The business of the English Commander-in-Chief being first to bring an Enemy's Fleet to Battle, on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his Ships close on board the Enemy, as expeditiously as possible;) and secondly, to continue them there, without separating, until the business is decided.

Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris (ed.) The Dispatches and Letters of Lord Viscount Nelson, Sixth Volume. London: Henry Colburn. 1866, pg xi.