Horatio Nelson

The English admiral and naval hero Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805), was noted for his bravery and for his victories, including the decisive Battle of Trafalgar. He ranks as the last great naval hero of a proud seafaring nation.

Horatio Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe on Sept. 29, 1758. He entered the Royal Navy at the age of 12, and by 20 he had risen from midshipman to commander. In 1780 Nelson took a convoy to America and the West Indies, but the Admiralty placed him on half pay the next year after the American Revolution ended. Nelson then went to France to learn the language.

In 1784 Nelson was given command of the Boreas and sent again to the West Indies. There he gained considerable ill will by seizing five American merchantmen who were violating the Navigation Acts through irregular trading. He also met a young widow, Mrs. Frances Nisbet, whom he married in 1787. Nelson was then ordered home. For nearly 6 years, somewhat in disfavor at the Admiralty, he was unemployed. But when England entered the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, Nelson was given command of the Agamemnon and sent to the Mediterranean Sea. In August he arrived at Naples, where he met Sir William Hamilton, the English ambassador, and his charming young wife, Emma. Nelson's romantic and naval careers both began to blossom.

Rising Hero

In 1794 Lord (Samuel) Hood sent Nelson, in command of seamen and marines, to build and arm batteries about Basti during the English attack on Corsica. He was successful in this assignment and also at Calvi, where he lost the sight of his right eye as the result of a stone-splinter wound during a cannonade against one of his batteries. Nelson's eye patch soon became a symbol. In 1796 Nelson was made commodore and sent to harass the French coastal trade. Then, as commander of the Captain, he joined Sir John Jervis's fleet.

On Feb. 13, 1797, while on a southerly course off Portugal, the British sighted the Spanish fleet in loose formation heading north. Jervis steered between the two halves of the enemy, but he misjudged his course reversal. Nelson perceived the problem, boldly broke away from the line, and headed for the Spaniards. Jervis, seeing Nelson's intention, ordered Cuthbert Collingwood to aid him. The result was that Nelson and Collingwood hit the Spanish fleet and threw it into confusion, enabling the rest of Jervis's ships to come up and to achieve a victory. Fortunately for Nelson, Jervis was not a stickler about rules. Nelson was praised for his action rather than court-martialed as he feared. As a result of the victory off Cape Saint Vincent, Nelson received promotion to rear admiral.

Victorious Admiral

Returning once again to the inshore squadron off France, Nelson lost his right arm in an attempt to cut out a treasure ship at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In April 1798 he rejoined the fleet and was sent to watch the French fleet at Toulon. Eventually, the French evaded Nelson. He pursued them to Alexandria, Egypt, and found the French fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay. Now Nelson's careful training of his captains paid dividends when he discovered that the French were prepared only for attack from the sea. As dusk fell, his ships approached the French line from the west, splitting as they reached the anchored vessels so that they doubled up, one on each side of the enemy. The result was the complete annihilation of all the French ships except two frigates that escaped. Napoleon I and the entire French army were left stranded in Egypt. As soon as the news reached Britain, Nelson was created Baron Nelson of the Nile. His name became known throughout Europe.

Nelson then returned to Naples, which, having declared war on Napoleon, had been overcome by French troops and fifth columnists while Nelson was at Leghorn. Hastily recalled, Nelson insisted on the annulment of the capitulation agreed to by the Neapolitan general Fabrifio Ruffo and on the absolute surrender of the Neapolitan Jacobins. He court-martialed and hanged the Neapolitan commodore Francesco Caracciolo, who had deserted, and he restored civil power. For these acts the grateful king of the Two Sicilies made him Duke of Bronte.

During this period Nelson became infatuated with Emma, Lady Hamilton. While living with her, he conducted the blockades of Egypt and Malta. In 1800 he was permitted to return home because of ill health, and he traveled across Europe with the Hamiltons. In London he met his wife and separated amicably from her. That same year, 1801, Lady Hamilton bore Nelson a daughter, Horatia.

In 1801 Nelson was promoted to vice-admiral and sent as second-in-command to Sir Hyde Parker on an expedition to break up the armed Northern Neutrality League. His first act upon joining was characteristically direct and insubordinate—he wrote to the Admiralty that Sir Hyde stayed abed late with his young wife. The expedition sailed shortly. The Danes refused the British ultimatum, and Nelson was given the job of attacking the anchored Danish fleet and hulks in Copenhagen harbor. He skillfully moved his fleet through shoals after rebuoying the channel, and then on the morning of April 2, 1801, he fought a bitter 4-hour action that resulted in eventual victory. The battle was ended by an armistice called for by Nelson in order to save the lives of Danish sailors. Though his ships were badly battered and he had ignored an optional recall signal flown by Sir Hyde Parker, Nelson achieved a diplomatic success and was created a viscount.

Nelson returned to England, where in order to impress the French he was put in command off Dover. This command was not a great success, and Nelson's expedition against Boulogne became an expensive failure because the French were prepared. As soon as the armistice that led to the Peace of Amiens in 1801 was signed, Nelson came ashore and settled with the Hamiltons on his new estate at Merton, Surrey, about an hour's drive from the Admiralty. Sir William Hamilton died in April 1803, and thereafter Nelson and Lady Hamilton were together exclusively.

Battle of Trafalgar

Upon the outbreak of war again in 1803, Nelson was dispatched to command the fleet in the Mediterranean. There he watched the French under adverse circumstances, blockading the French fleet at Toulon for 22 months. In January 1805 Napoleon decided that the way to conquer the whole of Europe was to combine the French and Spanish fleets in the West Indies, lure the English away from the Channel, and seize the British Isles. With this in mind, the French commander, Pierre de Villeneuve, gave Nelson the slip and headed west while Nelson chased east to Egypt in vain. Dogged by poor intelligence reports and foul winds, Nelson pursued the French to Martinique and back to Europe but could not overtake them. Meanwhile, the returning French fleet had been met off Cape Finisterre by Sir Robert Calder.

On Oct. 9, 1805, Nelson arrived once more off the European coast. He resumed command off Cadiz and issued his famous order for the fleet to attack in two columns. On October 21 Nelson came upon the combined French and Spanish fleets, under Villeneuve, sailing north in a long crescent column off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. Hoisting a signal that became immortal, "England expects every man to do his duty," Nelson led the northern column to cut off and hold the Allied van while Collingwood annihilated the center and rear. Nelson, in spite of advice, insisted upon wearing his full uniform into battle, and at the height of the encounter he was badly wounded by a musket shot from the fighting top of the French ship Redoubtable, which his flagship Victory had fouled. He died 3 hours later as the victory, one of the most significant in history, was completed. Twenty enemy ships were captured, and one was blown up. The English lost no ships. This decisive English victory ended Napoleon's power on the sea.

Nelson's body was placed in a cask of brandy and carried home for burial in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. The celebrated Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square, London, commemorates Nelson's victory.

Nelson the Man

No one, perhaps, better symbolized the British hero than Nelson—dashing naval commander, viscount, and lover. More than this, Nelson ranks high as a leader of men not only for the bravery and dash he displayed at Cape Saint Vincent, but also for his coolness under fire, his joy in battle, and the humanity he displayed at Copenhagen. Nelson was a beloved leader because he knew his officers and men. His captains knew what he wanted to do and how he thought it should be done. The whole combination was called the Nelson touch.

Further Reading

The best accounts of Nelson are by English naval historian Oliver Warner, A Portrait of Lord Nelson (1958; American title, Victory) and Nelson's Battles (1964), which updates the previous work and includes many portraits and illustrations of the battles. A worthwhile book is Sir William M. James, The Durable Monument (1948). Other studies include Robert Southey, Southey's Life of Nelson, edited by Kenneth Fenwich (1813; new ed. 1956), and Alfred T. Mahan, The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain (1968). An excellent account of the Battle of Trafalgar is by a distinguished chronicler of the Napoleonic Wars, David Howarth, Trafalgar: The Nelson Touch (1969), which makes good use of the most recent studies by naval historians and is interspersed with first-rate illustrations. See also Jack Russell, Nelson and the Hamiltons (1969). For more on Nelson and his navy in general see Robin Higham, ed., A Guide to the Sources of British Military History (1971), and G. J. Marcus, The Age of Nelson (1972).

Additional Sources

Bradford, Ernle Dusgate Selby., Nelson: the essential hero, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.

Delaforce, Patrick., Nelson's first Love: Fanny's story, London: Bishopsgate Press, 1988.

Grenfell, Russell., Horatio Nelson: a short biography, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978.

Hattersley, Roy., Nelson, New York, Saturday Review Press 1974.

Hibbert, Christopher, Nelson: a personal history, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1994.

Howarth, David Armine, Lord Nelson: the immortal memory, New York: Viking, 1989, 1988.

The Nelson companion, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.

Pocock, Tom., Horatio Nelson, New York: Knopf, 1988.

Pocock, Tom., The young Nelson in the Americas, London: Collins, 1980.

Walder, David., Nelson, London: Hamilton, 1978.

Walder, David., Nelson, a biography, New York: Dial Press/J. Wade, 1978.

Warner, Oliver, A portrait of Lord Nelson, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books in association with Chatto & Windus, 1987, 1958. □

Nelson, Horatio (1758–1805). Emphasis should always be placed on Nelson's East Anglian background. Through both his parents (via his mother Catherine née Suckling he was a great-great-nephew of Sir Robert Walpole) his roots were regional, and his father's pastoral duties in his living at Burnham Thorpe, where Nelson was born on 29 September 1758, brought Edmund Nelson's eight surviving children into daily contact with parishioners whose livelihood was wrung from field, marsh, and coast. All his life Nelson was profoundly aware of the drudgery of toil, whether on the furrow or the lower deck, and humanely responsive to the concerns of the least privileged. The influence of his strong-minded mother, who died when he was only 9, always remained with him. By 1801 only two of her six sons survived, and this year, probably the most testing of his life, when he parted from a blameless wife, became the father of two daughters by Emma Hamilton, and, after Copenhagen, assumed against his will a most challenging anti-invasion command reaching from Harwich down to Dover, stretched his highly strung temperament to its limits. A natural recklessness, which had underlain past feats and past censure, was snuffed out before the defences of Boulogne in August 1801, and fame itself was tasting sour for Nelson: a plan to quit England with Emma for the Sicilian dukedom of Brontë, given to him by a grateful king of the Two Sicilies in August 1799, had not been abandoned. But within eighteen months, by the time Nelson assumed the Mediterranean command in May 1803, he had found composure, and for this Emma Hamilton (then widowed) may claim some credit. The devotion shown him by the fleet also helped the serenity of the last three years, a potent contribution to Nelson's ‘legend’ in its ultimate form; and in May 1804 late proof of his mother's benign legacy breaks through in one of his innumerable letters: ‘the thought of former days brings all my mother into my heart, which shows itself in my eyes.’

Nothing is known for certain about Nelson's earliest acquaintance with the sea, but he took so readily to navigation in Thames and Medway, and later through tropical shoals and rivers, to the grand moments at the Nile and Copenhagen that there may have been childhood experiences of north Norfolk's creeks, even if only by punt when angling. His entry to the navy in 1770 was through patronage, that of his uncle Maurice Suckling, comptroller of the navy 1775–8. For all his natural intolerance of regulation, Nelson was unfeignedly sincere in sustaining lifelong friendships with his seniors: Captains Lutwidge, no discourager of initiative, and Locker, a profoundly educative influence; Sir Peter Parker, who in June 1779 eased Nelson's promotion to a post-captaincy and so placed his feet on the ladder to becoming an admiral; Sir Samuel ( Lord) Hood, and Sir John Jervis ( earl of St Vincent). Through ‘pull’ in the right quarters Nelson made early voyages to the West Indies and the Arctic, followed by a spell in the East Indies during which he escaped death by malaria only through the care of Captain James Pigot. Examined for lieutenant in April 1777, Nelson immediately returned to the West Indies, and his years there, to July 1788 when he was within four months of being placed on half-pay back in England, formed him as a naval officer. A ten-month break at home and in France, June 1783 to the following spring, caused him briefly to consider standing for Parliament.

Before Maurice Suckling died he had predicted admiralship for his nephew (attained February 1797), while Hood, a friend of Suckling's, noted the young captain's exceptional dedication. Prince William Henry, the future William IV, to whom Nelson became a trusted councillor in the Leeward Islands, thought him ‘no common being’, and many from other walks of life were struck by his flair and address: we can yet recover something of Nelson's flavour through reading even a random sample of his 5,000 surviving letters, incisively lucid, often humorous, and with insights unexpected in a man apparently prone to self-absorption. His grasp of the essentials in commanding men was allied to administrative exactitude; and the latter quality prompted him to take issue with illicit American trade in the West Indies which, though a justifiable policy, placed his professional future at risk. The attraction he felt towards women suggests strong emotional cravings. Perhaps it was some self-knowledge which brought him to a marriage, grounded only in ‘esteem’, with Frances Nisbet (née Woolward) in March 1787. The match involved a serious misjudgement of Frances's likely capacities as a naval officer's wife: dutifully loyal to the navy, the maintenance of the same quality towards his spouse became a burden for Nelson, before ever he met Emma Hamilton.

If Frances Nelson could not comprehend her husband's professional zeal, neither could she share in his attachment to north Norfolk during his years of unemployment until, in January 1793, he was at length appointed to the 64-gun Agamemnon at Chatham. Nelson assured his wife he would ‘come laughing back one day’, and although no finality was intended, a marriage which had proved childless was even less likely to bring him back involuntarily. The seven years which ensued in the Mediterranean, broken only by sick leave September 1797 to March 1798, under the commands of Hood, Hotham, Jervis, and, least happily, Keith, saw Nelson become a surpassing commander for those who served under him, and a hero to his countrymen and -women. But they were costly, his wounds, as he drily commented, being ‘tolerable for one war’: a right eye lost at Calvi (Corsica) July 1794, an internal rupture at St Vincent February 1797, loss of his right arm in a foolhardy assault on Tenerife the following July, a head wound at the Nile in August 1798, which almost certainly affected his mental balance and increased his fear of blindness. This may be a charitable explanation, but it is a not unconvincing one, for the intensity of his passion for Emma Hamilton, his intoxication with the honours which fell to him from George III, Naples, Constantinople, Malta, his maladroit and insensate involvement in Neapolitan politics 1799–1800, and his flagrant disregard of a superior's orders at Copenhagen. A national hero, yet a flawed one, the last three years 1803–5, which included a further spell in the Mediterranean and the untiring, frustrating chase after Villeneuve to the West Indies and back in the summer before Trafalgar, confirmed Nelson's renown as a leader of men with an almost spiritual power to articulate the national will to resist Napoleon. He was given a barony after his victory of the Nile and advanced to viscount after the battle of Copenhagen.

David Denis Aldridge

Bibliography

Nicholas, N. H. (ed.), The Letters and Despatches of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson (7 vols., 1844–6);
Oman, C. , Nelson (1947);
Pocock, T. , Horatio Nelson (1987).

NELSON, HORATIO

NELSON, HORATIO (1758–1805), the British navy's most famous leader.

Horatio Nelson held the titles Vice Admiral of the White Squadron, Knight of the Bath, Baron and Viscount of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe, and Duke of Brontë. He was arguably the greatest naval strategist and tactician that ever paced a deck, and in significant ways a farsighted innovator, moving considerably away from eighteenth-century tradition.

Son of an impoverished clergyman, Nelson began his naval career at age twelve. By age twenty-nine he had served in a variety of positions and stations, risen to the rank of captain, commanded five ships, and was married (to Frances Nisbet). During the period from 1787 to 1793 he was relegated to inactive status in England; in 1793 he was given another command after war broke out with France. He began considerable Mediterranean service—including a 1794 land action at Calvi, Corsica, which resulted in the blinding of his right eye.

Made a commodore in 1796, he played a decisive role in Sir John Jervis's 1797 victory over the Spanish at Cape St. Vincent. Seizing the initiative, Nelson's unorthodox action—turning out of the line-of-battle and cutting off the Spanish second division—saved the day. After the battle he received a knighthood and, due to seniority, promotion to rear admiral.

Later in 1797, leading a bold attack at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, a grapeshot shattered his right arm, and the British force was defeated. By the spring of 1798 Nelson had recovered, and with a small force he entered the Mediterranean to investigate unusual French activity centered in Toulon. Reinforced by ten additional ships, he spent several stressful weeks searching the Mediterranean for an enormous enemy force that had sortied undetected. Finally catching the French near the mouth of the Nile, he aggressively attacked their squadron of warships in Aboukir Bay. Nelson sustained a severe head wound, but the night battle annihilated the French (eleven of thirteen ships), establishing British control of the Mediterranean and effectively cutting off the expeditionary army of then-general Napoleon Bonaparte.

Nelson was made a baron and returned to Naples to support Neapolitan resistance to the French. He was made a Sicilian duke in 1799, but his overinvolvement in Neapolitan politics and an affair with Emma Hamilton, the British ambassador's wife, stand as the nadir of his career.

Recalled to Britain in 1800, Nelson advanced—by seniority—to vice admiral and was appointed to the Baltic Fleet under Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807). Early in 1801, Lady Hamilton bore him a daughter (Horatia), and he effectively broke with Lady Nelson. Soon after, the Baltic Fleet sailed to counter the Russian-instigated League of Armed Neutrality. Without declaring war, the British struck at Copenhagen with Nelson leading the attack. Although the British were hotly resisted, Nelson's planning, tactics, and determination prevailed. The Danes agreed to an armistice, and Nelson was created a viscount. He then briefly commanded in British home waters, guarding against cross-Channel invasion, before demobilizing with the Treaty of Amiens (1802).

In 1803 Nelson was appointed Mediterranean Fleet commander-in-chief as France prepared for renewed war. His task was to prevent the fleet, commanded by Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve (1763–1806), from joining French Atlantic forces for an invasion of Britain. For two years Nelson contained the enemy, continuously trying to draw them into a decisive battle. After a fruitless chase to the West Indies and back, Nelson finally brought to battle the combined French and Spanish fleets, near Cape Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805. His captains had been thoroughly indoctrinated and knew his mind; he intended to force a "pell-mell" battle by breaking the enemy line from windward—a striking abandonment of traditional line-of-battle tactics. It resulted in a spectacular victory—nearly twenty ships taken. Nelson, however, was mortally wounded by a musket shot, and died shortly after hearing of success.

Famous in his lifetime, among the public as well as the navy, Nelson remains an almost mythical hero even today. At times extraordinarily vain and egotistic, and distracted by his scandalous relationship with Lady Hamilton, Nelson was nevertheless a great innovator and strategic genius. He was both a sound and an original thinker, possessing characteristic qualities of decision, resourcefulness, unshakable perseverance, brilliant tactical insight, and swift and audacious action—all combined with an all-consuming focus on victory. Although slight of stature, frequently seasick, and often otherwise ill, he was extremely courageous and remarkably tenacious—both physically and mentally. He alternately could be quite ruthless as well as notably kind.

The foundations for Nelson's successes were his boundless imagination and limitless attention to detail. As a flag officer, he spectacularly displayed uncommon abilities for both operational readiness and logistical legerdemain. As a leader, he was particularly charismatic and consistently inspired others by example. He was unusually willing to be pleased and routinely showered compliments and praise. Unquestionably these were root causes of the popularity, cooperation, inspiration, and devotion that he always found in—and from—his subordinates.

Moreover, his habit of sharing his thoughts and intentions with his captains, and the great latitude and initiative that he allowed and encouraged among subordinates, greatly enhanced the effectiveness of his plans. He thus brought about stunning results with a minimum of direct command and control and was largely responsible for bringing about the British naval supremacy that lasted nearly a century.

See alsoCongress of Vienna; French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars; Metternich, Clemens von; Napoleonic Empire; Prussia; Restoration.

bibliography

Forester, C. S. Lord Nelson. Indianapolis, Ind., 1929. Reprint, Safety Harbor, Fla., 2001.

Hayward, Joel. For God and Glory: Lord Nelson and His Way of War. Annapolis, Md., 2003.

Hibbert, Christopher. Nelson: A Personal History. Reading, Mass., 1994.

Oman, Carola. Nelson. New York, 1946. Reprint, Annapolis, Md., 1996.

Pocock, Tom. Horatio Nelson. London, 1988.

Steven E. Maffeo

Nelson, Horatio

NELSON, HORATIO. (1758–1805). British admiral and naval hero. Nelson first went to sea in 1770 in a ship commanded by his uncle, and passed for lieutenant on 9 April 1777. In the West Indies in 1778 he was taken up by Peter Parker, who took him into his flagship, gave him the brig Badger in 1778, and in 1779 appointed him to a post ship, the frigate Hinchinbrook. His first experiences of action came in the expedition to Nicaragua, where disease nearly killed him. In 1783 he unsuccessfully attacked the French garrison of Turk's Island in the Bahamas.

SEE ALSO Bahamas.

                               revised by John Oliphant