Whilst off Naples official notice reached us of the declaration of war against France, and we proceeded immediately off Toulon, where, in the course of a short time, Lord Nelson arrived in a frigate, and took the command of the fleet in the Mediterranean. His lordship’s flagship (the _Victory_) joined us in a few weeks, having on her passage out captured a French frigate, and some merchant vessels. We continued to cruise in the Gulf of Lyons from June, 1803, until the 24th of July, 1804, without ever going into any port to refit. It is true that occasionally the whole fleet ran from the heavy gales of the Gulf of Lyons, and took shelter in various outlandish places in Sardinia, where we could get wood and water, such as at Agincourt Sound--amongst the Magdalen islands--in the Straits of Bonifacio (a most beautiful anchorage, sheltered from all winds); but the shores and country around are the picture of desolation--no town--no trees of any size--rocks upon rocks, and the stunted bushes of the wild myrtle and arbutus merely sufficient for the purposes of fuel. There was a small village seven or eight miles off, at one of the Magdalen islands, where some few got their linen washed, but most of us in the fleet were put to our shifts to get that necessary comfort (clean linen) accomplished. These long cruises used to put our wits sadly to the test for an appearance of a bit of white linen above our black cravats, particularly when we had to answer the signal for a midshipman on board the flagship. Soap was almost--indeed, I might say, quite--as scarce an article as clean shirts and stockings. It was a common thing in those days of real hard service to turn shirts and stockings inside out, and make them do a little more duty. Sometimes we used to search the clothes-bag to see “if one good turn deserved another.” These expedients, added to reefed stockings, made us appear sufficiently dandified to go and answer the signal. Borrowing those articles that had been washed on shore--if such a thing was left amongst one of us--was quite out of the question, for we knew the day of repayment was very far off. The island of Sardinia affords several good anchorages for fleets and squadrons in particular winds: Orestana Bay, St. Peter, St. Antonio, Cagliari, from the south-west to the south side, and Terra Nova Bay on the north-east; besides many others for single or few ships. Porto Conti, for instance, on the north-west part of the island, is a very safe one. Our noble and gallant chief used to manage to get us fresh beef twice a week--that is to say, so many live bullocks were embarked on board each ship, and we killed them as we wanted them--by which means, with the assistance of oranges that were procured occasionally, few cases of scurvy occurred in the fleet, notwithstanding our long stay at sea. But as for articles of luxury--tea, potatoes, soap, and other sea stores for our messes--we had none.