There was in the fleet one ship that had been steadily in commission since 1801, and was now in very shaky condition.  This was the “Superb,” seventy-four.  She had only been kept out by the extreme exertions of her commander, Keats, one of the most distinguished captains of the day, and he had entreated that he should not be sent away now, when the moment of battle seemed near.  By a singular irony of fate, this zealous insistence caused him to miss Trafalgar, at which the “Royal Sovereign,” that parted at Lagos, was present, repaired and recoppered,—­a new ship.  Keats, whose energy and readiness made him a great favorite with Nelson, obtained permission not to stop when other ships did, but always to carry a press of sail; and he lashed his studding-sail booms to the yards, as the constant direction of the trade-winds allows them to be carried steadily.  Notwithstanding all that could be done, the “Superb” seems to have set the pace, and slower than could have been wished; which drew from Nelson’s customary kindly thoughtfulness a few lines too characteristic to be omitted.

MY DEAR KEATS,—­I am fearful that you may think that the Superb does not go so fast as I could wish.  However that may be, (for if we all went ten knots, I should not think it fast enough,) yet I would have you be assured that I know and feel that the Superb does all which is possible for a ship to accomplish; and I desire that you will not fret upon the occasion....  Whatever may happen, believe me ever, my dear Keats, your most obliged and sincere friend,

    NELSON AND BRONTE.

A week seems to have elapsed before he could get a suitable opportunity for sending this, and he then, on the 27th of May, added:  “Our passage, although not very quick, has been far from a bad one;” and he thought that they would gain fourteen days upon the allies.  The actual gain was ten, the latter being thirty-four days from Cadiz to Martinique, the British twenty-four to Barbadoes.  The enemy were therefore three weeks in the West Indies before Nelson arrived; but in that time they neither accomplished nor undertook anything but the recapture of Diamond Rock, a precipitous islet off the south end of Martinique, which the British had held for some time, to the great annoyance of the main island.

Reaching Barbadoes on the afternoon of June 4th, Nelson found that the day before information had been received from General Brereton, commanding the troops at Santa Lucia, that the allied fleets had passed there, going south, during the night of May 28-29.  The intelligence was so circumstantial that it compelled respect, coming from the quarter it did.  “There is not a doubt in any of the Admirals’ or Generals’ minds,” wrote Nelson to the Admiralty, in the despatch announcing his arrival, “but that Tobago and Trinidada are the enemy’s objects.”  Nelson himself was sceptical,—­the improbability seemed great to his sound military perceptions; but,