“By Horatio Lord Nelson, etc., etc., etc.
“Whereas Francisco Caracciolo, a Commodore in the service of His Sicilian Majesty, has been taken, and stands accused of rebellion against his lawful Sovereign, and for firing at his colours hoisted on board his Frigate The Minerva, under your command: You are, therefore, hereby required and directed to assemble five of the senior officers under your command, yourself presiding, and proceed to inquire whether the crime with which the said Francisco Caracciolo stands charged, can be proved against him; and if the charge is proved, you are to report to me what punishment he ought to suffer.
“Given on board the Foudroyant, Naples Bay, the 29th June, 1799.
“Nelson.”
And the Court, assembling at once, sat from 10 a.m. till noon. The charge was found proved, and the Admiral then issued this second order to Count Thurn:—
“By Horatio, Lord Nelson, etc., etc., etc.
“Whereas a Board of Naval Officers of His Sicilian Majesty hath been assembled to try Francisco Caracciolo for rebellion against his lawful Sovereign, and for firing at His Sicilian Majesty’s Frigate La Minerva;
“And whereas the said Board of Naval Officers have found the charge of rebellion fully proved against him, and have sentenced the said Caracciolo to suffer death;
“You are hereby required and directed to cause the said sentence of death to be carried into execution upon the said Francisco Caracciolo accordingly, by hanging him at the fore yard-arm of His Sicilian Majesty’s Frigate La Minerva, under your command, at five o’clock this evening; and to cause him to hang there until sunset, when you will have his body cut down, and thrown into the sea.
“Given on board the Foudroyant, Naples Bay, the 29th of June, 1799.
“Nelson.”
During all this time from the reception of the prisoner to the carrying out of his sentence, which took roughly from nine of the morning till five of the afternoon, the Admiral remained in his state-room, closeted with certain of his captains, and denying himself to all save those who came to him on important military business, as when the officers composing the Court Martial came to bring him their report. My Lady was on the poop, as I have occasion to know, for I was in attendance on her. Sir William remained in his cabin. He had, I fancy, been thrown a good deal into contact with the Prince, and was inexpressibly pained; though, knowing him to be a double-dyed villain, it did not seem possible for him to interfere.
My Lady too was very much affected: not that I think she had any great liking for the Prince, for he was of a dour disposition, but because she had a generous, sympathetic woman’s heart. Twice she attempted the Admiral’s state-room, but was denied by the sentry; and when Captain Hardy came on the poop to give some order, she had a long and earnest conversation with him, which I took to be entreaty that he should carry her intercession to the Admiral—and this though Caracciolo was the worst enemy of the great Queen, for whom My Lady had such a passionate attachment. Perhaps I am wrong in imagining that she was interceding; but this I know, that she could not have influenced the Admiral in the pronouncing of the sentence, because she never saw him from the time that Caracciolo was brought on board, which was before she had left her cabin in the morning, until after the execution had been carried out.
The Admiral has been much blamed for this same execution of Caracciolo; though we who were present on the fleet and, above all, those who were on the flagship, do not see how, with the rules he had laid down for the Service, he could have acted otherwise.
It is most instructive and convincing to read what the Journal says upon this much debated point. The Admiral seems to have had either an instinct that the virulent enemies to whom his success was such a disappointment would fasten on this execution for what is called a “cry”; or perhaps, and more probably, he is only recording the struggle which he had with his own humane spirit.
After recounting the circumstances of his having been brought on board, and of the ordering of his trial, and his sentencing, and the carrying out of the sentence, with the brevity of a ship’s journal, he continues:—
Extract from the Admiral’s Journal, June 29th.
“I am much exercised over this matter of Caracciolo, but I have done my duty.