1796. On his arrival he was appointed to the Alexander, 74 guns, and spent the following winter off Brest, under the command of Vice-admiral Colpoys. Some little time afterwards he was ordered out to join Lord St. Vincent off Cadiz, and in the beginning of May 1798 was sent into the Mediterranean under the orders of Sir Horatio Nelson. When he went on board the Vanguard to pay his respects, Nelson, perhaps remembering his pique of fifteen years before, said, 'What, are you come to have your bones broken?' Ball answered that he had no wish to have his bones broken, unless his duty to his king and country required it, and then they should not be spared. The Vanguard, with the Orion and Alexander, sailed from Gibraltar on 9 May, and on the 21st, off Cape Sicie, was dismasted in a violent gale of wind. Her case was almost desperate, and after she was taken in tow by the Alexander the danger seemed so great that the admiral hailed Captain Ball to cast her off. Ball, however, persevered, and towed the ship safely to St. Pietro of Sardinia. Sir Horatio lost no time in going on board the Alexander to express his gratitude, and, cordially embracing Captain Ball, exclaimed 'A friend in need is a friend indeed!' (Nelson's Despatches iii. 21 n). It was the beginning of a close and lifelong friendship, which took the place of the former jealousy; and Nelson, being reinforced by a considerable squadron, proceeded to look for the French fleet, which he found and destroyed in Aboukir Bay on 1 Aug. The Alexander and Swiftsure had been detached in the morning to look into Alexandria, and did not get into the action till two hours after its commencement, when they found themselves directly opposed to the French flag-ship l'Orient, which blew up about ten o'clock. The fire has been supposed to have been kindled by some combustible missiles of the nature of fire-balls, which the l'Orient and all the French ships had on board, and it was probably from misunderstanding Captain Ball;s description of this that Coleridge framed the extraordinary story of the ship having been set on fire by some inflammable composition which Ball had invented, and which was thrown on board from the Alexander. In this there is certainly not one word of truth; for at that time the whole feeling of the English navy was intensely opposed to all such devices. On 4 Oct. 1798 Ball was ordered to go to Malta and institute a close blockade of the island. The blockade then begun was continued without intermission for the next two years, when the French garrison, having suffered the direst extremities of famine, was compelled to capitulate. The force employed in the siege was exceedingly small. On shore there were not more than 500 marines, English and Portuguese, and some 1,500 of the Maltese, who hated the French and were devoted to Ball. Ball, on his part, devoted himself to their interests. He left the Alexander in charge of her first lieutenant, and personally took command of the militia. The garrison was reduced entirely by famine, which pressed almost as severely on the islanders as on the French. They might indeed have starved with the French, had not Ball on his own responsibility sent the Alexander to Girgenti and seized a number of ships which were laden with corn and lying there, with stringent orders from the Neapolitan court not to move.
After the reduction of Malta, Ball was for some time commissioner of the navy at Gibraltar, at which place Nelson wrote to him from the Baltic on 4 June 1801: 'My dear, invaluable friend, … believe me, my heart entertains the very warmest affection for you, and it has been no fault of mine, and not a little mortification, that you have not the red ribbon and other rewards that would have kept you afloat; but as I trust the war is at an end, you must take your flag when it comes to you, for who is to command our fleets in a future war? … I pity the poor Maltese; they have sustained an irreparable loss in your friendly counsel and an able director in their public concerns; you were truly their father, and, I agree with you, they may not like stepfathers. … Believe me at all times and places, for ever your sincere, affectionate, and faithful friend.' Ball's services were, however, soon after rewarded, not, indeed, with a red ribbon, but with a baronetcy, and he was appointed governor of Malta, where he spent the remainder of his life, and where, after his death, which took place on 20 Oct. 1809, his remains were interred. Notwithstanding Nelson's wishes and often expressed advice, he virtually retired from the naval service, and though in course of seniority he became rear-admiral in 1805, he never hoisted his flag. His affectionate care of the Maltese was considered by many of the English settlers and place-seekers impolitic and unjust, but he maintained throughout that we had won the island largely by the aid of the Maltese, and that we held it by their free-will, as fellow-subjects and fellow-citizens. By the Maltese he was adored. When he appeared in public the passengers in the streets stood uncovered till he had passed; the clamours of the market-place were hushed at his entrance and then exchanged for shouts of joy and welcome.
