the Terrible, naturally redoubled their exertions to rejoin the frigate.To the landsmen on board the Minerve an action now appeared to be inevitable; and so, it would seem, thought the enemy, who, surprised and confounded by this daring maneuver of the Commodore's (being ignorant of the accident that led to it), must have construed it into a direct challenge.

“Not conceiving, however, a Spanish ship of the line to be an equal match for a British frigate with Nelson on board of her, the captain of the Terrible suddenly shortened sail in order to allow his consort to join him, and thus afforded time for the Minerve to drop down to the jolly-boat to pick up Hardy and the crew; and the moment they were on board the frigate, orders were given again to make Bail. Being now under studding-sails, and the widening of the Strait allowing the wind to be brought more on the Minerve's quarter,the frigate soon regained the lost distance,and in a abort time we had the satisfaction to observe that the dastardly Don was left far in our wake; and at sunset, by steering to the southward, we lost sight of him and his consort altogether; and Commodore Nelson thus escaped, to share in the Battle of St. Vincent, and win fresh laurels from the Spaniard.”

—GIEFARD

Words

achievements,exploits.

attachment,affection.

challenge,defiance.

companions,mates.

conceiving,supposing.

confounded,baffled.

congratulating,complimenting.

consort,partner.

construed,interpreted.

dastardly,cowardly.

elapsed,passed.

engagement,combat.

exertions,efforts.

extremely,highly.

gallantry,bravery.

hazardous,perilous.

illustrations, examples.

inciting,instigating.

maneuver,stratagem.

observed,remarked.

occurred,happened.

pendant,banner.

recover,rescue.

retarded,impeded.

satisfaction,pleasure.

situation,position.

suddenly,unexpectedly.

unfortunate,unhappy.

unwonted,unusual.

Questions

When did this incident occur? How many Spanish ships followed the Minerve? What caused the latter to stop in its course? Who were placed in grant peril? What order did Nelson give?Whom was he unwilling to lose?What did the Terrible immediately do?What did the Minerve de when the Jolly-boat's crew was picked up?What was the result?

納爾遜的一生幾乎是一部海上傳奇，而對其中的大部分故事我們都已經(jīng)熟知。但有一個人，據(jù)德恩克沃特·畢思恩上校說，他是“直布羅陀海峽包圍戰(zhàn)”的歷史學家，同時也是那場海戰(zhàn)的目擊者，他的事跡并不遜色于尼爾森那些最輝煌的戰(zhàn)績。在當時的情形下，就他的直接追隨者的個人情感而言，這件事更有趣，這些人不論任何情況，都對他死心塌地追隨，正是他們的情感直接激起了這種罕見的英勇行為。

當時，海軍準將納爾遜那寬大的墜飾飄揚在密涅瓦號上，船長庫科伯恩在1797年2月11日從直布羅陀海峽出發(fā)，去加入圣約翰·杰維斯艦隊。護衛(wèi)艦起航的地方周圍鮮有船只，但三艘西班牙戰(zhàn)列艦中的兩艘，卻出現(xiàn)在直布羅陀海灣上部，準備行動。帶頭的西班牙船只聚集在護衛(wèi)艦上，剩余的則隨時待命，德恩克瓦特上校請示尼爾森將軍，問是不是可能會有海戰(zhàn)發(fā)生。這位英雄將軍說他認為非常有可能，因為帶頭的船是個好手；“但是，”他繼續(xù)說道，同時抬頭看著寬大的墜飾，“在敵人發(fā)動撞擊之前，我會盡力和他們周旋；之后我們不能放棄護衛(wèi)艦，我會駕駛它沖向海岸。”

庫科伯恩船長看了一眼追逐在身后的敵人，現(xiàn)在也加入了準將的行列，他觀察到帶頭的船只毫無疑問已經(jīng)逼近護衛(wèi)艦了。到吃晚飯的時間了，但尼爾森在自己和客人離開船艙之前，就下達了升起補助帆的命令。德恩克瓦特上校端坐在餐桌旁，他正祝賀著哈代中尉，祝賀他獲得交換資格，不再是戰(zhàn)俘了，這時候突然傳來一聲“甲板上有個人”的喊叫，把晚餐聚會弄得亂成一團?？赡?，海軍歷史上沒有比描述當時的場景更有趣的了：

“船上的軍官跑上甲板；我和其他人一起也跑到船尾的窗子那兒看能不能看見是不是有什么不走運的人出了什么事兒。還沒等我們跑到那兒，就看到小艇在下放，上面坐著的是我從前的鄰居哈代，還有幾個水手；沒過多長時間，海峽的水流（當時是強而有力地往東流動）就把小艇沖向了護衛(wèi)艦的尾端，向著西班牙船只而去。當然，如果可能的話，最先看到的一定是掉下去的人，但他再也沒有被看到。哈代對此馬上做了個手勢，然后放棄找尋此人，這人就算失蹤不見了。

“現(xiàn)在所有人的注意力都集中到了哈代和他船員的安危上。他們當時的處境非常危急，他們因為快速地向著追逐其后的帶頭的船只航行，而危險時刻在增加。帶頭的艦船特利波爾號，當時剛剛進入到密涅瓦號的射程中。小艇上的人用力地拉著，想重新占領護衛(wèi)艦，但很顯然因為要對抗海峽的湍流，這幾乎沒什么作用。在危急時刻，納爾遜焦慮地看著處在陷阱中的哈代和船員，他喊道：“不，不要這樣，我不能失去哈代，快重新用后桅第二層帆！”

“說時遲，那時快。密涅瓦號的航速變慢了，水流將它帶向哈代和他的船員那兒，他們看到這樣鼓舞人心的調兵遣將，讓他們免于回到特利波爾號的老隊伍中間，無疑讓他們士氣倍增，奪下了護衛(wèi)艦。對于那些在密涅瓦甲板上的人來說，采取行動顯得勢不可免了；因此，似乎，那驚奇于準將的大膽招數(shù)而又因此感到困惑的敵人一定把這個行為看成是直接挑釁了。（其實敵人不知道是因為意外才導致了這個行為）。

“毋庸置疑，西班牙戰(zhàn)艦的確能和納爾遜率領的英國護衛(wèi)艦分庭抗禮，然而特利波爾號的船長為了讓同伴趕上自己，突然拉短了帆的長度，因此就為密涅瓦號停下，讓小艇上的哈代和船員登船贏得了時間。他們一登上護衛(wèi)艦，起航的命令就下達了。在全帆航行下，海峽變得逐漸開闊，這使得風更多吹動在密涅瓦號的右舷，因此護衛(wèi)艦不一會就甩開了西班牙船只一段距離，我們很高興地觀察到可惡的敵人已經(jīng)被我們遠遠甩開了。到日落時分，我們向南轉向的時候，就看不到西班牙人和他的艦隊了，而納爾遜準將也就逃脫了一劫，得以加入到圣文森的戰(zhàn)役中，并打敗了西班牙人，贏得了勝利。

——吉爾法德