A success, the efforts involved still damaged Nelson's health to the extent that he returned to England for more than a year. He eventually returned to active duty and was assigned to the Albemarle, in which he continued his efforts against the American rebels until the official end of the war in 1783. In 1784, Nelson was given command of the 28-gun Boreas, and assigned to enforce the Navigation act in the vicinity of Antigua. This was during the denouement of the American Revolution, and enforcement of the act was problematic -- now-foreign American vessels were no longer allowed to trade with British colonies in the Caribbean Sea, an unpopular rule with both the colonies and the Americans. After seizing four American vessels off Nevis, Nelson was sued by the captains of the ships for illegal seizure. As they were supported by the merchants of Nevis, Nelson was in peril of imprisonment and had to remain sequestered on Boreas for eight months. It took that long for the courts to deny the captains their pound of flesh, but in the interim Nelson met Fanny Nesbit, a widow native to Nevis, whom he would marry on March 11, 1787 at the end of his tour of duty in the Caribbean. They had no children.
Nelson lacked a commission starting in 1789, and lived on half pay for several years. But as the French Revolution began to export itself outside of France's borders, he was recalled to service. Given the 64-gun Agamemnon in 1793, he soon started a long series of battles and engagements that would seal his place in history. He was first assigned to the Mediterranean, based out of the Kingdom of Naples. In 1794 he was shot in the face during a joint operation at Calvi, Corsica, which cost him the sight in his right eye -- his left eye suffered from the additional burden, and Nelson was slowly going blind up until his death; he would often wear a patch over his good eye to protect it. In 1796, the command of the fleet in the Mediterranean passed to John Jervis, who tapped Nelson to be his commodore -- the captain of Jervis' flagship, Captain. 1797 was a full year for Nelson. On February 14, he was largely responsible for the British victory at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797). The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was an important naval battle during the Wars of the French Revolution, between the British Royal Navy and the Spanish fleet, at Cape St. Vincent near Gibraltar on February 14, 1797. Battle of Cape St.