ing, and which was actually intended for Corsica; although it was
known that in the island there had already begun the revulsion against
the British rule, which culminated in open revolt the following year.
Owing to the dearth of seamen, the crews of the French ships were
largely composed of soldiers, and it was thought that, after beating
the enemy, four or five thousand of these might be at once thrown on
shore at Ajaccio, and that afterwards the main body could be sent
across in safety. First of all, however, control of the sea must be
established by a battle, more or less decisive.

On the 24th of February, 1795, the British fleet arrived at Leghorn,
after a very severe cruise of over a fortnight. On the 2d of March
Nelson mentioned, in a letter to his wife, that the French were said
then to have a hundred and twenty-four transports full of troops, from
which he naturally argued that they must mean to attempt something. On
the evening of the 8th, an express from Genoa brought Hotham word that
they were actually at sea, fifteen ships-of-the-line, with half a
dozen or more smaller vessels. He sailed in pursuit early the next
morning, having with him thirteen[26] British ships-of-the-line and
one Neapolitan seventy-four. Of the former, four were three-decked
ships, carrying ninety-eight to one hundred guns, a class of vessel of
which the French had but one, the "Sans Culottes," of one hundred and
twenty, which, under the more dignified name of "L'Orient,"
afterwards, met so tragic a fate at the Battle of the Nile; but they
had, in compensation, three powerful ships of eighty guns, much
superior to the British seventy-fours. As, however, only partial
engagements followed, the aggregate of force on either side is a
matter of comparatively little importance in a Life of Nelson.

Standing to the northward and westward, with a fresh easterly wind,
the British fleet through its lookouts discovered the enemy on the
evening of the day of sailing, and by the same means kept touch with
them throughout the 10th and 11th; but the baffling airs, frequent in
the Mediterranean, prevented the main body seeing them until the
morning of the 12th. At daylight, then, they were visible from the
"Agamemnon," in company with which were five British ships and the
Neapolitan; the remainder of the fleet being so far to the eastward
that their hulls were just rising out of the water. The British lying
nearly becalmed, the French, who were to wi