NELSON (HORATIO)

Autograph letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte") to Captain John Fyffe, approving of his conduct Victory off Toulon, 15 September 1803

Autograph letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte") to Captain John Fyffe, approving of his conduct ("...I have read with much attention Your correspondence with the Popes Legate at Ancona and also Your correspondence at Venice relative to the very extraordinary and unjustifiable conduct of the Government at that place in seizing Your prizes, and from Your account of Your whole transactions in the Adriatic I have no scruple in saying that I most highly approve of Your conduct, and think that you have acted with that temper and forbearance which our Government must highly approve..."), and wishing that he had some good vessel to offer in place of the Cyclops, one page, 4to (235 x 180mm.), some staining, archival restoration, framed and glazed (unexamined out of frame), Victory off Toulon, 15 September 1803

Provenance:
Bonhams, Nelson & The Royal Navy 1750-1815, 5 July 2005, lot 129
Private collection, UK

'I MOST HIGHLY APPROVE OF YOUR CONDUCT'

Captain John Fyffe was appointed to the Cyclops in 1798 and participated in the disembarkation of troops at Abukir Bay in the Egyptian campaign of 1801, for which he received a gold medal from the Grand Seigneur. After a short period of peace, he was despatched in May 1803 to the Adriatic to disrupt the enemy's trade. Whilst conducting a convoy to Trieste in July, he became embroiled in two disputes over 'neutrality' in the area, the first regarding the legitimacy of captured prizes, the second '...concerning three British merchant ships taken into Ancona by a Cisalpine corsair. Technically Ancona was neutral, part of the papal domain, but the French had established a military camp outside the town and pretty much did as they wished. Fyffe complained that the privateer had been illegally manned by Roman subjects, but the town governor said that there was nothing he could do even if that were true... he managed to retrieve the crews of the tenders but failed to resolve either dispute. Nelson sympathised, and was so pleased with Fyffe's efforts to defend the British flag that he promised him a more active vessel...' (John Sugden, Nelson: The Sword of Albion, 2014, p.639). The following January Nelson wrote to the Secretary of the British Legation at Vienna: "I have received your letter of 1st September last, acquainting me that every possible reparation has been made by the Austrian Minister for the outrage against the British Flag... I am very glad the Austrian Government have seen Captain Fyffe's conduct in its proper light, and that the necessary reparation has been made, as I was perfectly satisfied with the correctness of that Officer's proceedings on the above occasion" (Nicolas, v, p.393).

Whilst our letter is not included in Nicolas, Dispatches and Letters nor in White's New Letters, it was published in full as part of Fyffe's obituary in June 1835: '...How well Captain Fyffe executed this duty may be conceived from the autograph letter of the immortal Nelson, who soon after succeeded to that command... Such communications from such a man, fully consoled our gallant officer for the pecuniary losses himself and crew sustained under this extraordinary breach of the rules of war; and we very soon after find him – the Cyclops being ordered home and paid off – commanding the Reindeer brig of 18 guns on the Jamaica station...' (The United Service Journal, June 1835, Part II, pp.287-288).