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Lot 43

"at 7 the Action became general"
John Hill, First Lieutenant of HMS Minotaur

5 July 2005, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £7,800 inc. premium

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"at 7 the Action became general"
John Hill, First Lieutenant of HMS Minotaur

Autograph account of the Battle of the Nile, headed "Remark &c August 1st 1798" and kept in the form of a log (for which it appears to be a draft), beginning "Moderate Breezes and Clear Wed.y The Alexander & Swiftsure was sent a Head of the Fleet to look into Alexandria at 2 PM. Saw a Large Fleet of Ships lying at Anchor in Alexandria Harbour...", giving a detailed account of the battle and its aftermath ("...at 53 minutes past 3 made the Mutine's Signal to pass within Hail at 4 the Mutine's Signal to shorten Sail at 25 minutes past 4 the Sig.l to prepare for Battle when it may be necessary to Anchor by the Stern with Springs at 50 Min.ts past 4 the Signal to Engage the Van & Centre of the Enemys Fleet at 40 Minutes past 5 the Sig.l to form in line of Battle without regard to Succession, a Head or a Stern by this time we were about 9 Miles from the Enemys Fleet observ'd them to be moor'd in very good line of Battle and had hove their Broadsides towards us at 45 minutes past 5 the Sig.l to alter the Course to Starb.d in Succession Bore down on the Enemy 1/2 past 6 the Admiral made the Sig.l to make Sail after lying by at 40 minutes pt 6 the Van & Centre of the Enemys Fleet began to fire on us at 45 minutes past 6 the Signal to Engage Closer at 50 minutes past 6 the Admiral anchor'd by the Stern alongside of the Third Ship in the Enemys Van. Five minutes after we anchor'd by the stern next to our Admiral abreast of the Fourth Ship in the Enemys Van began engaging about ten Minutes after the Action commenced the Enemys Van Ship the (Guerrie[r]) was totally dismasted by three of our ships which cross'd her Bows and rak'd her as the[?y] pass'd at 7 the Action became general..."); the account ending: "Killed in Action 21 Wounded 63 our Masts Rigging & Sails & Yards very much damag'd Employ'd Unbending the Sails ands refitting the Ships"; together with other papers relating to Hill, including a list of Nile prize moneys, a transcript by him of the correspondence exchanged between St Vincent and Orde, and a letter to him by Sir John Barrow (1808), 3 pages on one bifolium, written on seemingly non-English rough-textured paper (watermarked with a figure holding an umbrella with a dog, with the maker's name ? "M v Robe"), with some old staining, after 1 August 1798

Footnotes

A first-hand account of the Battle of the Nile, written by the First Lieutenant of the 'Minotaur', Captain Thomas Louis's ship of 74 guns which, as this account shows, fought in the thick of the battle, alongside Nelson's flagship the Vanguard. Hill later served with Abercrombie in the Egyptian campaign of 1801. His later career was devoted to the military and civil department of the Royal Navy, where during the Waterloo campaign he worked in close collaboration with the Duke of Wellington. He died aged eighty-one in 1855, as Sir John Hill, Rear Admiral of the White and Captain of Sandown Castle. The present account of the battle adheres closely to the format of the logbook, being very similar to the extract from the log of the Vanguard quoted by Nicolas, Dispatches and Letters, iii, pp.53-4.

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