appointment to the "Lowestoffe" was further fortunate, both for him
and for us, as in the commander of the vessel, Captain William Locker,
he found, not only an admirable officer and gentleman, but a friend
for whom he formed a lasting attachment, ending only with Locker's
death in 1800, two years after the Battle of the Nile. To this
friendship we owe the fullest record, at his own hands, of his early
career; for Locker kept the numerous letters written him by Nelson
while still an unknown young man. Of sixty-seven which now remain,
covering the years from 1777 to 1783, all but thirty were to this one
correspondent.

In another respect the appointment to the "Lowestoffe" was fortunate
for Nelson. The ship was destined to the West Indies--or, to speak
more precisely, to Jamaica, which was a command distinct from that of
the eastern Caribbean, or Lesser Antilles, officially styled the
Leeward Islands Station. Great Britain was then fully embarked in the
war with her North American colonies, which ended in their
independence; and the course of events was hastening her to the
rupture with France and Spain that followed within a year. In this
protracted contest the chief scene of naval hostilities was to be the
West Indies; but beyond even the casualties of war, the baneful
climate of that region insured numerous vacancies by prostration and
death, with consequent chances of promotion for those who escaped the
fevers, and found favor in the eyes of their commander-in-chief. The
brutal levity of the old toast, "A bloody war and a sickly season,"
nowhere found surer fulfilment than on those pestilence-stricken
coasts. Captain Locker's health soon gave way. Arriving at Jamaica on
the 19th of July, 1777, we find Nelson in the following month writing
to him from the ship during an absence produced by a serious illness,
from which fatal results were feared. The letter, like all those to