第14章 NELSON AND HARDY 纳尔逊和哈代

The life of Nelson abounds with illustrations of naval daring, but most of these are well known. One, however, narrated by Colonel Drinkwater Bethune, the historian of “The Siege of Gibraltar,” and an eye-witness of what follows, is as well worthy of general fame as some of Nelson's more splendid achievements. It is the more interesting as, on this occasion, that personal affection for his more immediate followers, which in every case secured their devoted attachment to himself, was the inciting cause of a display of unwonted gallantry.

Commodore Nelson,whose broad pendant at that time was hoisted in the Minerve, Captain Cockburn, got under weigh from Gibraltar on the 11th of February 1797, in order to join Sir John Jervis's fleet. The frigate had scarcely cast round from her anchorage, when two of the three Spanish line-of-battle ships in the upper part of Gibraltar Bay were observed also to be in motion. The headmost of the Spanish ships gaining on the frigate,the latter prepared for action,and the Minerve's situation every instant becoming more hazardous, Colonel Drinkwater asked Nelson his opinion as to the probability of an engagement. The hero said he thought it was very possible, as the headmost ship appeared to be a good sailer; “but,” continued he, looking up at the broad pendant, “before the Dons get hold of that bit of bunting I will have a struggle with them; and sooner than give up the frigate, I will run her ashore.”

Captain Cockburn, who had been taking a view of the chasing enemy, now joined the commodore, and observed that there was no doubt of the headmost ship gaining on the frigate. At this moment dinner was announced; but before Nelson and his guests left the deck, orders were given to set the studding-sails. Seated at dinner, Colonel Drinkwater was congratulating Lieutenant Hardy, who had lately been exchanged, on his being no longer a prisoner of war, when the sudden cry of “a man overboard”threw the dinner-party into disorder. There is, perhaps, no passage in naval history of deeper interest than the following account of what then occurred:—

“The officers of the ship ran on deck; I, with others, ran to the stern windows to see if anything could be observed of the unfortunate man. We had scarcely reached them before we noticed the lowering of the jolly-boat, in which was my late neighbour, Hardy, with a party of sailors; and before many seconds had elapsed, the current of the Strait (which runs strongly to the eastward) had carried the jolly-boat far astern of the frigate, towards the Spanish ships. Of course the first object was to recover, if possible, the fallen man; but he was never seen again. Hardy soon made a signal to that effect, and the man was given up as lost.

“The attention of every person was now turned to the safety of Hardy and his boat's crew. Their situation was extremely perilous, and their danger was every instant increasing from the fast sailing of the headmost ship of the chase—the Terrible, , —which by this time had approached nearly within gunshot of the Minerve.The jolly-boat's crew pulled ‘might and main' to regain the frigate, but apparently made little progress against the current of the Strait. At this crisis, Nelson, casting an anxious look at the hazardous situation of Hardy and his companions, exclaimed, ‘No, it shall not be; I shall not lose Hardy: back the mizzen-topsall! ’

“No sooner said than done.The Minerve's progress was retarded,having the current to carry her down toward Hardy and his party, who, seeing this spirited maneuver to save them from returning to their old quarters on board the Terrible, naturally redoubled their exertions to rejoin the frigate.To the landsmen on board the Minerve an action now appeared to be inevitable; and so, it would seem, thought the enemy, who, surprised and confounded by this daring maneuver of the Commodore's (being ignorant of the accident that led to it), must have construed it into a direct challenge.

“Not conceiving, however, a Spanish ship of the line to be an equal match for a British frigate with Nelson on board of her, the captain of the Terrible suddenly shortened sail in order to allow his consort to join him, and thus afforded time for the Minerve to drop down to the jolly-boat to pick up Hardy and the crew; and the moment they were on board the frigate, orders were given again to make Bail. Being now under studding-sails, and the widening of the Strait allowing the wind to be brought more on the Minerve's quarter,the frigate soon regained the lost distance,and in a abort time we had the satisfaction to observe that the dastardly Don was left far in our wake; and at sunset, by steering to the southward, we lost sight of him and his consort altogether; and Commodore Nelson thus escaped, to share in the Battle of St. Vincent, and win fresh laurels from the Spaniard.”

—GIEFARD

Words

achievements,exploits.

attachment,affection.

challenge,defiance.

companions,mates.

conceiving,supposing.

confounded,baffled.

congratulating,complimenting.

consort,partner.

construed,interpreted.

dastardly,cowardly.

elapsed,passed.

engagement,combat.

exertions,efforts.

extremely,highly.

gallantry,bravery.

hazardous,perilous.

illustrations, examples.

inciting,instigating.

maneuver,stratagem.

observed,remarked.

occurred,happened.

pendant,banner.

recover,rescue.

retarded,impeded.

satisfaction,pleasure.

situation,position.

suddenly,unexpectedly.

unfortunate,unhappy.

unwonted,unusual.

Questions

When did this incident occur? How many Spanish ships followed the Minerve? What caused the latter to stop in its course? Who were placed in grant peril? What order did Nelson give?Whom was he unwilling to lose?What did the Terrible immediately do?What did the Minerve de when the Jolly-boat's crew was picked up?What was the result?

纳尔逊的一生几乎是一部海上传奇，而对其中的大部分故事我们都已经熟知。但有一个人，据德恩克沃特·毕思恩上校说，他是“直布罗陀海峡包围战”的历史学家，同时也是那场海战的目击者，他的事迹并不逊色于尼尔森那些最辉煌的战绩。在当时的情形下，就他的直接追随者的个人情感而言，这件事更有趣，这些人不论任何情况，都对他死心塌地追随，正是他们的情感直接激起了这种罕见的英勇行为。

当时，海军准将纳尔逊那宽大的坠饰飘扬在密涅瓦号上，船长库科伯恩在1797年2月11日从直布罗陀海峡出发，去加入圣约翰·杰维斯舰队。护卫舰起航的地方周围鲜有船只，但三艘西班牙战列舰中的两艘，却出现在直布罗陀海湾上部，准备行动。带头的西班牙船只聚集在护卫舰上，剩余的则随时待命，德恩克瓦特上校请示尼尔森将军，问是不是可能会有海战发生。这位英雄将军说他认为非常有可能，因为带头的船是个好手；“但是，”他继续说道，同时抬头看着宽大的坠饰，“在敌人发动撞击之前，我会尽力和他们周旋；之后我们不能放弃护卫舰，我会驾驶它冲向海岸。”

库科伯恩船长看了一眼追逐在身后的敌人，现在也加入了准将的行列，他观察到带头的船只毫无疑问已经逼近护卫舰了。到吃晚饭的时间了，但尼尔森在自己和客人离开船舱之前，就下达了升起补助帆的命令。德恩克瓦特上校端坐在餐桌旁，他正祝贺着哈代中尉，祝贺他获得交换资格，不再是战俘了，这时候突然传来一声“甲板上有个人”的喊叫，把晚餐聚会弄得乱成一团。可能，海军历史上没有比描述当时的场景更有趣的了：

“船上的军官跑上甲板；我和其他人一起也跑到船尾的窗子那儿看能不能看见是不是有什么不走运的人出了什么事儿。还没等我们跑到那儿，就看到小艇在下放，上面坐着的是我从前的邻居哈代，还有几个水手；没过多长时间，海峡的水流（当时是强而有力地往东流动）就把小艇冲向了护卫舰的尾端，向着西班牙船只而去。当然，如果可能的话，最先看到的一定是掉下去的人，但他再也没有被看到。哈代对此马上做了个手势，然后放弃找寻此人，这人就算失踪不见了。

“现在所有人的注意力都集中到了哈代和他船员的安危上。他们当时的处境非常危急，他们因为快速地向着追逐其后的带头的船只航行，而危险时刻在增加。带头的舰船特利波尔号，当时刚刚进入到密涅瓦号的射程中。小艇上的人用力地拉着，想重新占领护卫舰，但很显然因为要对抗海峡的湍流，这几乎没什么作用。在危急时刻，纳尔逊焦虑地看着处在陷阱中的哈代和船员，他喊道：“不，不要这样，我不能失去哈代，快重新用后桅第二层帆！”

“说时迟，那时快。密涅瓦号的航速变慢了，水流将它带向哈代和他的船员那儿，他们看到这样鼓舞人心的调兵遣将，让他们免于回到特利波尔号的老队伍中间，无疑让他们士气倍增，夺下了护卫舰。对于那些在密涅瓦甲板上的人来说，采取行动显得势不可免了；因此，似乎，那惊奇于准将的大胆招数而又因此感到困惑的敌人一定把这个行为看成是直接挑衅了。（其实敌人不知道是因为意外才导致了这个行为）。

“毋庸置疑，西班牙战舰的确能和纳尔逊率领的英国护卫舰分庭抗礼，然而特利波尔号的船长为了让同伴赶上自己，突然拉短了帆的长度，因此就为密涅瓦号停下，让小艇上的哈代和船员登船赢得了时间。他们一登上护卫舰，起航的命令就下达了。在全帆航行下，海峡变得逐渐开阔，这使得风更多吹动在密涅瓦号的右舷，因此护卫舰不一会就甩开了西班牙船只一段距离，我们很高兴地观察到可恶的敌人已经被我们远远甩开了。到日落时分，我们向南转向的时候，就看不到西班牙人和他的舰队了，而纳尔逊准将也就逃脱了一劫，得以加入到圣文森的战役中，并打败了西班牙人，赢得了胜利。

——吉尔法德