journeys to and from the ship.
On some of the nine days the two ships stayed at Trincomalee, Horatio Nelson also went ashore, enjoying a brief period of leisure with his friends. At the behest of the ever mindful Surridge, Farmer restored the youth to his former rank of midshipman on 31 October and he was again freely fraternising with other petty officers of the quarterdeck. In later life Nelson recalled that at the age of seventeen he was induced to play at a gaming table and actually won £300, which in those days was a large sum of money for a naval petty officer. However, he suddenly realised that, had he lost rather than won such an amount, he could never have paid the debt. It was a sobering thought. Horace had been brought up to pay his way and vowed he would never gamble again. The story may have grown in the telling but probably referred to some incident that occurred in Madras, Trincomalee or Bombay. 20
Reprovisioning complete, Marlow led the two ships to the Malabar coast in November and found Commodore Hughes at Anjenga. The Seahorse was then sent north, taking one convoy from Tellicherry to Goa and picking up another there for Bombay, where Hughes was concentrating his squadron for the winter. The finer days of these final voyages of the year may have given Midshipman Nelson his first opportunity to tack a ship, as if he was a master or lieutenant. Surridge had found the boy obedient and conscientious, ever eager to learn and serve, and no doubt prevailed upon the senior officers occasionally to allow him to tack the Seahorse . Tacking was a particularly tricky method of changing a ship’s direction by turning its bow through the wind, but Horace performed the task with efficiency and authority, while Surridge stood by approvingly, knowing he had turned this boy into a capable sea officer. 21
The Seahorse eventually arrived at Bombay on 19 December and remained for several months. On 19 February Nelson witnessed a formidable ritual aboard the ship. The captains of the squadron werepiped aboard and swallowed by Farmer’s cabin. While red-coated marines stood sentinel outside the door, inside Commodore Hughes presided over a court consisting of Marlow of the Coventry , Walters of the Salisbury , John Clerke of the Dolphin and James Pigott of the Swallow . Lieutenant Henery was marched in, surrendered his sword and seated himself to listen to a succession of witnesses to charges of drunkenness, disobedience, profaning the sabbath and tyrannical conduct. There was enough to show that the accused had neither judgement nor popularity, but the court did not feel he merited a conviction. Surridge and Abson both cleared Henery of malpractice.
Henery was more of a fool than a rogue. He damned and threatened freely. Lodington was menaced with four hours at the masthead, a common punishment for erring midshipmen, and young Troubridge was driven from the carpenter’s store room with the threat that he would be flogged around the fleet for leaving the deck without permission. The carpenter’s servant, though innocent of any wrongdoing, also endured a tirade, in which Henery threatened to flog him because his master had planned to take him ashore without asking the permission of an officer. Henery particularly picked on Midshipman William Sullivan, subjecting him not only to the usual threats about flogging through the fleet, but to habitual name-calling, such as ‘Coolie’ and ‘Puppy’.
Henery’s inability to sympathise with the ‘young gentlemen’ was recollected by one of them, Master’s Mate Joseph Keeling, then about twenty-one years old:
I was going on board the Salisbury once to answer a signal, and one of the boat’s crew was very insolent to me and refused to row. On my coming on board I acquainted the lieutenant of it, and he told me I certainly must have made too free with the men or else they never would have used you so, and told me to go away. I recollect another time between decks two men were
On some of the nine days the two ships stayed at Trincomalee, Horatio Nelson also went ashore, enjoying a brief period of leisure with his friends. At the behest of the ever mindful Surridge, Farmer restored the youth to his former rank of midshipman on 31 October and he was again freely fraternising with other petty officers of the quarterdeck. In later life Nelson recalled that at the age of seventeen he was induced to play at a gaming table and actually won £300, which in those days was a large sum of money for a naval petty officer. However, he suddenly realised that, had he lost rather than won such an amount, he could never have paid the debt. It was a sobering thought. Horace had been brought up to pay his way and vowed he would never gamble again. The story may have grown in the telling but probably referred to some incident that occurred in Madras, Trincomalee or Bombay. 20
Reprovisioning complete, Marlow led the two ships to the Malabar coast in November and found Commodore Hughes at Anjenga. The Seahorse was then sent north, taking one convoy from Tellicherry to Goa and picking up another there for Bombay, where Hughes was concentrating his squadron for the winter. The finer days of these final voyages of the year may have given Midshipman Nelson his first opportunity to tack a ship, as if he was a master or lieutenant. Surridge had found the boy obedient and conscientious, ever eager to learn and serve, and no doubt prevailed upon the senior officers occasionally to allow him to tack the Seahorse . Tacking was a particularly tricky method of changing a ship’s direction by turning its bow through the wind, but Horace performed the task with efficiency and authority, while Surridge stood by approvingly, knowing he had turned this boy into a capable sea officer. 21
The Seahorse eventually arrived at Bombay on 19 December and remained for several months. On 19 February Nelson witnessed a formidable ritual aboard the ship. The captains of the squadron werepiped aboard and swallowed by Farmer’s cabin. While red-coated marines stood sentinel outside the door, inside Commodore Hughes presided over a court consisting of Marlow of the Coventry , Walters of the Salisbury , John Clerke of the Dolphin and James Pigott of the Swallow . Lieutenant Henery was marched in, surrendered his sword and seated himself to listen to a succession of witnesses to charges of drunkenness, disobedience, profaning the sabbath and tyrannical conduct. There was enough to show that the accused had neither judgement nor popularity, but the court did not feel he merited a conviction. Surridge and Abson both cleared Henery of malpractice.
Henery was more of a fool than a rogue. He damned and threatened freely. Lodington was menaced with four hours at the masthead, a common punishment for erring midshipmen, and young Troubridge was driven from the carpenter’s store room with the threat that he would be flogged around the fleet for leaving the deck without permission. The carpenter’s servant, though innocent of any wrongdoing, also endured a tirade, in which Henery threatened to flog him because his master had planned to take him ashore without asking the permission of an officer. Henery particularly picked on Midshipman William Sullivan, subjecting him not only to the usual threats about flogging through the fleet, but to habitual name-calling, such as ‘Coolie’ and ‘Puppy’.
Henery’s inability to sympathise with the ‘young gentlemen’ was recollected by one of them, Master’s Mate Joseph Keeling, then about twenty-one years old:
I was going on board the Salisbury once to answer a signal, and one of the boat’s crew was very insolent to me and refused to row. On my coming on board I acquainted the lieutenant of it, and he told me I certainly must have made too free with the men or else they never would have used you so, and told me to go away. I recollect another time between decks two men were
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