20 - Orders to Captains

Summary

At the height of the campaign in the Mediterranean, Nelson commanded a ifleet of some 40 ships. However, only the battleships were under his immediate orders – and even those were often detached individually on special missions. The rest of his force – frigates, sloops and smaller vessels – were constantly on the move, making reconnaissances, escorting convoys, and carrying dispatches and supplies. Nor was the main fleet stationary: Nelson kept his battleships moving all the time, the only respite being when they dropped anchor for a few days to take on supplies and water, usually at Agincourt Sound, La Maddalena, in northern Sardinia.

To keep in as close touch as possible with his widely scattered forces, Nelson used a rendezvous system developed by the Royal Navy over many years of constant patrols at sea. A number of locations were chosen, spread right across his command, and each was allocated a code number. Sometimes, these were places close to land, such as La Maddalena, where letters and orders could be left with contacts on shore for ships calling there. Sometimes they were at sea, such as off Cape St Sebastian, in which case a small vessel would be left on station to act as the postbox. Nelson was thus able to leave orders for his captains, including details of his own movements in the immediate future, and they could leave reports for him.

Many of Nelson's orders to his captains were copied into the letter and order books seen by Nicolas. But these tend to be formal, official documents. The new material in the British Library pressed copy letter-books shows that Nelson also wrote more informal and friendly notes – sometimes at the same time as the formal order – as well as short, business-like operational orders. These give a truer view of how Nelson actually exercised personal command, and so some examples have been brought together in this chapter, to give a glimpse of him at work, handling the movements of his fleet.

The rendezvous system

The first group of material is notes and letters showing how the rendezvous system worked. In the General Order of 4 December 1803 (358) Nelson added a new rendezvous to the list.