f February, 1797, the look-out reported "enemy
in sight." St. Vincent was walking up and down the quarter-deck with his
flag-captain, Hallowell, as the reports came in. "Ten ships of the line
in sight." Then "fifteen," the same number that he had himself. Then
"twenty" . . . "twenty-five" . . . and at last "twenty-seven." When this
total of twenty-seven was reported, the officer reporting said, in a
questioning way, "Pretty long odds, Sir?" But, quick as a flash, St.
Vincent answered, "Enough of that, Sir! the die is cast; and if they are
fifty I will go through them!" And he did. This victory, which broke up
the plans the French and Spaniards had made against Britain, was thought
so important that Jervis, as he then was called, was made Lord St.
Vincent, taking his title from the place near which he won the battle,
Cape St. Vincent, the south-west corner of Europe.

In October Admiral Duncan was made Lord Camperdown for destroying the
Dutch fleet which was trying to help the French into Ireland. He caught
it off Camperduin (on the coast of North Holland) and smashed it to
pieces after a furious battle, in which the Dutch, with a smaller fleet,
showed that they too were of the Viking breed. This victory stopped the
danger from the north, just as St. Vincent's stopped it from the south.
Both were fought in the only proper way to defend the British Empire on
the sea when the enemy comes out, that is, by going to meet him in his
own waters, instead of waiting to let him choose his own point of attack
against the British coast.

Next year, 1798, Nelson was also made a peer for a glorious victory won
on his own account. He had learnt from Lord Hood the first principle of
all defence--that the real aim is not so much to stand on guard or even
to win a victory as to destroy the enemy's means of destroying you. This
chimed in with his own straight-forward genius; and he never forgot his
old chief: "the best officer that England has to boast of." Hood had the
misfortune never to have been in supreme command during a great battle.
But, in Nelson's opinion, he stood above all other commanders-in-chief of
his own time; and, as we look back on him now, we see that Nelson alone
surpassed him.

Napoleon, like the Germans of today, hoped to make land-power beat
sea-power in the East by stirring up rebellion against the British rule
in India and making Egypt his bridge between Europe and Asia. With
daring skill he crosse