Character reference given by Nelson at the Old Bailey murder trial of James Carse, HMS Boreas’s cooper
Catalogue reference: HO 47/15 folio 90
Capt[ai]n Nelson. Prisoner at times appeared Melancholy, but the quietest, Soberest Man that he ever saw in all his life – Seamen, he knew perfectly, when they come home, the Landlords will furnish them will raw Liquors; he saw himself 30 or 40 Men from that Ship, that were made as Mad, as if they were at Bedlam, & did not know what they did.
He was a Cooper on Board, at the Island of Antigua, he think it was, he was struc[k] with the Sun, after which time he appear[ed] Melancholy. He had been affected with it, had been out of his Senses, it hurts the Bra[in] When he came home, he conducted himself as a reasonable Man, usually, always
