"The loss, in such a battle, has naturally been very heavy. Amongst many other brave officers and men who were killed, I have, with sorrow, to place the name of Captain Moss, of the Monarch, who has left a wife and six children to lament his loss; and, among the wounded, that of Captain Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson, of the Bellona.
"I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
"Nelson and Bronte."
The above letter being transmitted to England by Sir Hyde Parker, inclosed in his dispatches to government, was afterwards published in the London Gazette, preceded by the following public letter from the commander in chief.
"Copenhagen Roads, 6th April 1801.
"Sir,
"You will be pleased to acquaint the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that since my letter of the 23d of March, no opportunity of wind offered for going up the Sound, until the 25th; when the wind shifted, in a most violent squall, from the south-west to the north-west and north, and blew with such violence, and so great a sea, as to render it impossible for any ship to have weighed her anchor. The wind and sea were even so violent, as to oblige many ships to let go a second anchor to prevent them from driving, notwithstanding they were riding with two cables an end; and, by the morning, the wind veered again to the southward of the west. On the 30th of last month, the wind having come to the northward, we passed into the Sound with the fleet; but not before I had assured myself of the hostile intention of the Danes to oppose our passage. After anchoring about five or six miles from the Island of Huen, I reconnoitred, with Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson and Rear-Admiral Graves, the formidable line of ships, radeaus, pontoons, galleys, fireships, and gun-boats, flanked and supported by extensive batteries on the two islands called the Crown; the largest of which was mounted with from fifty to seventy pieces of cannon. These were again commanded by two ships of seventy guns, and a large frigate, in the inner road of Copenhagen; and two sixty-four gun ships, without masts, were moored on the flat on the starboard side of the entrance into the arsenal. The day after, the wind being southerly, we again examined their position, and came to the resolution of attacking them from the southward. Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson having offered his services for conducting the attack, had some days before we entered the Sound shifted his flag to the Elephant; and, after having examined and buoyed the outer channel of the Middle Ground, his lordship proceeded, with the twelve ships of the line named in the margin—[Elephant, Defiance, Monarch, Bellona, Edgar, Russell, Ganges, Glatton, Isis, Agamemnon, Polyphemus, and Ardent]—all the frigates, bombs, fire-ships, and all the small vessels; and, that evening, anchored off Draco Point, to make his disposition for the attack, and wait for the wind to the southward. It was agreed, between us, that the remaining ships with me, should weigh at the same moment his lordship did, and menace the Crown Batteries and the four ships of the line that lay at the entrance of the arsenal; as, also, to cover our disabled ships, as they came out of action.
"I have, now, the honour to inclose a copy of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson's report to me of the action on the 2d instant. His lordship has stated so fully the whole of his proceedings on that day, as only to leave me the opportunity to testify my entire acquiescence and testimony of the bravery and intrepidity with which the action was supported throughout the line. Was it possible for me to add anything to the well-earned renown of Lord Nelson, it would be by asserting that his exertions, great as they have heretofore been, never were carried to a higher pitch of zeal for his country's service. I have only to lament, that the sort of attack, confined within an intricate and narrow passage, excluded the ships particularly under my command from the opportunity of exhibiting their valour: but I can with great truth assert, that the same spirit and zeal animated the whole of the fleet; and I trust, that the contest in which we are engaged will, on some future day, afford them an occasion of shewing that the whole were inspired with the same spirit, had the field been sufficiently extensive to have brought it into action.
"It is with the deepest concern, I mention the loss of Captains Moss and Riou; two very brave and gallant officers, whose loss, as I am well informed, will be sensibly felt by the families they have left behind them: the former, a wife and children; the latter, an aged mother. From the known gallantry of Sir Thomas Thompson, on former occasions, the naval service will have to regret the loss of the future exertions of that brave officer, whose leg was shot off. For all other particulars, I beg leave to refer their lordships to Captain Otway; who was with Lord Nelson in the latter part of the action, and is able to answer any questions that may be thought necessary to put to him. A return of the killed and wounded you will receive herewith."