The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-11-11
BATTLE OF THE NILE.
Where "the Boy Stood on the
Burning Deck"
cAsABlANcA AND HIS FATE.

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 d cir
Gle of relatives and friends -outwardly
enthusiastic aud admirlng, lnwardly
often greatly bored-to repent those
well known If somewhat inaccurate
lines that tell US how "the boy stood
on the burnlpg deck Whether, nine
times out of ten, the infant reciter or,
for that matter, any of the members
Of the applauding family circle could
have given the date and place of the
occurrence may be doubtful. The forty
lines of Mrs. Hemans gave them all
the history that they eraved, and when
the parrot-llEe performance closed with
faithful heart sentimental maiden
aunt would sigh, liberal uncle be-
stow largesse TO the extent of half
crown. and that was all.
1t was In 170S that young Casabi-
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 ToulOn In, the previous May, tak-
Ing with him a good stock of bur-
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
Fauvclet de Bourrienne, from whose
always entertaining If not invariably
accurate pen we have capital ac-
count OF the voyage to Egypt.
Much OF the time was passed by Ma
poleon lying In his berth while Bour.
rienne read TO him and I'm promoting
discussions on various questions among
the scientific and other distinguished
men who accompanied the expedition.
The flag1hip carried population OF
more than 1000 souls, and the cry OF
"Man overbpard!" was not infrequent.
On these occasions Bonaparte display
ed side OF his character to which full
Justice Is not always done. Bour.
rionne describes his agitation till res
cue wns effected as extreme. on one
occasion false alarm was raised dur.
Ing the darkness Of night. aud the sup
posed "man'' proved toube the quarter
of a bullock which had dropped from
the rigging, but Napoleon rewarded
the regcuers even mere literally than
usual, poiaslng out that their excrtion
had been for what they believed a hu-
man life. "H.
The fleet arrived of the coast OF Ar
licn on July /, and here Eouiricnnr
ard his memoirs" leave the squadron
60 accompany the army and his chief
on land. Brueys, the French admiral,
had during the voyage expressed fore
bCdings rs to the result of an encoun.
tor 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, "lf we succeed.
what VIII the world say?" Nelson re.
piled: "There is no If Ia the case. That
ve shall succeed Is certain. Who may
live to tell the story II very differ.
cnt question" For himself he made
that famous anticipation, "a peerage
or Westminster abbey"
The battle began Mt G:30 o'clock, half
an hour before nlghtfall. Nelson, on
board the Vanguard, flew his colors
In six places lest they should be shot
away. In 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 o O'clock at
night while he was still below, a cry
arose that the Orient was ON fire
Unaided and unnoticed in the confu-
sion. Nelson made his way up and
presently 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 loomod French flagship lad but
Just been painted, and quantities of
Oh and infammable material Uttered
her deck. Brueys, the admiral. was
dead, but Louis Casabianca and his
little son were still on deck. At 10
o'clock the ship blew mp. "There came
a burst of thunder sound" and. al
though the commodore was not at the
time lying unconscious OF his son."
rs the poetess has It, for both were
seen clinging TO floating mast after
the explosion, neither father nor son
was among the seventy members of
the crew who We're saved by the Eng
llsh boats.
From the mainmast and ironwork
Of the Orient Captaln Hallowcll OF the
Swlftsura had a coffin made, which
"memento mori'' he presented to the
admiral that he might at the close of
q - n a