enter into
encomiums on the particular parts taken by the several
commanders; the conclusion says more than I have language to
express; the spirit which animated all was the same; when all
exert themselves zealously in their country's service, all
deserve that their high merits should stand recorded; and never
was high merit more conspicuous than in the battle I have
described.

The _Achille_, a French seventy-four, after having surrendered,
by some mismanagement of the Frenchmen, took fire and blew up;
two hundred of her men were saved by the tenders. A circumstance
occurred during the action, which so strongly marks the
invincible spirit of British seamen, when engaging the enemies
of their country, that I cannot resist the pleasure I have in
making known to their Lordships: the _Temeraire_ was boarded, by
accident or design, by a French ship on one side, and a Spaniard
on the other; the contest was vigorous; but in the end the
combined ensigns were torn from the poop, and the British
hoisted in their places.[15]

Such a battle could not be fought without sustaining a great
loss of men. I have not only to lament in common
with the British Navy and the British nation in the fall of the
Commander-in-Chief, the loss of a hero whose name will be
immortal, and his memory ever dear to his country; but my heart
is rent with the most poignant grief for the death of a friend,
to whom, by many years of intimacy, and a perfect knowledge of
the virtues of his mind, which inspired ideas superior to the
common race of men, I was bound by the strongest ties of
affection; a grief to which even the glorious occasion in which
he fell does not bring the consolation which perhaps it ought.
His Lordship received a musket ball in his left breast, about
the middle of the action, and sent an officer to me immediately,
with his last farewell, and soon after expired. I have also to
lament the loss of those excellent officers, Captain Duff of the
_Mars_, and Cooke of the _Bellerophon_; I have yet heard of none
others.

I fear the numbers that have fallen will be found very great when
the returns come to me; but it having blown a gale of wind ever
since the action, I have not yet had it in my power to collect
any reports from the ships. The _Royal Sovereign_ having lost her
masts, e