destination also was distasteful on account of
the climate. "I want much to get off from this d----d voyage," he
wrote. "Mr. Adair," an eminent London surgeon, who the year before had
treated him for the paralysis of his limbs, "has told me that if I was
sent to a cold damp climate it would make me worse than ever." He
himself had scruples about applying for an exchange, and the efforts
of some friends who interfered proved useless. The "Albemarle" started
with a convoy of thirty-odd vessels on the 10th of April, 1782; and
after a short stop at Cork, anchored at St. John's, Newfoundland, on
May 27, whence she reached Quebec July 1. Three days later she again
sailed on a cruise that lasted over two months, spent chiefly about
Boston Bay and Cape Cod. During this time several enemy's vessels were
taken or destroyed; but, with the bad luck that so often followed
Nelson in the matter of prize-money, none of the captures reached
port, and the cruise was pecuniarily unprofitable. It afforded him,
however, an opportunity for displaying conduct and gaining deserved
reputation, which he valued more highly. On the 14th of August the
sudden lifting of a fog showed the "Albemarle" within gunshot of a
French squadron, of four ships-of-the-line and a frigate, that had
just come out of Boston. A close chase followed, lasting nine or ten
hours; but Nelson threw off the heavy ships by running among the
shoals of George's Bank, which he ventured to do, trusting to the cool
head and aptitude for pilotage acquired in earlier life. The frigate
followed warily, watching for a chance to strike at advantage; but
when the ships-of-the-line had been dropped far enough to be unable to
help their consort, the British vessel hove-to[7] in defiance, and the
enemy fell back upon his supports.

Shortly after this escape, so many of the ship's company fell ill
with scurvy that Nelson decided to go back to Quebec, where he arrived
on the 17th of September. "For eight weeks," he wrote, "myself and all
the officers lived upon salt beef; nor had the ship's company had a
fresh meal since the 7th of April." The fears for his health that he
had expressed before sailing from England had happily proved
groundless, and a month's stay in port which now followed, at the most
delightful and invigorating of the American seasons, wrought wonders
for him. His letters to Locker state that the voyage agreed with him
better than he had expected; while from the St. Lawren