At half-past three I was called in a great hurry and told the Majestic would be aboard of us. I ran out and found it was only too true, and past remedy. She came down on us in the act of wearing and ran over our bowsprit, which she carried away, with the head and stem. There being a good deal of sea, the foremast soon followed, carrying away with it the main topmast and main yard, with a dreadful crash. Not one life was lost nor man hurt, thanks to God.
Although the structural damage to the hull was limited to the smashing of the figurehead and cutwater, the ship was crippled by the loss of the bowsprit, foremast and main topmast and Pasley had no option but to return to England for repairs. The Bellerophon was taken in tow by the Ramillies and headed for Plymouth. In the years to come, the morale and fighting spirit of the Bellerophon's crew became legendary and we get a glimpse of this spirit in their reaction to the collision. Although the crew were new and had only brief experience of working together, they managed to clear up the wreckage on deck, and within twenty-four hours they erected such an effective jury rig that they outsailed the Ramillies and were able to cast off the towing line. They sailed back to Plymouth unassisted and were soon alongside the sheer hulk where the ship was examined by officers from the royal dockyard. The damaged rigging was replaced, the topmasts set up again, and repairs were carried out to the ship's head.
Five weeks after the collision the Bellerophon was back with Howe's fleet patrolling the seas off the west coast of Brittany. She had not missed any action. The French fleet had retreated back into the great harbour at Brest, protected by the forts at the harbour entrance. There was nothing that Howe and his ships could do but watch and wait. It was the Mediterranean fleet, commanded by Lord Hood, which was the first to go into action against the forces of Revolutionary France. By chance both Napoleon and Nelson were directly involved in the consequences of this action.
Toulon, the principal French naval base in the Mediterranean, was a fortified town of 28,000 inhabitants. In the summer of 1793 the local people, sickened by the execution of the King and the rising tide of terror, threw out the Jacobins who had been running the town. They believed that the restoration of the French monarchy was the only hope for France and on 27 August they raised a white flag spangled with fleur-de-lis over the town and proclaimed the young Louis XVII as their king. When the Revolutionary government in Paris sent an army to restore control, the people of Toulon looked to the old enemies of France for help and opened the port to British and Spanish troops and ships. (Britain and Spain had patched up their differences following the Nootka Sound crisis.) Lord Hood sailed his fleet into the harbour and landed two regiments of British infantry and 200 marines. The Spanish sent an army across the frontier to defend the landward side of the town.
Nelson had joined Hood's Mediterranean fleet a few weeks before. Like so many British naval officers he had been on half pay and without a ship for several years while the nation was at peace. He had spent much of this time staying at his father's country rectory in Norfolk. It should have been an idyllic interlude but he was impatient to get back to sea, and his wife Fanny felt cold and isolated after the tropical heat and social life which she had enjoyed in the West Indies. In January 1793, shortly before King Louis was sent to the guillotine, Nelson was given command of the 64-gun ship Agamemnon, the ship in which he would first make his name. Hood sent him to Naples to persuade the King of Naples and Sicily to send reinforcements to assist in the defence of Toulon against the advancing Revolutionary army. Nelson secured a promise that 2,000 troops would be immediately despatched to Toulon. He also struck up a warm friendship with the British envoy Sir William Hamilton and his wife Emma, Lady Hamilton. They invited him to stay with them at their house, a former palace on high ground overlooking the bay, its sunny rooms filled with fine paintings, exquisite statues and the Greek vases which were Sir William's passion. Nelson was charmed by them both and, although he must have been aware of Emma's colourful past, he wrote and told Fanny that 'She is a young woman of amiable manners and who does honour to the station to which she is raised.' He was entertaining them on board the Agamemnon when he received news that a French warship with a captured British merchantman was at anchor off Sardinia. 'I considered that the city of Naples looked to what an English man-of-war would do. I ordered my barge to be manned, sent the ladies ashore and in two hours my ship was under sail.'
There was no sign of the French warship off Sardinia so Nelson headed back to Toulon. When he arrived in the harbour on 5 October he found the British fleet under heavy bombardment. Directing the guns from the ramparts overlooking the harbour was the 24-year-old artillery officer Napoleon Bonaparte, now a major and soon to be promoted to brigadier-general. It was the only occasion that the two men, who were to play such a significant role in history, were ever in sight of each other. As far as Napoleon was concerned the sails of the Agamemnon were just another target for his guns, and Nelson had no idea who was organising the bombardment. 'Shot and shells are throwing about us every hour,' he wrote but he did not have to endure the shelling for long because within a week he was despatched to Sardinia and was soon in action against a squadron of French frigates.
Although Napoleon was not in command of the French forces at Toulon, his actions were largely responsible for the recapture of the city. Earlier in the year a civil war on the island of Corsica had resulted in the Bonaparte properties being ransacked and the family being declared outlaws. Napoleon rescued his family and took them first to Toulon and then settled them in Marseilles. He was therefore close at hand when the British and Spanish entered Toulon. He immediately made himself available to the commander of the French Revolutionary forces and was given a free hand to organise the artillery. He was aware that this was his big chance. He sent men to get guns from the forts at Monaco and Antibes, he brought in 100,000 sacks of earth on wagons from Marseilles to build parapets, and he organised an arsenal of eighty forges. The guns were set up behind the new defences which he built along the waterfront and he directed a continuous and devastating bombardment at the British ships in the harbour.
The chaotic conditions in the Revolutionary army led to the coming and going of several commanders until on 17 November an experienced and professional soldier, General Dugommier, arrived to take charge. Napoleon persuaded him to adopt a plan of attack which involved the capture of a key fort on high ground overlooking the harbour. The attack took place on 17 December in driving rain. While Napoleon's guns battered the fort, Dugommier led the first charge on the ramparts but he was repulsed. Napoleon, mounted on horseback, led the second charge of 2,000 troops. When his horse was shot under him he continued on foot, detached a battalion of light infantry to launch a flanking attack at the same time as his own, and succeeded in getting his men into the fort. After two hours of hand-to-hand fighting the fort surrendered. Napoleon was badly wounded by an English sergeant who thrust his pike deep into his left thigh, and he was lucky that the army surgeon who treated him decided not to amputate his leg.