At this turning-point the commendable diligence of his principal biographers has again secured for us a striking description of the young captain’s personal appearance, and of the impression produced by his manner upon an interested acquaintance, who afterwards became a warm friend and admirer as well as a frequent correspondent.  The narrator—­then Prince William Henry, afterwards King William IV.—­gave the following account, apparently at some period between 1805, when Nelson fell, and 1809, when the first edition of Clarke and M’Arthur’s Life appeared.  “I was then a midshipman on board the Barfleur,” Lord Hood’s flagship, “lying in the Narrows off Staten Island, and had the watch on deck, when Captain Nelson, of the Albemarle, came in his barge alongside, who appeared to be the merest boy of a captain I ever beheld; and his dress was worthy of attention.  He had on a full-laced uniform; his lank unpowdered hair was tied in a stiff Hessian tail, of an extraordinary length; the old-fashioned flaps of his waistcoat added to the general quaintness of his figure, and produced an appearance which particularly attracted my notice; for I had never seen anything like it before, nor could I imagine who he was, nor what he came about.  My doubts were, however, removed when Lord Hood introduced me to him.  There was something irresistibly pleasing in his address and conversation; and an enthusiasm, when speaking on professional subjects, that showed he was no common being.”  The Countess of Minto, in her Life of Lord Minto, speaks of Nelson’s “shock head” at the time (1794) when he was a frequent visitor at the house of Minto, then Sir Gilbert Elliott, and Viceroy of Corsica; a trivial detail, but confirmatory, so far, of the picture drawn by the prince.  The latter continued:  “Nelson, after this, went with us to the West Indies, and served under Lord Hood’s flag during his indefatigable cruise off Cape Francois....  I found him warmly attached to my father [King George iii.], and singularly humane.  He had the honour of the King’s service and the independence of the British navy particularly at heart; and his mind glowed with this idea as much when he was simply captain of the Albemarle, and had obtained none of the honours of his Country, as when he was afterwards decorated with so much well-earned distinction.”

The war of 1778 was now fast drawing to its close; the preliminaries of peace being signed in January, 1783, though not ratified till the following September.  Hood cruised off Cap Francois, a naval station of the French at the west end of Haiti, to intercept the fleet from Boston, which was understood to be on its way 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