January 29th 1805
Private Diary
Victory, January 29th, 1805.
Stromboli burnt very strongly throughout the night. Passed round it at three in the morning. As we ran outside the Lipari Islands, we had been obliged to steer E. b N., and for two hours E.N.E. by compass, when, by the Spanish chart, E. and E. b S. were laid down as the proper course.
To William Marsden, Esq., Admiralty
Victory, Faro of Messina, January 29th, 1805.
Sir,
From the middle of December, I had information from various places, and amongst others, from the King of Sardinia, that the French were assembling Troops near Toulon, and had taken some of the best Troops and a corps of Cavalry from the Riviere of Genoa. Captain Capel obtained information that every Seaman was pressed and sent to Toulon. On the 16th, the Active spoke a Vessel from Marseilles, who reported that seven thousand Troops embarked on board the French Fleet. The wind had been nearly fourteen days Easterly, from N.E. to S.E.; therefore, if the Enemy had been bound to the Westward, they could not have gone with a fair wind. On the 18th, the Enemy put to sea, steering for the South-end of Sardinia. On the 19th, I was informed of it, and put to sea from the Madalena Islands, that evening. On the 21st, a French Frigate was seen off the South-end of Sardinia by the Seahorse; but the weather was so thick and gale so strong, that Captain Boyle could not see their Fleet, and he joined me the 22nd with the information; but it was from heavy gales the 26th, before I could communicate with Cagliari, at which place they knew nothing of the Enemy. On the same day, the Phoebe joined with information that a French Ship of eighty guns had put into Ajaccio on the 19th, in the evening, with the loss of her topmasts, and otherwise much crippled. The Seahorse was detached to Naples the 25th, with information.
On the 28th, I was off Palermo and communicated with Sir John Acton; and the news which the Court of Naples has from Paris of January 5th, makes them fear that Sicily might be the object of the Enemy’s armament. One of two things must have happened, that either the French Fleet must have put back crippled, or that they are gone to the Eastward, probably to Egypt, therefore, I find no difficulty in pursuing the line of conduct I have adopted. If the Enemy have put back crippled, I could never overtake them, and therefore I can do no harm in going to the Eastward; and if the Enemy are gone to the Eastward, I am right. My future movements must be guided by such information as I may be able to obtain, but their Lordships may rely that every exertion shall be used to find them out and bring them to Battle. I am, Sir, &c.
NELSON AND BRONTE.
The Letters and Dispatches of Lord Nelson, vol. VI, ed. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas (London: Henry Colburn, 1845), p. 332- 333.
