July 1779, the report of an intended expedition against Jamaica, by
Count D'Estaigne, with a fleet of one hundred and twenty-five sail, men
of war and transports; and having, as it was said, twenty-five thousand
troops ready to embark, at the Cape; occasioned every exertion to be
used for the defence of the island: and, such was the general confidence
in the skill and bravery of Captain Nelson, that both the admiral and
the governor agreed to entrust him with the command of the battery of
Fort Charles, considered as one of the most important posts in Jamaica.
This threatened invasion, however, was never attempted: and, in the
month of January 1780, an expedition began to be prepared, from Jamaica,
against the Spanish territories in America.
Of this important undertaking, in which Captain Nelson bore so
distinguished a part, a most interesting account has been given by Dr.
Moseley, Physician to Chelsea Hospital, in his celebrated Treatise on
Tropical Diseases, on Military Operations, and on the Climate of the
West Indies. This gentleman was then Surgeon-General of the Island of
Jamaica; and, from his intimacy with Captain Nelson, had every
opportunity of knowing all such particulars as did not come under his
own immediate observation. It's uncommon excellence, notwithstanding
it's extreme length as an extract, will prevent it's seeming tedious.
"This expedition," says Dr. Moseley, "was directed by General
Dalling, at that time Governor of Jamaica. The plan, wherever it
originated, was judiciously designed; and highly approved by Lord
George Germaine, then Secretary of State for the American
Department.
"The intent was, to cut off the communication of the Spaniards,
between their Northern and Southern American dominions, by El Rio
San Juan--or, the River St. John, as it is called by us--and the
Lake Nicaragua; from the interior boundary of which, to the South
Sea, is only four or five leagues, through a level country. Thus, a
connection from the northern to the southern sea, was to have been
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