“At two o’clock [A.M.],” says a midshipman who saw the sorrowful
boatload, “Admiral Nelson returned on board, being dreadfully wounded
in the right arm with a grape-shot. I leave you to judge of my
situation, when I beheld our boat approach with him who I may say
has been a second father to me, his right arm dangling by his side,
whilst with the other he helped himself to jump up the Ship’s side,
and with a spirit that astonished every one, told the surgeon to get
his instruments ready, for he knew he must lose his arm, and that the
sooner it was off the better. He underwent the amputation with the same
firmness and courage that have always marked his character.”
Captain Troubridge and his men landed near the citadel after most of
the ammunition had been soaked by the surf, which was so violent that
it filled the boats and stove them against the treacherous rocks. With
a handful of heroes he proceeded to the Square, previously appointed
as the meeting-place of the various parties before the final attack.
The scaling ladders having been lost, and no further men making their
appearance after an hour’s wait, he set out to meet Captains Hood
and Miller, whom he believed had effected a landing elsewhere. “By
day-break,” runs his official report to Nelson, “we had collected about
eighty Marines, eighty Pike-men, and one hundred and eighty small-arm
Seamen. These, I found, were all that were alive that had made good
their landing. With this force, having procured some ammunition from
the Spanish prisoners we had made, we were marching to try what could
be done with the Citadel without ladders; but found the whole of the
streets commanded by field-pieces, and upwards of eight thousand
Spaniards and one hundred French under arms, approaching by every
avenue. As the boats were all stove, and I saw no possibility of
getting more men on shore--the ammunition wet, and no provisions--I
sent Captain Hood with a Flag of Truce to the Governor, to say I was
prepared to burn the Town, which I should immediately put in force
if he approached one inch further; and, at the same time, I desired
Captain Hood to say it would be done with regret, as I had no wish to
injure the inhabitants; that if he would come to my terms, I was ready
to treat, which he readily agreed to....”
The terms were, “That the Troops, etc., belonging to his Britannic
Majesty shall embark with all their arms of every kind, and take their
Boats off, if saved, and be provided with such other as may be wanting;
in consideration of which it is engaged on their part they shall not
molest the Town in any manner by the Ships of the British Squadron now
before it, or any of the Islands in the Canaries; and prisoners shall
be given up on both sides.”
Troubridge’s game of bluff succeeded. His Excellency Don Antonio
Gutierrez, Commandant-General of the Canary Islands, rid himself of the
invaders and was rewarded by Nelson with a cask of English beer and a
cheese!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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