On the 24th, the blockade of Malta was entrusted to Nelson by Keith, the Commander-in-chief sailing for Genoa to assist the Austrians in the siege of that place, which eventually fell in the first week of the following June. The position was an ignominious one from Nelson’s point of view, as his letters testify. He told his superior that “Without some rest, I am gone,” and that he was “absolutely exhausted.” In referring to Keith in a note to Lord Minto he underlines “_my Commander-in-chief_,” for a reason which is fairly obvious. “Ought I to trust Dame Fortune any more?” he asks, “her daughter may wish to step in and tear the mother from me. I have in truth serious thoughts of giving up active service--Greenwich Hospital seems a fit retreat for me after being _evidently_ thought unfit to command in the Mediterranean.” “_We of the Nile_ are not equal to Lord Keith in his (Acton’s) estimation, and ought to think it an honour to serve under such a _clever_ man,” he tells Troubridge. “I can say little good of myself: I am far from well”; “My state of health is very precarious. Two days ago I dropped with a pain in my heart, and I am always in a fever”; “my very ill state of health”; “I believe I am almost finished,” are passages to be found in his correspondence at this period. He informed Keith that his health was “so very indifferent,” that he was obliged “in justice to myself, to retire to Palermo for a few weeks, and to direct Troubridge to carry on the service during my necessary absence. I shall quit this station when matters are all put in a right way.” Troubridge heard of Nelson’s decision with unfeigned sorrow. “I beseech you,” he says in a note of such sincere regard and affection that it is worthy of place in any “Life of Nelson,” “hear the entreaties of a sincere friend, and do not go to Sicily for the present.” Nelson paid no heed to the warning, and proceeded to Palermo. While returning to Malta the _Foudroyant_ was able to render assistance to the _Penelope_ (36) frigate, which was following the _Guillaume Tell_ (86) in much the same way as a sturdy little terrier sometimes follows a much larger dog. After some hours the _Lion_ (64) came up, followed by the _Foudroyant_. The _Guillaume Tell_--the sole remaining sail-of-the-line which had escaped at the Nile--was endeavouring to break the blockade of Valetta, but the time had come for her last fight with the undaunted foe. She surrendered after a splendid resistance on Sunday morning, the 30th March, and was towed in a very crippled and dismasted state to Syracuse. In due course she was refitted and rendered good service in the British navy as the _Malta_. Rear-Admiral Decrès was wounded and taken prisoner, and some 200 of the 1220 men on his flagship were either killed or rendered _hors de combat_.