Beschreibung:

Autograph letter signed by Captain John Irwin, Flag Captain to Rear-Admiral William Parker in HMS St George, 98 guns, to William Locker Junior at Greenwich, three days after the Battle of Cape St Vincent (“...I have the pleasure to acquaint you of our arrival here yesterday evening, with an addition to our Fleet of 4 sail of the Line, two of 112 guns, one of 80, & one of 74 guns, Captur´d on Tues.d from the Spanish Fleet, tho´ very much superior to ours, they having 27 of the Line we only 15, we discover´d them early in the Morning about 7 O´Clock, and immediately gave Chase to them about 11 we cut through their Line, tack´d & return´d through again, by 4 in the afternoon the 4 struck, to our very superior fire at 5 or there about we left off, at that time the Spanish Admiral appeared to be sinking (the Trinidad a four Decker) a part of their Fleet coming up that had not been in Action sav´d her from being Captur´d, we are inform´d to Day she is gone down...Sir John – return´d publick thanks to Day to the Flag Officers, Captains, officers & Ships Companys, we suppose the Spanish Fleet are so maul´d that they will get into Cadiz as soon as possible, we are getting the Prizes ready to go to Lisbon with them, they are terribly shatter´d, some totally dismast´d, others Topmasts Sails &c all cut to Pieces...”), and listing the four prizes (including the two taken by Nelson); concluding by sending his best respects to his father [Nelson´s mentor] and siblings, and with the hope that “our Lads will get Promotion, by the business”; with a postscript dated 10 February announcing Admiral Parker´s departure, three pages, folio, autograph address panel, wafer-seal, postmark, guard, “Prince George Lagos Bay Feb.y 17th 1797” AN EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT OF NELSON´S FIRST GREAT VICTORY, sent to the son of Nelson´s ‘Sea Daddy´, Captain William Locker, who is told that: “Commodore Nelson is well, I need not say what part he bore, the Gazette will inform you of the whole”. Nelson, more than any other had – by audaciously breaking the line and then taking two prizes (using the first as a ‘patent bridge´ to board the second) – created a major victory, at a time when British morale was severely depressed. But Irwin was mistaken in his assumption that Admiral Sir John Jervis´s dispatch dated 15 February and published in the London Gazette Extraordinary on 3 March would inform Locker “of the whole” (the full text is given by Nicolas, ii, pp.333-5). For reasons that have long puzzled historians, Admiral Jervis, usually so supportive of Nelson, did not even mention his name. A contemporary eyewitness later recalled: “The whole of the British Squadron had not hesitated to bestow on him the chief merit of the enemy´s defeat; therefore not to have his name mentioned in the public despatch...produced no small degree of surprise among the Commodore´s friends” (quoted by Colin White, 1797: Nelson´s Year of Destiny, 1998, pp.76-7). Captain William Locker, the recipient´s father – who is remembered in this letter – was one of the dominating influences on Nelson´s life and career. He had commanded the first ship on which Nelson served as a commissioned officer, the Lowestoffe, and it was for him that the famous portraits by John Rigaud and Lemuel Abbott were painted. At this time he was serving as Deputy-Governor of Greenwich Hospital. After the battle, he helped compensate for Jervis´s omission by publishing an account that Nelson himself had sent him, as ‘A few remarks relative to myself in the Captain, in which my pendant was flying on the most glorious Valentine´s Day, 1797´ (The Sun, 20 March 1797). The writer of this letter, Captain John Irwin, also played a distinguished part in the battle, without being mentioned by Jervis. His ship, the Prince George served in the van and engaged the Spanish San José at the time when Nelson boarded her (indeed Irwin´s admiral, William Parker, took exception to the fact that Nelson´s account ignored this, see Nicolas, ii, p