discharge of my duty, and in such manner as will give satisfaction both
to the Lords of the Admiralty and yourself. This shall ever be my utmost
ambition, and _no lucre of profit, or other views_, shall induce me to
act otherwise." Not prize-money; but honor, through service. And this in
fact not only ruled his thought but in the moment of decision inspired
his act. Curiously enough, however, he was here at odds with the spirit
of Anson and of Warren. The latter, in asking Hawke's employment, said
the present cruise was less important than the one to succeed it, "for
the galleons"--the Spanish treasure-ships--"make it a general rule to
come home late in the fall or winter." Warren by prize-money and an
American marriage was the richest commoner in England, and Anson it was
that had captured the great galleon five years before, to his own great
increase; but it was Hawke who, acknowledging a letter from Warren, as
this cruise was drawing to its triumphant close, wrote, "With respect to
the galleons, as it is uncertain when they will come home and _likewise
impossible for me to divide my force in the_ present necessitous
condition of the ships under my command, I must lay aside all thoughts
of them during this cruise." In this unhesitating subordination of
pecuniary to military considerations we see again the temper of Nelson,
between whom and Hawke there was much community of spirit, especially in
their independence of ordinary motives and standards. "Not that I
despise money," wrote Nelson near the end of a career in which he had
never known ease of circumstances; "quite the contrary, I wish I had a
hundred thousand pounds this moment;" but "I keep the frigates about me,
for I know their value in the day of battle, and compared with that day,
what signifies any prizes they might take?" Yet he had his legal share
in every such prize.

The opening of October 14th, the eighth day after Hawke's letter to
Warren just quoted, brought him the sight of his reward. At seven that
morning, the fleet being then some four hundred miles west of La
Rochelle in France, a number of sails were seen in the southeast. Chase
was given at once, and within an hour it was evident, from the great
crowd of vessels, that it was a large convoy outward-bound which could
only be enemies. It was in fact a fleet of three hundred French
merchantmen, under the protection of eight ships-of-the-line and one of
fifty guns, commanded by Commodore L'Etendue