The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-12-06
BATTLE OF THE NILE,
Where "the Boy Stood on the
Burning Deck"
CAsABlANcA AND HIS. FATE.

Tho Facts About tho Little Hero ot
Mrs. HsNranS Famous Poem, hIs
Father and the Tragedy ot the
Doomed French Flagship, the Orient.
That was a lucky child who In the
latter part Of the last century escaped
the ordeal Of standing up before cir
Gle Of relatives aud friends -outwardly
enthusiastic and admlrlng. lnwartly
often greatly bored--to repea, those
well known II somewhat inaccurate
lines that tell us how "the boy stood
on the burning deck" Whether, nine
times out Of ton. the infant reclter or,
for that matter, any Of the members
Of the applauding family circle could
have given the date and place cf the
occurrence may be doubtful, The forty
lines Of Mrs. Hemans gave them all
the history that they craved, and when
the parrot-llke performance closed with
faithful heart u sentimental maiden
aunt would sigh, a liberal uncle be.
stow largesse TO the extent OF half n
crown. and that was all.
II was In lbs that young casabl-
anca, the ten-year.old son Of the com
modore OF the French flagship Orient,
stood amid the awful devastation Of
the battle OF the Nile, Bonaparte had
himself sailed In the III fated Orient
from Toulou In the previous May, tax
Ing with him good stock Of bur
gundy and also that famous "camp u.
brary" Of cabinet editions, including
forty volumes OF English novels, In
which the Bible and the Koran Were
claSsed under the head Of politics" :"
More important still for those who love
the picturesque details Of history and
great men. he was accompanied BY his
then private secretary, Louis Antoine
sFauvelet lie Bourrlenne, from whose
always entertaining II not invariably
accurate pen we have capital &C.
count Of the voyage to Egypt.
Much Of the time was passed by Ma.
poIeon lying In his berth while Bour'
rlenne read to him aud IN promoting
discussions on various questions among
the scientltlc ard other distinguished
men who accompanied the expedition.
The flagship carried a population Of
more than 1000 souls. and the cry OF
"Man oyerboard!" was not infrequent.
On these occasions Bonaparte display
ed a side of his character TO which full
justice Ia not always done. Bour.
rienne describes his agitation till res.
cue was effected as extreme. On one
occasion a false alarm was raised dur
ing the darkness Of night, and the sup
posed 'man" proved to be the quarter
OF a bullock which had dropped from
the rigging, but Napoleon rewarded
the rescuers even more literally than
usual, pointing out that their exertion
had been for what they believed n hu-
man life.
The fleet arrived OF the coast Of Az
RIGA on July /, and here Bourriennc
and his Memoirs leave the squadron
to accompany the army and his chief
on land. Brueys. the French admiral,
had during the voyage expressed fore
bodings as to the result Of an encoun-
ter with the British feet. Nelson,
who sailed from Syracuse on July %.
was confident, but well knew the price.
he might be called upon to pay. When
Captain Berry said, III we succeed,
what VIII the world say7" Nelson re-
piled: "There is no II In the case That
we shall succeed Is certain. Who may
live to tell the story is a very differ
ent question" For himself he made
that famous anticipation. "a peerage
or Westminster abbey"
The battle began at $50 o'clock, half
an hour before nlghtfall Nelson. on
board the Vanguard, few his colors
in six places lest they should be shot
away. In I few minutes after the
ship had gone into action the crews
Of the first six guns were swept away
by the terrible fire Of the French fleet,
and twice again during the fight were
fresh crews called for. The shot
which struck Nelson on the head tore
from his forehead piece Of skin
which, falling. over his one useful eye,
rendered him for the time being to-
tally blind. Carried to the cockpit, he
insisted on taking his proper turn
among the wounded for the surgeons
attention. Soon after 0 O'Clock at
night, while he was still below, a cry
arose that the Orient was on fire.
Unaided and unnotlced In the confu-
sion, Nelson made bis way up, and
from the quarterback his
voice was heard shouting orders that
the boats should be lowered to go to
the assistance Of the Orlents crew.
The doomed French flagship had but
Just been painted, and quantities Of
Dll and infammable material Uttered
her deck. Brueys, the admiral, was
dead but Louis Casoblanca .and his
little son were still on deck ~ 10
o'clock the ship blew IN "Thrrc cnme
a burst Of tli-@.fr "ourd" and. ~
though the commodore wai pot ~ the
time lying "uncou8,iaus Of his son" !
rs the poetcss has H. far both Ecro |