ed to England.
Assigning to Nelson the task of evacuating Corsica and later Elba,
Jervis now took station outside the straits, where on February 13,
1797, Nelson rejoined his chief, whose strength still consisted
of 15 of the line.

_The Battle of Cape St. Vincent_

The Spanish fleet, now 27, was at this time returning to Cadiz,
as a first step toward a grand naval concentration in the north. A
stiff Levanter having thrown the Spanish far beyond their destination,
they were returning eastward when on February 14, 1797, the two
fleets came in contact within sight of Cape St. Vincent. In view
of the existing political situation, and the known inefficiency of
the Spanish in sea fighting, Jervis decided to attack. "A victory,"
he is said to have remarked, "is very essential to England at this
hour."

As a fresh westerly wind blew away the morning fog, the Spanish
were fully revealed to southward, running before the wind, badly
scattered, with 7 ships far in advance and thus to leeward of the
rest. After some preliminary pursuit, the British formed in a single
column (Troubridge in the _Culloden_ first, the flagship _Victory_
seventh, and Nelson in the _Captain_ third from the rear), and
took a southerly course which would carry them between the two
enemy groups. As soon as they found themselves thus separated,
the Spanish weather division hauled their wind, opened fire, and
ran to northward along the weather side of the British line; while
the lee division at first also turned northward and made some effort
to unite with the rest of their company by breaking through the
enemy formation, but were thrown back by a heavy broadside from
the _Victory_. Having accomplished his first purpose, Jervis had
already, at about noon, hoisted the signal to "tack in succession,"
which meant that each ship should continue her course to the point
where the _Culloden_ came about and then follow her in pursuit
of the enemy weather division. This critical and much discussed
maneuver appears entirely justified. The British by tacking in
succession kept their column still between the parts of the enemy,
its rear covering the enemy lee division, and the whole formation
still in perfect order and control, as it would not have been had
the ships tacked simultaneously. Again, if the attack had been
made on the small group to leeward, the Spanish weather division
could easily have run down into the action and thus brought their
full strength to