He was in good spirits, and eager for the fray.
His officers represented to him how desirable it was that he should
keep out of the battle as long as possible; and, knowing the truth of
this, he signalled to the other ships to go in front. Yet his desire
to be in the forefront of the attack was so great that he would not
take in any sail on The Victory, and thus rendered it impossible for
the other vessels to obey his orders.
At ten minutes to twelve the battle began; by four minutes past twelve
fifty men on board Nelson's ship _The Victory_ had been killed or
wounded, and many of her sails shot away.
The fire of the enemy was so heavy that Nelson, smiling, said, "This
is too warm work, Hardy, to last long". Up to that time not a shot had
been fired from _The Victory_; and Nelson declared that never in all
his battles had he seen anything which surpassed the cool courage of
his crew. Then, however, when they had come to close quarters with the
enemy, from both sides of _The Victory_ flashed forth the fire of the
guns, carrying swift destruction among the foe.
[Illustration: Nelson's Tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral.
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