Nelson, Horatio

Nelson, Horatio, first Viscount (1758–1805), British vice admiral and Sicilian duke, born at Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk, the third surviving son of the local vicar. After local schooling he joined the Royal Navy through the patronage of his maternal uncle Captain Maurice Suckling, who provided him with a first-class education, extensive practical experience, and a succession of personal contacts who pushed his career quickly to the rank of post-captain in 1779. Not yet 21, Nelson was serving in the West Indies, but had also seen the Arctic and the Indian Ocean. With the War of American Independence (1776–83) raging his first mission was to escort troops attacking Spanish possessions in Nicaragua. Seeing the troops in difficulties he acted on his own initiative, with considerable success. However he nearly died of disease. After recuperating in England he took command of the frigate HMS Albemarle and by the end of war had joined the naval ‘family’ of the brilliant Admiral Lord Hood (1724–1816) a friend of his now deceased uncle. From Hood he learnt the art of an admiral.

Between 1784 and 1787 Nelson commanded the frigate HMS Boreas on the Leeward Islands station, where he demonstrated remarkable tenacity in suppressing illegal trade, and outmanoeuvring his naval and political superiors. He also married Frances Nisbet, a widow with a young son. He came close to ruining his career by backing Prince William (later King William IV, 1830–7), then a naval captain, in a petty dispute. He spent the next five years living quietly in Norfolk with his father, wife, and stepson. The French Revolutionary War (1793–1802) saw him recalled to service, commanding the battleship HMS Agamemnon (see also shipwrecks) in Hood's Mediterranean Fleet. His active, intelligent service at sea and ashore on Corsica earned him the respect of his admiral, at the cost of the sight of his right eye, blinded at the siege of Calvi.

In 1795 Nelson demonstrated brilliant tactical judgement, and contempt for his pedestrian commander Admiral Hotham, in a battle near Toulon. He was then given an independent command on the Italian Riviera, blocking the French advance. When Admiral Sir John Jervis, later Earl St Vincent (1735–1823), took command of the fleet Nelson won his admiration, an emotion he reciprocated, finding in Jervis a role model for fleet command. Jervis appointed him commodore with an independent command. At the battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797 Nelson anticipated Jervis's orders, abandoning the rigid linear formation to break up a Spanish counter-attack, and then captured two Spanish ships of the line by boarding, a unique, heroic achievement that, once he had written it up for the newspapers, made him a national celebrity. Six days later he reached the rank of rear admiral of the Blue (see squadronal colours), and was made a Knight of the Bath for his conduct in battle.

On the night of 24–25 April Nelson led a daring attack on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, but was wounded in the right arm, which had to be amputated, and his force was defeated. Invalided home to recuperate he began to harvest the acclaim that he had earned since 1793. He was now a public figure, and once recovered was ordered back to the Mediterranean, for a detached mission to find and destroy General Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt. Jervis, ennobled as Earl St Vincent after his victory, sent a dozen of his best officers, all in 74-gun ships of the line, to serve under Nelson, who referred to them with a Shakespearian flourish as his ‘band of brothers’. On 1 August 1798 Nelson found the French fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay, the French Army having already landed in Egypt. Although night was falling, and the French were anchored in a strong position, Nelson immediately ordered his fleet to attack. In what came to be called the battle of the Nile all but two of the thirteen French battleships were taken or destroyed. Nelson's battle of annihilation had secured British domination of the Mediterranean, and transformed the art of war at sea. At the height of the battle he was badly cut on the forehead by shrapnel, and concussed.

After securing the prizes Nelson split his fleet to exploit his victory, taking three ships to Naples where he helped the British minister, Sir William Hamilton, persuade the King of Naples to join the war against France. He was showered with honours by King George, the East India Company, and foreign rulers. When the Neapolitan kingdom was overrun by the French, Nelson evacuated the royal family, before helping to restore the status quo, crushing the last remnants of the French-backed republic. His handling of the pro-French Neapolitan Jacobins gave rise to controversy, but Nelson was acting under the direct authority of the Neapolitan monarch, whose support was vital if the British fleet was to remain in the Mediterranean. He then oversaw the capture of Malta, and the two French ships that had escaped from the battle of the Nile. By 1800 the exhausted Nelson had begun a passionate affair with Emma, Lady Hamilton, the talented and beautiful wife of the minister. Nelson and Sir William were recalled to Britain, and went home through Europe in triumph.

Once in London Nelson abandoned his wife, with whom he had had no children, for his heavily pregnant mistress. Within weeks he was back at sea, second in command of the Baltic Fleet under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807). Sent to defeat a coalition of Baltic powers Nelson led part of the fleet in a decisive attack on Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. His judgement was, as ever, impeccable. At the height of the battle he ignored Hyde Parker's signal to retreat, before persuading the Danes to surrender. Once his squadron was committed to battle in shoal waters he had to win, or be destroyed. The ineffectual Hyde Parker was recalled, and Nelson was given the command. With the campaign over he came home, commanding the anti-invasion forces on the Channel coast. Here his presence gave the country peace of mind, and exposed Napoleon's invasion hoax, although his attack on invasion craft moored off Boulogne failed.

During the brief Peace of Amiens from March 1802 to May 1803 Nelson lived in a newly purchased house at Merton, south of London, with Emma and Sir William. They also undertook an astonishing public relations tour, which demonstrated that he was the most popular man in the country. By April 1803, when Sir William died, Nelson was already preparing for war. Sent to command the Mediterranean Fleet with his flag in HMS Victory he spent the next two years waiting for the French to leave Toulon. When they did, in April 1805, he pursued Admiral Villeneuve's force all the way to the West Indies, saving the country millions in shipping and islands, and ruining Bonaparte's complex plans to open the Channel for an invasion.

In August 1805 Nelson went home, but was recalled to service by news that the Franco-Spanish combined fleet was moving. In late September he took command of the fleet off Cadiz, where Villeneuve and Admiral Gravina were blockaded. He allowed them to leave, and on 21 October engaged them off Cape Trafalgar. He had 27 ships of the line to face an enemy 33 strong, and he also knew the weather would break that night, so he had no time for fine manoeuvres. Sending the immortal signal ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’ with a new signal code, he demonstrated his mastery of leadership and morale. The fleet attacked the enemy line at right angles, in two loosely formed columns, one led by his flagship Victory, the other by his second in command, Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign. Although the leading ships were exposed to raking broadsides, and suffered heavy casualties, Nelson's tactics worked. He passed under the stern of Villeneuve's flagship, destroying her as a fighting ship and command centre, but then found the Victory hemmed in by enemy ships, amidst a cauldron of fire. He was calmly walking the quarterdeck with his long-serving flag captain Thomas Hardy, when at 1315 he was hit by a French musket ball, fired from the mizzen top of Redoutable. The ball ripped through his left shoulder, cut a major artery in his left lung, and severed his spine. He was paralysed, slowly drowning in his own blood, and he died at 1630, just as the last shots of the battle were dying away. Most of the nineteen enemy ships that were taken were destroyed that night in the storm Nelson had anticipated.

Trafalgar was the ultimate naval victory. The enemy had been out-thought and annihilated by the genius of one man, and the professional courage of many thousands more, inspired by his matchless example. Already an immortal, Nelson was, in death, transfigured into a national hero and war god. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, and in 1843 a majestic column was erected in Trafalgar Square, cementing his place in the national consciousness. A reflective and professional student of war, Nelson combined his mastery of ships and the sea, of winds and currents, with irresistible leadership of officers and men alike, unequalled tactical insight, strategic vision, and the political courage to act at the highest levels of war. His tangled private life gave him a romantic fascination that has often attracted more interest than his professional qualities. He was, and remains, the ultimate naval commander.

Bibliography

Lambert, A. , Nelson: Britannia's God of War (2004).
White, C. , The Nelson Encyclopedia (2002).

Andrew Lambert