A gleam of better things for a moment shone upon him in August of that year, when the French fleet, under Count D'Estaing, appeared in Haiti, numbering twenty-two ships-of-the-line, with transports reported to be carrying twenty thousand troops.

All Jamaica was in an uproar of apprehension, believing an attack upon the island to be imminent; for its conquest was known to be one of the great objects of the enemy.

Nelson was at the time living on shore, the "Hinchinbrook" seemingly[4] not having returned to the port since his appointment to her, and he eagerly accepted the duty of commanding the land batteries.

The odds were great,--"You must not be surprised to hear of my learning to speak French," he wrote, laughingly, to Locker in England,--but if so, the greater the honor attendant, whether upon success or defeat.

D'Estaing, however, passed on to America to encounter disaster at Savannah, and Nelson's hopes were again disappointed.
In January, 1780, an opportunity for service offered, which ended in no conspicuous or permanent result, but nevertheless conferred distinction upon one who, to use his own expression, was determined to climb to the top of the tree, and to neglect no chance, however slight, that could help him on.