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Here also, in 1797, was the great mutiny in Lord Bridport's fleet, the sailors, when the signal to weigh anchor was given, declining to do it until their just demands were granted; the mutiny was suppressed and the leaders severely punished. All the neighboring shores bristle with forts and batteries protecting the entrance to Spithead.
On the day but one following, we sailed from Spithead in half a gale of wind from E.N.E., with frequent snow-squalls; pretty much the same weather in fact as we had on the eventful occasion of my sailing in the "Scourge." We looked into Plymouth Sound on out way, assumed the convoy of a fleet of some seventeen sail, and proceeded. Oh! the misery of convoy-duty.
On the 21st of June the Queen and the Prince, with the Lords of the Admiralty, inspected the fleet off Spithead. The royal yacht was attended by a crowd of yachts belonging to the various squadrons, a throng of steamboats and countless small boats. The Queen visited and went over the flagship which was the St. Vincent the Trafalgar, and the Albion.
Siegmund was gazing oversea in a half-stupid way, when he heard a voice beside him say: 'Where have they come from; do you know, sir? He turned, saw a fair, slender man of some thirty-five years standing beside him and smiling faintly at the battleships. 'The men-of-war? There are a good many at Spithead, said Siegmund. The other glanced negligently into his face.
The "Thisbe," with the rest of the fleet, returned to Spithead to receive the marks of honour the sovereign and the nation showered on the heads of the gallant chiefs, who had led their ships to victory; but before long she was again on a cruise down channel.
This nobleman returned to England in October and king Charles embarking for the same kingdom, under convoy of an English and Dutch squadron, arrived at Spithead on the twenty-sixth day of December. There he was received by the dukes of Somerset and Marlborough, who conducted him to Windsor; and on the road he was met by prince George of Denmark.
On the 16th at daylight we saw a sail to the southward. The next day we came up with her and found her to be the British Queen, Simon Paul, master, from London, bound to the Cape of Good Hope on the whale-fishery. She sailed from Falmouth the 5th of December, eighteen days before I left Spithead. By this ship I wrote to England. At sunset she was almost out of sight astern. Monday 18.
The engines whirled furiously until they stopped, and a couple of minutes later her captain recognised that she could neither steam nor steer. Meanwhile, the tide was setting strongly in towards Spithead, and the disabled ships were drifting with it, either to capture or destruction. The French centre had now, to all intents and purposes, ceased to exist.
and will most probably attend at the Admiralty this day. Probably attend! And this was Nelson! his Nelson! Victory, Spithead, August 18, 1805. The Victory, with the fleet under my command, left Gibraltar twenty- seven days ago.... Nelson and Bronte. That's right. Do the thing thoroughly if you're going to do it at all. Come home yourself, and bring your fleet with you.
Towards the close of March the Czar visited Portsmouth, saw a sham seafight at Spithead, watched every movement of the contending fleets with intense interest, and expressed in warm terms his gratitude to the hospitable government which had provided so delightful a spectacle for his amusement and instruction. After passing more than three months in England, he departed in high good humour.
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