In justice to Wellington, it should be said that his complaints were due to false reports that exaggerated a couple of insignificant captures into a serious interruption.

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10

But not without analogous precedent. In the later Middle Ages small craft were assigned the function in battle of trying to wedge up the rudders of great ships or bore holes between wind and water. See Fighting Instructions (Navy Record Society), p. 13.

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11

Daveluy, L'Esprit de la Guerre Navale, vol. i, p. 27, note.

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12

Mahan, War of 1812, i, 316.

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13

The Dutch were believed to have sixteen of the line—one seventy-four, seven sixty-eights, and the rest under sixty guns. In Ross's squadron were one three-decker and two eighties.

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14

See post, pp. 222-24.

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15

Nelson to Barham, 29 August 1805.

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16

Captain Philip Patton to Sir Charles Middleton, 27 June 1794. Barham Papers, ii, 393. Patton had probably wider war experience than any officer then living. He was regarded as possessing a very special knowledge of personnel, and as vice admiral became second sea lord under Barham in 1804.

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17

Barham Papers, i, 302.

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18

To Evan Nepean, 4 September 1801. Nicolas, Nelson Despatches, iv, 484.

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19

For Barham's final views, 1805, see Barham Papers, iii, 90-93.

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20

Delarbre, Tourville et la marine de son temps, p. 339.

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21

Barham Papers, i, 292.

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22

Admiralty Secretary's In-Letters, 537, 8 August 1803.

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23

Supra, p. 222.

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24

It should be said that Cornwallis did not regard this system as new except for the extension from Finisterre to St. Vincent, which Nelson advised. In acknowledging the order from Ushant he wrote, "The instructions … are nearly the same as have generally been given. I can therefore only guess why a copy of the order was sent to me."—Admiralty, In-Letters, 129, 28 September 1805.

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25

The Japanese in the late war attempted to do this work by means of a highly organized Army Disembarkation Staff, but except in perfect conditions of weather and locality it does not seem to have worked well, and in almost all cases the assistance of the navy was called in.

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26

Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian was an officer of high distinction with a remarkable record of battle service. He had been serving as Howe's second captain just before his promotion to flag rank in 1795, and died as Commander-in-Chief at the Cape at the early age of fifty-one.

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27

On analogous grounds almost every military critic has condemned the policy of this disastrous expedition as involving a dispersal of our slender military force at a time when everything called for its concentration in Europe.

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