DESSERT
Jolin !J\{jcol AfarineJj at tlie 'Batt{e of tlie !J\{j{e John Nicol's memoir of his life at sea from 1776 to 1801 is real stuff from the lower deck, a unique account of what it was like to serve in Nels on' s navy. As a boy in Edinburgh and London, Nicol was filled with wanderlust but obeyed his father and was apprenticed to a cooper. Finally free of his bond at 21, N icol went to sea aboard a naval vessel and spent the next quarter century at sea, seven years traversing the Atlantic during the American Revolution, eleven in the merchant service, sailing to A ustralia, the Pacific islands and China, and another seven in the Royal Navy. When he finally settled ashore, he married a cousin and moved inland to avoid press gangs. He found it difficult to othing uncommon happened until we reached the Downs. I had all owed my beard to grow long, and myself to be very dirty, to be as unlikely as possible, when the man-ofwar boats came on board to press the crew. As we expected, they came. I was in the hold, sorti ng among the water casks, and escaped. They took every hand that wo uld answer. I rejoiced in my escape, but my joy was of short durati on. One of the men they had taken had a sore leg, the boat brought him back, and I had the bad luck to be taken , and he was left. Thus were all my schemes blown into the air. I found myself in a situati on I cou ld not leave, a bondage that had been imposed upon me agai nst my will , and no hopes of relief until the end of the war- not that I disliked it, but I had now become weary of wandering for a time, and longed to see Scotland again. My
get steady work and lived in poverty, until a sympathetic printer, John Howell, recognized the worth of the old man's tale and published it in 1822. John Nicol died three years later at the age of70, the proceeds from the book giving him some comforts at the end of his life. The excerpt recounting his impressment into the navy from the merchantman Nottingham and his role at the Battle of the Nile on 1August1798, comes from The Life & Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner (New York NY and London UK: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1936, pp 158, 168172) edited by Alexander Laing. The illustrations are by renowned marine artist Gordon Grant.
heart always pointed to my native land . Re mo nstrance and compl a int were equall y vain . I therefore made up my mind to it, and was as happy as a man in blasted prospects could be.
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Captain Foley took command of the Goliah [or Goliath] , and we joined the blockade of Cadiz, where we remained, sending our boat to ass ist at the bombardments, and covering them until Admiral Nelson came out again , and picked out thirteen seventy-fours from the fl eet; the Goliah was one. She was the fastest sailing ship in the fl eet. We did not stay to water; but got a suppl y from the ships that were to remain, and away we set under a press of sail , not knowing where. We came to an anchor in the Straits of Messina. There was an American man-of-war at anchor; Cap-
Nicol taken by the press gang
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tain Foley ordered him to unmoor, that the Go!iah might get her station, as it was a good one, near the shore; but Jonathan would not budge, but made answer; " I will let yo u to know I be long to the U nited States of America, and I will not give way to any nation under the sun , but in a good cause." So we came to an anchor where we could. We remained here but a short time, when we got inte l1igence that the French fl eet were up the Straits. We then made sa il for Egypt, but mi ssed them, and came back to Syracuse, and watered in twenty-four hours. I was up all ni ght filling water. The day after we left Syracuse we fell in with a French brig, who had just left the fl eet. Admiral Nelson took her in tow, and she conducted us to where they lay at anchor in Aboukir Bay. We had our anchors out at our stern port wi th a spring upon them, and the cable carried along the ship ' s side, so that the anchors were at our bows, as if there was no change in the arrangement. This was to prevent the ships from sw inging round, as every ship was to be brought to by he r stern. We ran in between the French fl eet and the shore, to prevent any communi cation between the enemy and the shore. Soon as they were in s ight, a signal was made from th e Admiral's ship for every vessel, as she came up , to make the best of her way, firing upon the French ships as she passed, and "every man to take hi s bird ," as we joking called it. The Coli ah led the van. There was a French frigate right in our way. Captain Foley cried, "Sink that brute, what does he there?" In a moment she went to the bottom , and her crew were seen running into her rigging. The sun was just setting as we went into the bay, and a red and fiery sun it was. I would, if had I had my choice, been on the deck; th1ere I would have seen what was passing,, and the time would not have hung so i heavy; but every man does his duty witlh spirit, whether his station be in SEA fHISTORY 85, SUMMER 1998