the ships should silence its fire; a most striking evidence of the great confidence reposed in him by the Admiral, who had previously appointed one of the ablest captains in his fleet to conduct that service[1].
Lieutenant Hancock left the London with orders “to keep as near to the Elephant as possible, but out of the line of fire, and to be ready to receive the directions of Lord Nelson.” To obey both these orders was quite impossible, as the enemy’s shot fell more than a mile outside of the British line: he therefore directed all the boats to row towards the ships engaged, and keep on their off sides, where they remained with only room to use their oars until the Danish floating batteries had ceased to make resistance. Lieutenant Hancock, who had led in and taken his station abreast of the Elephant, was then called on board by Nelson, who ordered him to select a sufficient number of boats and hasten to take possession of the ships that had surrendered; which service was performed under a tremendous fire from the Trekroner battery, but happily without any serious loss.
On this occasion, the London’s barge, under the immediate command of her first Lieutenant, and a flat-bottomed boat containing part of the 49th regiment, boarded the Holstein of 60 guns, from which ship the Danish commander-in-chief had recently retreated to the Trekroner, but not before he had caused all her guns on the inshore side to be spiked, and thus prevented the British from using them against that battery, which otherwise would have been soon cleared, as it was quite open (en barbette), and the Holstein not more than 200 yards distant[2].
- ↑ “The land forces and a body of 500 seamen were to have been united under the command of Captain Freemantle and the Hon. Colonel Stewart, and as soon as the fire of the Crown battery should be silenced, they were to storm the work and destroy it.” See Clarke and M‘Arthur’s Life of Nelson, 4to. edition, Vol. II. p. 267. N.B. This arrangement, as far as it respects Captain Freemantle, was altered in consequence of that officer’s ship, the Ganges 74, being attached to Lord Nelson’s division after the Danish line of defence was last reconnoitred. It will be seen by reference to the note at p. 368 of our first volume, that the ships intended to silence the Trekroner were not able to get into their stations.
- ↑ “From the uninjured state of this outwork, which had been manned
