January 22nd 1805
To His Excellency Sir John Acton, BART, Palermo
Victory, January 22nd 1805
The French Fleet sailed from Toulon on Friday last, the 18th. Our Frigates saw part of them all day, and were chased by some of the Ships. At ten o’clock the same night, they were in the French Fleet, then nearly in the latitude of Ajaccio, steering South, or S. b W., the direct course for the Island of Toro, South end of Sardinia, it blowing a strong gale at N. W., and a heavy sea. The French were then, by Captain Moubray’s account, carrying a heavy press of sail. At three o’clock in the afternoon of the 19th, Captain Moubray made his report to me at Madalena, and at six the whole Fleet was at sea, with a fresh breeze at W. N. W., steering to the Southward along the Sardinian shore, intending to push for the South end of Sardinia, where I could have little fear but that I should meet them; for, from all I have heard from the Captains of the Frigates, the Enemy must be bound round the South end of Sardinia, but whether to Cagliari, Sicily, the Morea, or Egypt, I am most completely in ignorance. I believe they have six or seven thousand Troops on board.
On the 20th, we were taken with a heavy gale at S.S.W., which has arrested our progress. It is now (eight o’clock on the morning of the 22nd) at W. b S., and we are sixteen leagues East from Cape Carbonara, blowing fresh, with a heavy sea, so that I stand no chance of closing with Sardinia to-day. I have sent a Frigate to both Cagliari and the Island of St. Pierres, to try and get information; and although I have only one Frigate with me, I send her to your Excellency, that you may be put upon your guard, in case the Enemy are bound to Sicily; and I beg that you will send likewise to Naples, in case their passing the South end of Sardinia should be a feint in order to deceive me.
But I rather think they believe I am off Cape St. Sebastians, where I am often forced to take shelter. If the French have had similar winds to us, it was impossible they could be round Toro before the morning of the 20th; and since that time, till this morning, they have had no winds which would allow them to weather Maritimo, if they are destined for either Egypt or the Morea. It is almost impossible they can have passed us and gone to Naples; and I am at this moment in the best possible position for intercepting them, should that be their destination.
I must be guided in all my future movements by information which I may receive; therefore I can only assure your Excellency of my ardent desire to fall in with them, and that no exertion of mine shall be wanting to annihilate them. I ever, with the highest respect, your Excellency’s most obedient and faithful servant,
NELSON AND BRONTE.
To Sir Alexander John Ball, Bart., Malta
Victory, January 22nd, 1805, 8 A.M., 16 Leagues East of Cape Carbonara.
My dear Ball,
I send you a copy of my letter to Sir John Acton, which tells all I know, and I send you a copy of Captain Moubray’s Log; therefore all I have to request of you is, to advise Captain Schomberg, whom I have ordered to consult you, to send to every position you can think of to get information. If they are passed by Cape Bon, I should think they would know it at Tunis. What would I give to know where they are bound to, or to see them!—the result of a meeting I should be a wretch to doubt. I am naturally very anxious, therefore you must forgive my short letter.
11 A.M.—The Seahorse saw yesterday, at 3 P.M., a French Frigate off Pula, but it was so thick that he could not see three miles distant, therefore could not make out the French Fleet. We have a dead foul wind and heavy sea. I cannot, for want of Frigates, send off this letter. I am ever, my dear Ball, yours most faithfully,
NELSON AND BRONTE.
Diary Entry - Lord Nelson
22nd January, 1805.
We had in the morning very heavy squalls from the Westward; Seahorse in sight coming down. At half-past nine, she made the signal that she had been chased by the Enemy’s Frigates; and at ten, that she had ‘Intelligence to communicate.’ At eleven, Captain Boyle informed me, that yesterday afternoon, at three o’clock, he had seen a French Frigate standing in for Pula, but it was so thick he could not discern the French Fleet, and it blew a heavy gale of wind at S.S.W. I sincerely pray for a favourable wind; for we cannot be more than twenty leagues from them, and if Cagliari be their object, and the Sardes will but defend their Capital, we shall be in time to save them: pray God it may be so.
The Letters and Dispatches of Lord Nelson, vol. VI, ed. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas (London: Henry Colburn, 1845), p. 327 - 329.
