e constant, zealous, and cordial support, I have
had, in my command, from both Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton
and Rear-Admiral Campbell, has been such as calls forth all my
thanks and admiration. We have shared together the constant
attention of being more than fourteen months at sea, and are ready
to share the dangers and glory of a day of battle; therefore, it is
impossible that I can ever allow myself to be separated, in thanks,
from such supporters.

"I have the honour to remain, with the very highest respect, your
lordship's most faithful and obedient servant,

"Nelson and Bronte."

"To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor."

During the remainder of the year, though there was scarcely a day which
his lordship did not employ in endeavours to improve the natural
supineness of his situation, very little occurred that calls for
particular notice. A tedious detail of so many days of languid
expectation, would be comparatively as oppressive to the reader, as the
time thus passed proved to the hero himself and the many brave men under
his command. The destruction, however, of a number of vessels at La
Vandour, in Hieres Bay, was performed with such a display of hardihood
and address, that it should, at least, receive honourable mention. This
can be in no way so well effected, as by transcribing Lord Nelson's own
words on the occasion--"The importance of the service," says his
lordship, "may be but little; but, the determined bravery of Lieutenants
Thompson, Parker, Lumley, and Moore, and the petty officers, seamen, and
marines, employed under them, could not be exceeded." Nor must a small
anecdote, highly honourable to our hero himself, fail also to be
recorded. A seaman of his lordship's flag-ship, the Victory, on the 11th
of September, fell from the forecastle into the sea; when Mr. Edward
Flin, a volunteer, hearing the cry of a man overboard, instantly leaped
from the quarter-deck, and had the good fortune to save him,
notwithstanding the extreme darkness of the night, and the ship's being
under sail. Next morning, Lord Nelson sent for Mr. Flin; and, presenting
him with a lieutenant's commission, appointed him to the Bittern sloop
of war, and afterwards procured the Admiralty's confirmation of his
appointment.

The year 1805, rendered for ever too fatally memorable, commenced with
presages of sufficiently active employ. The vast exertions of France for
t