Admiral Lord Nelson Bicentenary by Christopher Somerville

On the study wall of the house where I grew up hung a framed letter in faded brown ink, dated December 2nd 1801 and written in a crabbed and spidery fist. The letter was addressed to a Captain Hardy and told him, “I dare say the Iris will be fitted for a flag, and if you wish to keep at sea I am sure you might keep her or some other as good.” The writer went on to complain, “I have not been quite so well latterly, my breast and heart have pain’d me very much,” and finished by telling Captain Hardy, “We shall all be happy in receiving you as one of our true friends & we all love you.” He signed off, “Believe me ever your affectionate Nelson & Bronte.”

Other pieces of Nelson memorabilia were displayed on the study wall – a portrait of the great sailor, a first edition print of the plan of the Battle of Trafalgar, a plate used as his wedding breakfast, a framed fragment of the white ensign torn to pieces for souvenirs by Nelson’s sailors at his funeral in St Paul’s Cathedral. But what intrigued me most of all was a postscript was appended to the Hardy letter: “Remember me to Coffin and the admiral.” Long after my questions had elicited from my ex-naval father a thumbnail sketch of Admiral Lord Nelson, England’s greatest maritime hero and a man much admired in our family, those two shadowy figures intrigued me. Coffin and the admiral – a sinister-sounding duo to a child’s mind, with a prophetic ring for the great naval officer who died for his country.

I heard all about Horatio Nelson the hero – the brilliant naval strategist, the breathtaking opportunist who snatched victory from defeat time and again, the lion-hearted leader-by-example whose wounds cost him his right arm and the sight of one eye, the charming friend and beloved commander, the ‘Little Admiral’ whose death in action made teak-tough Jack Tars break down and cry. And later on I learned more about the traits of the man behind that impossibly heroic mask – the vanity that cause him to boast and stuff his coat with medals, the insecurity that made him crave compliments and talk about himself, the bad temper and stubbornness, the coldness towards his own spouse while he was recklessly in love with another man’s wife. He was Horatio Hornblower to the life – and I loved CS Forester’s fictional sailor with a passion.

In 2005, the nation celebrates the life of Admiral Lord Nelson in this bicentenary year of his death on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar. Heroes are unfashionable these days, but the man who kept the seas for Britain and saw off the combined naval challenge of France and Spain at a time of desperate national peril deserves the title. Horatio Nelson was a flawed, fallible man; he was also a copper-bottomed, full-rigged, 104-gun hero. His country owes him a thunderous salute.

Nelson highlights
29 Sept 1759 – born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk
• 26 Dec 1767 – mother dies
• March 1771 – joins HMS Raisonnable as midshipman
• June-Sept 1773 – expedition to the Arctic; pursues a polar bear
• 10 April 1777 – appointed lieutenant
• 11 June 1779 – promoted post-captain
• 11 March 1787 – marries Frances Nisbet
• Nov 1787- Jan 1793 – ‘on the beach’ in Norfolk
• 30 Jan 1793 – appointed to command HMS Agamemnon
• Sep 1793 – meets Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy at Naples, and his young wife Emma
• 12 July 1794 – wounded in right eye at Calvi, Corsica
• 1 March 1796 – promoted commodore
• 14 Feb 1797 – breaks ranks to seize initiative and win Battle of Cape St Vincent
• 20 Feb 1797 – promoted rear-admiral of the Blue
• 17 May 1797 – knighted
• 24 July 1797 – loses right arm at Santa Cruz, Tenerife
• 1 Aug 1798 – braves shoals of Aboukir Bay to win night action of Battle of the Nile
• Sept 1798 – returns to Naples – begins love affair with Emma Hamilton
• 6 November 1798 – created Baron Nelson of the Nile
• 14 Jan 1799 – promoted rear-admiral of the Red
• Aug 1799 – created Duke of Bronte
• 1 Jan 1801 – promoted vice-admiral of the Blue
• Jan 1801 – Lady Nelson separates from him
• 29 Jan 1801 – Horatia, daughter of Nelson and Emma Hamilton, born
• 2 April 1801 – puts telescope to blind eye to continue action against orders and win Battle of Copenhagen
• 6 May 1801 – appointed Commander-in-Chief
• 22 May 1801 – created Viscount Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe
• 21 October 1805 – killed while securing victory at Battle of Trafalgar
• 9 January 1806 – state funeral; buried in crypt beneath dome of St Paul’s Cathedral