ay to the Caribbean; but
the enemy, learning his whereabouts, went through the Mona Passage,
east of the island, thus avoiding a meeting, and was next heard of by
the British as being off Curacao far to the southward. Nelson,
therefore, had no opportunity to show his prowess in battle; and as
only three letters remain covering this uneventful period, little is
known of his movements, except that he made an abortive attempt to
recapture Turk's Island from the French with a small force of ships he
was able to gather at short notice. An interesting indication of the
spirit which animated him transpires in the first of the three letters
mentioned. He had received unexpected orders to wait in New York after
Hood's leaving. "I was to have sailed with the fleet this day, but for
some private reasons, when my ship was under sail from New York to
join Lord Hood, at Sandy Hook, I was sent for on shore, and told I was
to be kept forty-eight hours after the sailing of the fleet. It is
much to my private advantage," allowing more latitude for picking up
prizes, without having to share with the other ships, "but I had much
rather have sailed with the fleet." "Money," he continues, "is the
great object here," on the North American Station, "nothing else is
attended to,"--a motive of action which he always rejected with
disdain, although by no means insensible to the value of money, nor
ever thoroughly at his ease in the matter of income, owing largely to
the lavish liberality with which he responded to the calls upon his
generosity or benevolence. A year later he wrote in the same strain:
"I have closed the war without a fortune; but I trust, and, from the
attention that has been paid to me, believe, that there is not a speck
in my character. True honour, I hope, predominates in my mind far
above riches."

When news of the peace reached the West Indies, Hood was ordered to
return with his fleet to England. Nelson went home at the same time,
being directed first to accompany Prince William Henry in a visit to
Havana. The "Albemarle" reached Spithead on the 25th of June, 1783,
and was paid off a week later, her captain going on half-pay until the
following April. The cruise of nearly two years' duration closed with
this characteristic comment: "Not an officer has been changed, except
the second lieutenant, since the Albemarle was commissioned;
therefore, it is needless to say, I am happy in my ship's company."
And again he writes: "My