will brave every danger!"

On April 8, 1777, he passed his examination for a lieutenancy, and was
appointed to the Lowestoft frigate, Captain Locker, then fitting out for
Jamaica. Privateers under American colours were harassing British trade
in the West Indies, and Nelson saw much active service. He was removed
to the Bristol flagship, then to the command of the Badger, then to the
Hinchinbrook, and before the age of twenty-one he had gained a rank
which brought all the honours of the service within his reach.

An expedition was at this time projected to seize the region of Lake
Nicaragua, and thus to cut the communication of the Spaniards between
their northern and southern possessions; and in pursuit of this policy
Nelson was sent with a small force, early in 1780, to Honduras. Here,
after deeds of great gallantry, his command was almost annihilated by
the deadly climate, and he himself was so reduced by dysentery that he
was compelled to return to England.

His next ship was the Albemarle, twenty-eight guns, in which he was
kept, to his great annoyance, in the North Sea for the whole winter of
1781-2, and was sent in the spring to Quebec. The Albemarle then served
on the West Indian station until tidings came that the preliminaries of
peace had been signed, and she returned to England, and was paid off in
1783.

"I have closed the war," said Nelson, in one of his letters, "without a
fortune; but there is not a speck on my character. True honour, I hope,
predominated in my mind far above riches." He did not apply for a ship,
because he was not wealthy enough to live on board in the manner which
was then customary.

But, after living for a time in lodgings in St. Omer's in France, he was
appointed to the Boreas, going to the Leeward Islands, and on his
arrival in the West Indies in 1784, found himself senior captain, and
therefore second in command on that station.

The Americans were at this time trading with our islands, taking
advantage of the register of their ships, which had been issued while
they were British subjects. Nelson knew that, by the Navigation Act, no
foreigners, directly or indirectly, were permitted to carry on any trade
with these possessions; and also that the Americans had made themselves
foreigners with regard to England.

Contrary to the orders both of the admiral and of the governor, he
insisted that our ships of war were not sent abroad to make a show of,
and seized four American ve