 To his commanding officer, Lord St Vincent, he wrote, referring to Alexander Ball,

He wrote another dispatch whilst at Naples on 8 January 1799 to Earl Howe, declaring "I had the happiness to command a Band of Brothers...".According to Andrew Lambert, while Nelson "considered all had been equally valiant, he did not mean that all had been equally able, or equally significant".Some had been competent and brave without particularly distinguishing themselves.