Service in the Mediterranean

Service in the Mediterranean.

From this moment, Nelson the enthusiastic professional was gradually replaced by Nelson the commander of genius. The coming months were probably his most tranquil emotionally. At home waited a living wife, whose son he had taken to sea with him. His ship, fast and maneuverable, and his crew, superbly trained, pleased him. His task was to fight the Revolutionary French and support British allies in the Mediterranean.

Assigned to the forlorn defense of the port of Toulon against the revolutionaries - among them a 24-year-old officer of artillery, Napoleon Bonaparte - Nelson was dispatched to Naples to collect reinforcements. He later gratefully recognized that he owed the success of his mission largely to the British minister - the adroit and scholarly Sir William Hamilton, who was had lived at Naples for 30 years and whose vivacious young wife, Emma was in the queens confidence.

When Toulon fell, Lord Hood, Nelsons commander, moved his base to Corsica, where Nelson and his ships company went ashore to assist in the capture of Bastia and Calvi, where a French shot flung debris into Nelsons face juring his right eye and leaving it almost ughtless. At the end of 1794, Hood was replaced by the uninspiring Admiral William Hotham, who was subsequently replaced by Sir John Jervis, an officer more to Nelsons liking. At the age of 60, Jervis was an immensely experienced seaman who quickly recognized Nelsons qualities and who regarded Nelson more as an associate than a subordinate officer.

The arrival of Jervis coincided with an upsurge of French success by the so that the British were forced too abandon their Mediterranean bases and retreat upon Gibraltar and the Tagus.