Vice Admiral of the White, The Right, The Honourable, Horatio, Viscount Nelson, Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath:
Was a British admiral from England who won fame as a leading naval commander. He is famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars, most notably in the Battle of Trafalgar, where he lost his life. He became the greatest naval hero in the history of the United Kingdom, eclipsing Admiral Robert Blake in fame, and is one of the most famous naval commanders in world history. His biography by the poet Robert Southey appeared in 1813, while the wars were still being fought. His love affair with Emma Hamilton, the wife of the British ambassador to Naples is also well known, and he is honoured by the London landmark of Nelson's Column, which stands in Trafalgar Square.
He was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England to the Reverend Edmund Nelson and Catherine Nelson. (His mother was a grandniece of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford.) His mother died when Nelson was nine. Nelson was the sixth child out of eleven. He learned to sail on Barton Broad on the Norfolk Broads, was briefly educated at Paston Grammar School, North Walsham and Norwich School and by the time he was twelve, he had enrolled in the Royal Navy. His naval career began on January 1st, 1771, when he reported to the third-rate Raisonnable as an Ordinary Seaman and Coxswain. Nelsons maternal uncle Captain Maurice Suckling commanded the vessel. Shortly after reporting aboard, Nelson was appointed a Midshipman and began officer training. Ironically, Nelson found that he suffered from chronic seasickness, a complaint that dogged him for the rest of his life.
By 1777 he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant, and was assigned to the West Indies, during which time he saw action on the British side of the American Revolutionary War. By the time he was 20, in June 1779, he was made Post-Captain; the 28-gun frigate Hinchinbrook, newly captured from the French, was his first command in this rank.
In 1781 he was involved in an action against the Spanish fortress of San Juan in Nicaragua. Though 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 frigate Boreas, and assigned to enforce the Navigation Act in the vicinity of Antigua. This was during the denouement of the American Revolutionary War, 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 the merchants of Nevis supported them, Nelson was in peril of imprisonment and had to remain sequestered on the Boreas for eight months. It took that long for the courts to deny the Captains their claims, but in the interim Nelson met Fanny Nesbit, a widow native to Nevis, whom he would marry on March 11th, 1787 at the end of his tour of duty in the Caribbean.
Nelson lacked a command from 1789, and lived on half pay for several years (a reasonably common occurrence in the peacetime Royal Navy). However, as the French Revolutionary government began aggressive moves beyond 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 wounded in the face by stones and debris thrown up by a close cannon shot during a joint operation at Calvi, Corsica. This cost him the sight in his right eye and half of his right eyebrow. Despite popular legend, there is no evidence that Nelson ever wore an eye patch, though he was known to wear an eyeshade to protect his remaining eye.
In 1796, the Commander-in-Chief of the fleet in the Mediterranean passed to Sir John Jervis, who appointed Nelson to be Commodore and to exercise independent command over the ships blockading the French coast. The Agamemnon, often described as Nelson's favourite ship, was by now worn out and was sent back to England for repairs. Nelson was appointed to the HMS 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. In the aftermath, Nelson was knighted as a member of the Order of the Bath. In April of the same year he was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue, the ninth highest rank in the Royal Navy. Later in the year, during an unsuccessful expedition to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife, he was shot in the right arm with a musket ball, fracturing his humerus bone in multiple places. Since medical science of the day counseled amputation for almost all serious limb wounds (to prevent gangrene, and subsequent death) Nelson lost almost his entire right arm, and was unfit for duty until mid-December. He referred to the stub as "my fin."
This was not his only reverse. In December 1796, on leaving Elba for Gibraltar, Nelson transferred his flag to the frigate Minerve (of French construction, commanded by Captain Cockburn). A Spanish frigate, Santa Sabina, was captured during the passage and Lieutenant Hardy was put in charge of the captured vessel. The following morning, two Spanish ships of the line and one frigate appeared. Nelson decided to flee, leaving the Santa Sabina to be recovered by the Spanish and Hardy was captured. The Spanish captain who was on board Minerve was later exchanged for Hardy in Gibraltar.
In 1798, Nelson was once again responsible for a great victory over the French. The Battle of the Nile took place on August 1st, 1798 and, as a result, Napoleon's ambition to take the war to the British in India came to an end. The forces Napoleon had brought to Egypt were stranded. Napoleon attempted to march north along the Mediterranean coast but was defeated at the Siege of Acre by Captain Sir Sidney Smith. Napoleon then left his army and sailed back to France, evading detection by British ships.
For the spectacular victory of the Nile, Nelson was granted the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile (Nelson felt cheated that he was not awarded a more prestigious title; Sir John Jervis had been made Earl of St Vincent for his part in that battle, but the British Government insisted that an officer who was not the Commander-in-Chief, could not be raised to any peerage higher than a barony. Nelson felt throughout his life that his accomplishments were not fully rewarded by the British government, a fact he ascribed to his more humble birth and lack of political connections when compared to Sir John Jervis, or The Duke of Wellington).
Not content to rest on his laurels, he then rescued the Neapolitan royal family from a French invasion in December. During this time, he fell in love with Emma Hamilton the young wife of the elderly British ambassador to Naples. She became his mistress, returning to England to live openly with him, and eventually they had a daughter, Horatia. Some have suggested that a head wound he received at the Nile was partially responsible for that conduct, and for the way he conducted the Neapolitan campaign due simultaneously to his English hatred of Jacobins and his status as a Neapolitan royalist (he had been made Duke of Bronte in Sicily by the King of Naples in 1799) now considered something of a disgrace to his name. He was accused of allowing the monarchists to kill prisoners contrary to the laws of war.
In 1799, he was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Red, the seventh highest rank in the Royal Navy. He was then assigned to the new second-rate Foudroyant. In July, he aided Admiral Ushakov with the reconquest of Naples, and was made Duke of Bronte by the Neapolitan king. His personal problems, and upper-level disappointment at his professional conduct caused him to be recalled to England, but public knowledge of his affection for Lady Hamilton eventually induced the Admiralty to send him back to sea if only to get him away from her.
On January 1st, 1801, he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue (the sixth highest rank). Within a few months he took part in the Battle of Copenhagen (April 2nd, 1801) which was fought in order to break up the armed neutrality of Denmark, Sweden and Russia. During the battle, Nelson was ordered to cease the battle by his commander Sir Hyde Parker who believed that the Danish fire was too effective. In a famous incident, however, Nelson claimed he could not see the signal flags conveying the order, pointedly raising his telescope to his blind eye. His action was approved in retrospect, and in May, he became Commander-in-Chief in the Baltic Sea, and was awarded the title of Viscount Nelson by the British crown.
Napoleon was amassing forces to invade England, however, and Nelson was soon placed in charge of defending the English Channel to prevent this. However, on October 22nd an armistice was signed between the British and the French, and Nelson in poor health again retired to England where he stayed with his friends, Sir William and Lady Hamilton.
The three embarked on a tour of England and Wales, culminating in a stay in Birmingham, during which they visited Matthew Boulton on his sick bed at Soho House, and toured his Soho Manufactory.
The Peace of Amiens was not to last long though, and Nelson soon returned to duty. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean, and assigned to the HMS Victory in May 1803. He joined the blockade of Toulon, France, and would not again set foot on dry land for more than two years. Nelson was then promoted to Vice Admiral of the White (the fifth highest rank) while he was still at sea, on April 23rd, 1804. The French fleet slipped out of Toulon in early 1805 and headed for the West Indies. A stern chase failed to turn them up and Nelson's health forced him to retire to Merton in England.
Within two months, his ease ended. On September 13th, 1805, he was called upon to oppose the French and Spanish fleets, which had managed to join up and take refuge in the harbour of Cádiz, Spain.
On October 21st, 1805, Nelson engaged in his final battle, the Battle of Trafalgar. Napoleon Bonaparte had been massing forces once again for the invasion of the British Isles. However, he had already decided that his navy was not adequate to secure the Channel for the invasion barges and had started moving his troops away for a campaign elsewhere in Europe. On the 19th, the French and Spanish fleet left Cádiz, probably because Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, the French Commander, had heard that he was to be replaced by another Admiral. Nelson, with twenty-seven ships, engaged the thirty-three opposing ships.
Nelson's last dispatch, written on the 21st, read:
"At daylight saw the Enemy's Combined Fleet from East to E.S.E.; bore away; made the signal for Order of Sailing, and to Prepare for Battle; the Enemy with their heads to the Southward: at seven the Enemy wearing in succession. May the Great God, whom I worship, grant to my Country, and for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious Victory; and may no misconduct in any one tarnish it; and may humanity after Victory be the predominant feature in the British Fleet. For myself, individually, I commit my life to Him who made me, and may his blessing light upon my endeavours for serving my Country faithfully. To Him I resign myself and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend. Amen. Amen."
As the two fleets moved towards engagement, he then ran up a thirty-one flag signal to the rest of the fleet which spelled out the famous phrase "England expects that every man will do his duty". The original signal that Nelson wished to make to the fleet was England confides that every man will do his duty (meaning 'is confident that they will'). The signal officer asked Nelson if he could substitute the word 'expects' for 'confides' as 'expects' was included in the telegraphic code devised by Sir Home Popham whereas 'confides' would have to be spelled letter by letter. Nelson agreed and the signal was run up the Victory's mizzenmast.
After crippling the French flagship Bucentaure, the Victory moved on to the Redoutable. The two ships entangled each other, at which point French Troupes de Marine snipers in the fighting tops of the Redoutable were able to pour down musket fire onto the quarterdeck of Victory. Nelson was one of those hit: a bullet entered his shoulder, pierced his lung, and came to rest at the base of his spine. Nelson retained consciousness for four hours, but died soon after the battle was concluded with a British victory. Nelson's final words (as related by the Victory's Surgeon William Beatty, based on the accounts of those who were with Nelson when he died) were "Thank God I have done my duty". According to Beatty, he repeated these words several times until he became unable to speak.
After the battle, the Victory was then towed to Gibraltar, with Nelson's body on board preserved in a barrel of brandy. Upon his body's arrival in London, Nelson was given a state funeral (one of only five non-royal Britons to receive the honour - others are Arthur Wellesley and Churchill) and entombment in St. Paul's Cathedral. He was laid to rest in a wooden coffin made from the mast of the French flagship L'Orient which had been salvaged after the Battle of the Nile.
Nelson was noted for his considerable ability to inspire and bring out the best in his men, to the point that it gained a name: "The Nelson Touch". Famous even while alive, after his death he was lionized like almost no other military figure in British history (his only peers are the Duke of Marlborough and Nelson's contemporary, the Duke of Wellington). Most military historians believe Nelson's ability to inspire officers of the highest rank and seamen of the lowest was central to his many victories, as was his unequaled ability to both strategically plan his campaigns and tactically shift his forces in the midst of battle. He may have been the greatest field commander in history. Certainly, he stands as the greatest warrior afloat.
