ca. 1787]. · [N.p., but likely London
by [Nelson, Horatio, Lord]
[N.p., but likely London, ca. 1787].. [33] leaves, totaling [61]pp. of manuscript text, written in a neat clerical hand on laid paper watermarked with the crown and lily cipher above "GR." Folio. Bound into modern rust-colored wrappers over semi-flexible card. Some minor staining, isolated instances of faint foxing, inner margins reinforced or extended with tissue. Final two leaves with marginal chipping and loss, one instance repaired with Japanese tissue with the loss of a few words. Very good. A contemporary manuscript transcription of a narrative written by Captain Horatio Nelson in late June 1786, detailing his efforts to enforce the British Navigation Acts in the West Indies while posted to the twenty-eight- gun frigate, HMS Boreas. The events documented in this manuscript occurred quite early in Nelson's naval career, when he just twenty-five years old, and his actions in strictly enforcing the Navigation Acts against the newly-independent United States could have jeopardized his career. The significance Nelson gave the situation is evident in the detailed collection of documents he assembled to defend himself. Though an edited version of Nelson's narrative was published in the 1840s, this contemporary account provides an unedited transcript of Nelson's justification of his actions at a crucial point in his naval career.
As described by Rear Admiral Joseph F. Callo, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired), "Nelson's tour in the West Indies turned out to be a pivot point in his career, a three-year assignment that simultaneously would test and shape his character as a naval officer in career-threatening ways. It was a period when he had to deal with a major conflict between military and diplomatic interests. More important, it was a time when he blatantly challenged the judgments and orders of his commanding officer in the West Indies, Admiral Sir William Hughes. In fact, Nelson's tour as captain of the Boreas came very close to ending his naval career. It was almost certainly more threatening in that respect than any of his later, more attention- getting assignments."
Nelson's narrative includes supporting letters compiled by him to his commanding officers, his junior officers, customs officers, the British-appointed colonial governors, members of Parliament, and to the William Pitt (the Younger) administration and King George III, in addition to return letters from some recipients of Nelson's correspondence as well as official reports. This account was compiled to bolster Nelson's argument that his strict enforcement of Britain's Navigation Acts against the Americans in the West Indies was legal and carried out under orders.
Britain's Navigation Acts were a series of laws passed from 1651 through 1696 that banned all foreign trade with the British colonies - any colonial products had to be transported in British ships with British crews, thereby restricting all colonial trade to the mother country alone rather than through multinational free trade. This meant that England would have first claim on valuable colonial exports, and all foreign imports into the colonies had to first pass through English hands, which in turn promoted royal custom revenues.
This mercantilist trade practice benefited the American colonies before the Revolution - commerce with the West Indies thrived as the American colonies were still a part of the British Empire. After the Revolution, however, the protectionism inherent in the Navigation Acts excluded American trade entirely. Since the United States during the period covered here had no central government (being governed at the time under the Articles of Confederation), it could not respond to such economic warfare from Great Britain.
In 1784-86, the period when Nelson was posted to the West Indies on the Boreas and just following the recognition of the United States as an independent nation, the Navigation Acts became a problem for West Indian colonial merchants, who had come to rely on their long-established American trade partners. The remaining British colonies were not yet in a position to become trading partners with the West Indies, so illegal trade with the Americans was a tempting option for West Indian merchants. Sir Thomas Shirley, governor of the Leeward Islands, knew that his colony was dependent on American trade and supported the merchants of his colony who chose to work with the Americans. When young Captain Nelson arrived at his new post in Barbados in 1784, he was appalled that the Navigation Acts were not being implemented against Americans trading in the West Indies.
As Nelson's instructions from the Admiralty specifically ordered him to enforce the Navigation Laws, he confronted his superior, Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, about the problem. Because Hughes had established relationships with the colonial governors and island merchants - all of whom favored trade with the Americans - he decided that his captains would be allowed to detain any ships that they deemed to be illicit traders, but with the proviso that the local authorities would have the final say as to whether the ships should be turned away or accepted into port. This was unacceptable to Nelson, who decided to take matters into his own hands. Nelson disobeyed his immediate superior and began to enforce the Navigation Laws by seizing American vessels illegally trading in the West Indies. These actions put him at odds with Admiral Hughes, Governor Shirley, the West Indies merchants and the Americans, who retaliated against Nelson by suing him for assault and their wrongful imprisonment. With a lawsuit pending against him, Nelson chose to remain aboard his frigate for eight months to avoid possible imprisonment and was protected from being served by his subordinates. Unsupported by Admiral Hughes, Nelson sent letters to the Admiralty, the Secretary of State, Lord Sydney, and King George III, and created the present narrative to plead his case and save his naval career, which he thought was in ruins after enforcing the Navigation Acts against the orders of his superior officer. Nelson's letters and the present narrative worked - Lord Sydney wrote back and informed Nelson that the costs of his defense at trial would be covered by the British Treasury - a complete vindication of Nelson's conduct that saved his career in the Royal Navy.
The present narrative includes Nelson's personal account of the events taking place on the Boreas while he tried to enforce the British navigation laws. Nelson's reports on the transgressions of American ships at English colonial ports, the lack of enforcement of the Navigation Laws when he first arrived in the West Indies, and his disapproval of those who refused to enforce the Navigation Acts:
"The Boreas arrived in Barbados in June 1784. I very soon found that the bay was full of Americans who were lading & unlading without molestation, I enquired [sic] of Captain Sotherly who had command of a post ship on this station before the peace, and of Captain Boston who commanded the Latonia, if the Americans traded with our other islands, and if they had no orders from the Admiral to keep them from trading with the British Colonies. They both told me they had no orders to hinder them from coming to our ports, and they had never done it. Captain Boston shew'd me his orders, which not a syllable in them indicating a wish to see the Navigation Act was attended to....In July the squadron was laid up in English harbour for the hurricane season; I was once, or twice at St John's; which place the American flags were by far the most numerous, and had it been possible, I could have been set from the air, I should most assuredly have been convinced I had been in an American instead of a British Port....I am convinced there had better not be any Officers than bad ones, for they encourage these people to transgress our laws, which they dare not do so openly, if they had not permission. I told Sir Richard Hughes of what I had seen, but he seem'd not to take any notice of it, more than saying, he believed it was the case in all the Islands."
In addition to Nelson's direct account of the events, the narrative includes discussions surrounding his conflict with his superiors (Admiral Hughes and Admiral Leonard Horner) regarding enforcement of the Navigation Acts. In one case, Hughes, in responding to the complaints from territorial governors about Nelson's denial of entry to the ports of Barbados, Nevis and Montserrat to any American ship, wrote to Nelson stating that:
"When any ship, or vessel appear disposed to come into, or anchor in any Port of the British leeward islands within the limits of your station...you are to cause the said ship or vessel to be anchored near the King's ship and there order her to remain...until her arrival and situation...shall be reported to his Majesty's Governor...and if after such report shall have been made and receiv'd, the Governor (or his representative) shall think proper to admit the said foreigner into the port or harbor of the island where you may then be, you are on no account to hinder, or prevent such foreign ships or vessels from going in accordingly...."
Nelson also includes reports from some members of the British government to bolster his argument that disobeying the commands of his superior officer in this case was the correct course of action, including the formal opinion of A. C. Adye (George III's Council) regarding Nelson's seizure of vessels in the West Indies:
"I am of the Opinion, that Captain Nelson on the Seizure of these vessels, strictly conform'd to the directions of the Navigation Act and that the proceedings in the King's name was proper, and consequently that the Information should have been received by the judge of the Court of Admiralty at Barbados....With respect to the conduct of Captain Nelson in bringing away those vessels, I think he is legally justifiable. Indeed I do not see what other steps he could have taken....The Right of the Crown having previously attached the forfeiture by the seizure of Capt' Nelson to the King's use in exclusion of all others, and there can be no doubt I think but that these vessels never having yet been tried, are liable to be proceeded against in the Court of Admiralty of Nevis within the jurisdiction of which they now are."
Nelson includes a letter from Sir Thomas Shirley, then Governor of the Leeward islands, regarding Nelson's insinuation that Shirley was negligent in his duty regarding his enforcement of the Navigation Acts. Shirley's letter has a distinctly hostile tone:
"Sir, Your letter of the 29th of January, 1785 I have this moment receiv'd and felt myself so hurt & insulted by the contents of it, that I shall immediately transmit it to your Admiral from whom I doubt not proper redress for such indignant behavior. I am, Sir, your humble servant Thos Shirley."
Nelson responded: "Your letter, Sir, call'd forth such an answer, but I have read it again and again, and cannot find out any word that is insulting to you, what I have said are facts, proof of which I have in my possession, for the inspection of Sir Richard Hughes, Baronet to whom those under his command tender an account of all their transactions...."
A portion of one of the reports submitted by the Surveyor General of Customs for Barbados and the Windward and Leeward Islands that Nelson included in his narrative is a succinct description of the manipulation of ship registries that was rampant in West Indies customs offices in order to help ships avoid the Navigation Laws:
"It is acknowledg'd by the Collector & Comptroller that the Sloop Ranger notwithstanding she was built in the year 1783 in the province of Connecticut one of the United States, did actually receive from them a British Register; presuming as it seems, because the sloop was built prior to the declaration of their Independence. That she was therefore justly entitled to the Rights & Benefits of a British Vessel, an idea which however erroneously founded or, injurious it may have been in its consequences to the trade of Great Britain, has nevertheless but too much prevail'd throughout the whole of our American Colonies."
The present narrative was published as "Captain Nelson's Narrative of his Proceedings in Support of the Navigation Act for the Suppression of Illicit Traffic in the West Indies" in the first volume of THE DISPATCHES AND LETTERS OF VICE ADMIRAL LORD VISCOUNT NELSON, edited by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas (London: Colburn, 1844). Although most of the information from Nelson's narrative is found in Nicolas' 1844 publication, the present document has value not only for likely being the only known unedited contemporary transcription of Nelson's narrative of the West Indies Navigation Acts crisis, but also being the only known source that reflects the entirety of Nelson's narrative as a result of Nicolas' editing of the published version.
The present contemporary transcript of Nelson's narrative, unlike Nicolas' edited publication, leaves all of Nelson's enthusiasm for King and country in the manuscript unchanged and leaves all introductory paragraphs Nelson wrote for the transcribed letters within his narrative intact. The letters referred to in the narrative are transcribed within the present manuscript in the order that Nelson placed them, whereas Nicolas' edited version removes the letters from the narrative and places them elsewhere in Nicolas' book, thereby separating the letters from their original context. Nelson's style and language are left as originally written, giving this contemporary manuscript copy of the narrative a freshness lost in Nicolas' edited version.
In some cases, Nicolas' edit of Nelson's narrative does not accurately reflect Nelson's original meaning or wording. On the recto of leaf five of the present manuscript, Nelson refers to the king's Council, Mr. Adye, as "...supporting on all occasions the rights of the Crown, he has made most ample amends for any doubts he might at first have entertained." Nicolas in his edited version (p.178) substitutes the word "Navy" for the word "Crown": "...supporting on all occasions the rights of the Navy, he has made most ample amends for any doubts he might at first have entertained." Although this single word substitution may seem at first glance inconsequential, it effectively changes the meaning of Nelson's text. Nelson was complimenting Mr. Adye for supporting the rights of his King George III in maintaining the Navigation Acts, whereas Nicolas in his edited version, by tempering Nelson's enthusiastic support of King and country by this single word change, made it seem as if Nelson was complimenting Adye for supporting the actions of the Navy alone, rather than for supporting the King's right to maintain the Navigation Acts.
There is also an instance where Nicolas' published version of the manuscript (see pages 180-81) deviates greatly from the present contemporary transcription of Nelson's narrative (leaf 10 recto) where Nicolas describes Nelson's seizure of the Sloop Sally, followed by a letter from Nelson to Lord Sydney (moved elsewhere in Nicolas' book), and a description of the seizure of the brig Jane & Elizabeth and the schooner Brilliant following the same letter to Lord Sydney. The Nicolas version adds an introductory paragraph that is not in the present manuscript. This new paragraph follows the first mention of the brig and schooner prior to the transcribed deposition by Nelson regarding these two vessels and inserts changes to the deposition that alter it from being about the brig and the schooner to being about about the schooner alone. Whether these differences between the present manuscript and Nicolas' text were created by Nicolas as a means of supplying context, or whether he found additional Nelson text not in the present transcription of Nelson's narrative is unknown. What is clear, however, is that Nicolas' published version of Nelson's narrative does not accurately reflect all the present transcript, indicating that some information in the original transcription may have been lost in Nicolas' edit.
The only other known contemporary transcription of Nelson's Navigation Act narrative was a copy signed by Nelson belonging to William Henry Whitehead used in Nicolas' DISPATCHES AND LETTERS OF VICE ADMIRAL LORD VISCOUNT NELSON. We are unable to locate any other contemporary manuscript transcriptions of Nelson's Navigation Act narrative. An important contemporary narrative by Horatio Nelson of a significant event early in his illustrious naval career, as he attempted to enforce British mercantilist policy against the newly recognized United States of America. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, "Captain Nelson's Narrative of his Proceedings in Support of the Navigation Act for the Suppression of Illicit Traffic in the West Indies" in THE DISPATCHES AND LETTERS OF VICE ADMIRAL LORD VISCOUNT NELSON (Henry Colburn, 1844), Vol. I, pp.171-85. Joseph F. Callo, "Young Nelson in the Boreas" in NAVAL HISTORY MAGAZINE, Vol. 25, No. 3 (May 2011) online. (Inventory #: WRCAM58193)
As described by Rear Admiral Joseph F. Callo, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired), "Nelson's tour in the West Indies turned out to be a pivot point in his career, a three-year assignment that simultaneously would test and shape his character as a naval officer in career-threatening ways. It was a period when he had to deal with a major conflict between military and diplomatic interests. More important, it was a time when he blatantly challenged the judgments and orders of his commanding officer in the West Indies, Admiral Sir William Hughes. In fact, Nelson's tour as captain of the Boreas came very close to ending his naval career. It was almost certainly more threatening in that respect than any of his later, more attention- getting assignments."
Nelson's narrative includes supporting letters compiled by him to his commanding officers, his junior officers, customs officers, the British-appointed colonial governors, members of Parliament, and to the William Pitt (the Younger) administration and King George III, in addition to return letters from some recipients of Nelson's correspondence as well as official reports. This account was compiled to bolster Nelson's argument that his strict enforcement of Britain's Navigation Acts against the Americans in the West Indies was legal and carried out under orders.
Britain's Navigation Acts were a series of laws passed from 1651 through 1696 that banned all foreign trade with the British colonies - any colonial products had to be transported in British ships with British crews, thereby restricting all colonial trade to the mother country alone rather than through multinational free trade. This meant that England would have first claim on valuable colonial exports, and all foreign imports into the colonies had to first pass through English hands, which in turn promoted royal custom revenues.
This mercantilist trade practice benefited the American colonies before the Revolution - commerce with the West Indies thrived as the American colonies were still a part of the British Empire. After the Revolution, however, the protectionism inherent in the Navigation Acts excluded American trade entirely. Since the United States during the period covered here had no central government (being governed at the time under the Articles of Confederation), it could not respond to such economic warfare from Great Britain.
In 1784-86, the period when Nelson was posted to the West Indies on the Boreas and just following the recognition of the United States as an independent nation, the Navigation Acts became a problem for West Indian colonial merchants, who had come to rely on their long-established American trade partners. The remaining British colonies were not yet in a position to become trading partners with the West Indies, so illegal trade with the Americans was a tempting option for West Indian merchants. Sir Thomas Shirley, governor of the Leeward Islands, knew that his colony was dependent on American trade and supported the merchants of his colony who chose to work with the Americans. When young Captain Nelson arrived at his new post in Barbados in 1784, he was appalled that the Navigation Acts were not being implemented against Americans trading in the West Indies.
As Nelson's instructions from the Admiralty specifically ordered him to enforce the Navigation Laws, he confronted his superior, Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, about the problem. Because Hughes had established relationships with the colonial governors and island merchants - all of whom favored trade with the Americans - he decided that his captains would be allowed to detain any ships that they deemed to be illicit traders, but with the proviso that the local authorities would have the final say as to whether the ships should be turned away or accepted into port. This was unacceptable to Nelson, who decided to take matters into his own hands. Nelson disobeyed his immediate superior and began to enforce the Navigation Laws by seizing American vessels illegally trading in the West Indies. These actions put him at odds with Admiral Hughes, Governor Shirley, the West Indies merchants and the Americans, who retaliated against Nelson by suing him for assault and their wrongful imprisonment. With a lawsuit pending against him, Nelson chose to remain aboard his frigate for eight months to avoid possible imprisonment and was protected from being served by his subordinates. Unsupported by Admiral Hughes, Nelson sent letters to the Admiralty, the Secretary of State, Lord Sydney, and King George III, and created the present narrative to plead his case and save his naval career, which he thought was in ruins after enforcing the Navigation Acts against the orders of his superior officer. Nelson's letters and the present narrative worked - Lord Sydney wrote back and informed Nelson that the costs of his defense at trial would be covered by the British Treasury - a complete vindication of Nelson's conduct that saved his career in the Royal Navy.
The present narrative includes Nelson's personal account of the events taking place on the Boreas while he tried to enforce the British navigation laws. Nelson's reports on the transgressions of American ships at English colonial ports, the lack of enforcement of the Navigation Laws when he first arrived in the West Indies, and his disapproval of those who refused to enforce the Navigation Acts:
"The Boreas arrived in Barbados in June 1784. I very soon found that the bay was full of Americans who were lading & unlading without molestation, I enquired [sic] of Captain Sotherly who had command of a post ship on this station before the peace, and of Captain Boston who commanded the Latonia, if the Americans traded with our other islands, and if they had no orders from the Admiral to keep them from trading with the British Colonies. They both told me they had no orders to hinder them from coming to our ports, and they had never done it. Captain Boston shew'd me his orders, which not a syllable in them indicating a wish to see the Navigation Act was attended to....In July the squadron was laid up in English harbour for the hurricane season; I was once, or twice at St John's; which place the American flags were by far the most numerous, and had it been possible, I could have been set from the air, I should most assuredly have been convinced I had been in an American instead of a British Port....I am convinced there had better not be any Officers than bad ones, for they encourage these people to transgress our laws, which they dare not do so openly, if they had not permission. I told Sir Richard Hughes of what I had seen, but he seem'd not to take any notice of it, more than saying, he believed it was the case in all the Islands."
In addition to Nelson's direct account of the events, the narrative includes discussions surrounding his conflict with his superiors (Admiral Hughes and Admiral Leonard Horner) regarding enforcement of the Navigation Acts. In one case, Hughes, in responding to the complaints from territorial governors about Nelson's denial of entry to the ports of Barbados, Nevis and Montserrat to any American ship, wrote to Nelson stating that:
"When any ship, or vessel appear disposed to come into, or anchor in any Port of the British leeward islands within the limits of your station...you are to cause the said ship or vessel to be anchored near the King's ship and there order her to remain...until her arrival and situation...shall be reported to his Majesty's Governor...and if after such report shall have been made and receiv'd, the Governor (or his representative) shall think proper to admit the said foreigner into the port or harbor of the island where you may then be, you are on no account to hinder, or prevent such foreign ships or vessels from going in accordingly...."
Nelson also includes reports from some members of the British government to bolster his argument that disobeying the commands of his superior officer in this case was the correct course of action, including the formal opinion of A. C. Adye (George III's Council) regarding Nelson's seizure of vessels in the West Indies:
"I am of the Opinion, that Captain Nelson on the Seizure of these vessels, strictly conform'd to the directions of the Navigation Act and that the proceedings in the King's name was proper, and consequently that the Information should have been received by the judge of the Court of Admiralty at Barbados....With respect to the conduct of Captain Nelson in bringing away those vessels, I think he is legally justifiable. Indeed I do not see what other steps he could have taken....The Right of the Crown having previously attached the forfeiture by the seizure of Capt' Nelson to the King's use in exclusion of all others, and there can be no doubt I think but that these vessels never having yet been tried, are liable to be proceeded against in the Court of Admiralty of Nevis within the jurisdiction of which they now are."
Nelson includes a letter from Sir Thomas Shirley, then Governor of the Leeward islands, regarding Nelson's insinuation that Shirley was negligent in his duty regarding his enforcement of the Navigation Acts. Shirley's letter has a distinctly hostile tone:
"Sir, Your letter of the 29th of January, 1785 I have this moment receiv'd and felt myself so hurt & insulted by the contents of it, that I shall immediately transmit it to your Admiral from whom I doubt not proper redress for such indignant behavior. I am, Sir, your humble servant Thos Shirley."
Nelson responded: "Your letter, Sir, call'd forth such an answer, but I have read it again and again, and cannot find out any word that is insulting to you, what I have said are facts, proof of which I have in my possession, for the inspection of Sir Richard Hughes, Baronet to whom those under his command tender an account of all their transactions...."
A portion of one of the reports submitted by the Surveyor General of Customs for Barbados and the Windward and Leeward Islands that Nelson included in his narrative is a succinct description of the manipulation of ship registries that was rampant in West Indies customs offices in order to help ships avoid the Navigation Laws:
"It is acknowledg'd by the Collector & Comptroller that the Sloop Ranger notwithstanding she was built in the year 1783 in the province of Connecticut one of the United States, did actually receive from them a British Register; presuming as it seems, because the sloop was built prior to the declaration of their Independence. That she was therefore justly entitled to the Rights & Benefits of a British Vessel, an idea which however erroneously founded or, injurious it may have been in its consequences to the trade of Great Britain, has nevertheless but too much prevail'd throughout the whole of our American Colonies."
The present narrative was published as "Captain Nelson's Narrative of his Proceedings in Support of the Navigation Act for the Suppression of Illicit Traffic in the West Indies" in the first volume of THE DISPATCHES AND LETTERS OF VICE ADMIRAL LORD VISCOUNT NELSON, edited by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas (London: Colburn, 1844). Although most of the information from Nelson's narrative is found in Nicolas' 1844 publication, the present document has value not only for likely being the only known unedited contemporary transcription of Nelson's narrative of the West Indies Navigation Acts crisis, but also being the only known source that reflects the entirety of Nelson's narrative as a result of Nicolas' editing of the published version.
The present contemporary transcript of Nelson's narrative, unlike Nicolas' edited publication, leaves all of Nelson's enthusiasm for King and country in the manuscript unchanged and leaves all introductory paragraphs Nelson wrote for the transcribed letters within his narrative intact. The letters referred to in the narrative are transcribed within the present manuscript in the order that Nelson placed them, whereas Nicolas' edited version removes the letters from the narrative and places them elsewhere in Nicolas' book, thereby separating the letters from their original context. Nelson's style and language are left as originally written, giving this contemporary manuscript copy of the narrative a freshness lost in Nicolas' edited version.
In some cases, Nicolas' edit of Nelson's narrative does not accurately reflect Nelson's original meaning or wording. On the recto of leaf five of the present manuscript, Nelson refers to the king's Council, Mr. Adye, as "...supporting on all occasions the rights of the Crown, he has made most ample amends for any doubts he might at first have entertained." Nicolas in his edited version (p.178) substitutes the word "Navy" for the word "Crown": "...supporting on all occasions the rights of the Navy, he has made most ample amends for any doubts he might at first have entertained." Although this single word substitution may seem at first glance inconsequential, it effectively changes the meaning of Nelson's text. Nelson was complimenting Mr. Adye for supporting the rights of his King George III in maintaining the Navigation Acts, whereas Nicolas in his edited version, by tempering Nelson's enthusiastic support of King and country by this single word change, made it seem as if Nelson was complimenting Adye for supporting the actions of the Navy alone, rather than for supporting the King's right to maintain the Navigation Acts.
There is also an instance where Nicolas' published version of the manuscript (see pages 180-81) deviates greatly from the present contemporary transcription of Nelson's narrative (leaf 10 recto) where Nicolas describes Nelson's seizure of the Sloop Sally, followed by a letter from Nelson to Lord Sydney (moved elsewhere in Nicolas' book), and a description of the seizure of the brig Jane & Elizabeth and the schooner Brilliant following the same letter to Lord Sydney. The Nicolas version adds an introductory paragraph that is not in the present manuscript. This new paragraph follows the first mention of the brig and schooner prior to the transcribed deposition by Nelson regarding these two vessels and inserts changes to the deposition that alter it from being about the brig and the schooner to being about about the schooner alone. Whether these differences between the present manuscript and Nicolas' text were created by Nicolas as a means of supplying context, or whether he found additional Nelson text not in the present transcription of Nelson's narrative is unknown. What is clear, however, is that Nicolas' published version of Nelson's narrative does not accurately reflect all the present transcript, indicating that some information in the original transcription may have been lost in Nicolas' edit.
The only other known contemporary transcription of Nelson's Navigation Act narrative was a copy signed by Nelson belonging to William Henry Whitehead used in Nicolas' DISPATCHES AND LETTERS OF VICE ADMIRAL LORD VISCOUNT NELSON. We are unable to locate any other contemporary manuscript transcriptions of Nelson's Navigation Act narrative. An important contemporary narrative by Horatio Nelson of a significant event early in his illustrious naval career, as he attempted to enforce British mercantilist policy against the newly recognized United States of America. Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, "Captain Nelson's Narrative of his Proceedings in Support of the Navigation Act for the Suppression of Illicit Traffic in the West Indies" in THE DISPATCHES AND LETTERS OF VICE ADMIRAL LORD VISCOUNT NELSON (Henry Colburn, 1844), Vol. I, pp.171-85. Joseph F. Callo, "Young Nelson in the Boreas" in NAVAL HISTORY MAGAZINE, Vol. 25, No. 3 (May 2011) online. (Inventory #: WRCAM58193)
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