HORATIO NELSON 1758 – 1805

          Nelson, Horatio, Viscount Nelson was the British naval commander, whose victories in the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar made him British national hero.

               Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Nor­folk, on September 29, 1758. He entered the British navy in 1770, serving under his uncle, captain Maurice Sucking. In the en­suing years Nelson gained much naval ex­perience through service on a merchant ves­sel, on an Arctic expedition, and in the east Indies and the West Indies. By 1779 he had attained the rank of captain. Subsequently he saw battle service in the west Indies in 1780, was chosen to instruct Prince Wil­liam, later William IV, king of Britain, in naval tactics, studied naval matters in France, and in 1784 commanded the Brit­ish frigate Boreas, stationed at Antigua, West Indies*.

____________________

*West Indies — archipelago of about 1,200 islands, dividing the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Mexico and the Carib­bean Sea.

____________________

                       In 1787, while stationed in the West Indies, Nelson married Frances Nisbet.

              Nelson’s services to the British nation were contributed in the course of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Serv­ing under Rear Admiral Samuel Hood*, in 1793 he assisted in the occupation of the city of Toulon** by allied British and Span­ish forces.

____________________

*Hood, Samuel (1724-1816) — British admiral.

** Toulon - port and administrative centre of France.

____________________

                       In the course of a visit to Na­ples, from which he convoyed troops to help the British at Toulon, Nelson first became acquainted with Lady Hamilton* wife of the British ambassador at Naples; Lady Hamil­ton subsequently became Nelson’s mistress, and his career was considerably influenced by her advice and help.

____________________

*Hamilton, Lady Emma (1761-1815) — English courtesan.

____________________

                       After the British allies were driven from Toulon by Napoleon Bonaparte, Nelson assisted Hood in the tak­ing of the towns of Bastia and Calvi in Cor­sica, and in occupying (1794) the island. At Calvi he was wounded in the right eye, the sight of which he eventually lost.

                    Nelson was made a commodore in 1796. The following year he played a prominent part in the victory off Cape Saint Vincent, Por­tugal, of the British fleet under John Jervis*, later Earl Saint Vincent, over the fleet of Spain, then allied to France.

____________________

*Jervis, John (1735-1823) — English admiral.

____________________

                     In July 1797, Nelson led a rash attack by small boats on the town of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, a Spanish possession; the attack failed, and Nelson received a wound in the right arm that resulted in amputation of the arm. The following year he was sent to discover the purpose of the great French fleet gathering at Toulon. Nelson’s ships, reconnoitering off Toulon, were scattered by a storm, and before he could resume his position, the French fleet sailed. Nelson discovered that it had gone east carrying Bonaparte’s troops for an in­vasion of Egypt, and set out in pursuit.

                      The French fleet had discharged its troops before Nelson came up with it at Abu Qir Bay; in the Battle of the Nile, on August 1-2, 1798, he destroyed most of the French vessels; the victory cut Napoleon’s line of communication with France and eventually was responsible for his withdrawal from the East in spite of his military victories there. Nelson then pro­ceeded to Naples, from which the Neapolitan royal family had driven by French troops and Neapolitan sympathizers with the French Revolution; he was prominent in the action against Naples that resulted in the restora­tion of the royal family, and for his services he was created (1800) Duke of Bronte by Fer­dinand I, king of Naples. He returned to Eng­land the same year and the following year was separated from his wife.

                  In 1801 Nelson became a vice admiral, but in spite of his rank he accepted service un­der Sir Hyde Parker* when the latter was placed in command of the fleet sent to the Baltic Sea to compel Denmark and Sweden to discontinue their economic aid to France.

____________________

*Parker, Hyde (1739-1807) — British admiral.

____________________

                  In the Battle of Copenhagen, in which the British fleet destroyed the Danish in the harbour of the capital, Nelson, although sec­ond in command, took entire charge of the British operations; when his attention was called at the height of the battle to Park­er’s signal for the British ships to with­draw, Nelson placed a telescope to his blind eye and declared he could not see the sig­nal. Later that year he was created viscount.

             Nelson was in England at the time Treaty of Amiens (1802-1803), which temporarily ended the fighting between England and France. When war broke out again in 1803 he was appointed commander of the British Mediterranean fleet. He blockaded Toulon, were a large French fleet under Vice Admi­ral Pierre Charles de Villeneuve* was pre­paring to invade England.

____________________

*Villeneuve, Pierre Charles Jean Baptiste Sylvestre de (1763— 1806) — French sailor.

____________________

                 Nelson forced the French fleet to remain in Toulon for two years, but it escaped in 1805 and made for the West Indies. Nelson set out in pursuit, but the French fleet eluded him and, sail­ing back to Europe, took refuge in Cadiz, where it was joined by a number of Spanish ships. The British blockaded the city, but Villeneuve finally broke out of the harbour and battle off Cape Trafalgar, in Spain. In the Battle of Trafalgar, on October 21, 1805, Nelson overwhelmingly defeated the com­bined French and Spanish fleets, leading the attack himself in his flagship Victory; he was mortally wounded by a French sharp­shooter, however, and died as the battle ended. The British victory put an end to Napoleon’s plans for invading England.

                   Nelson is regarded as the most famous of all British naval leaders and as one of the most noteworthy in world history. He was buried in Saint Paul’s Cathedral. In November 1805, in recognition of his services, his brother William Nelson was made Earl Nelson of Trafalgar. In 1849 a monument known as the Nelson Column was erected to Admiral Nelson in Trafalgar Square, London.