The Story of Nelson 2

The Story of Nelson 2

Tennyson’s “Mighty Seaman” has been apotheosised in poetry as well as

in prose,

 

“_For he is Britain’s Admiral

Till setting of her sun,_”

 

to quote Meredith’s superb lines. Wordsworth, Scott, Rossetti, Henley,

Swinburne, Newbolt and others have said noble things of the Man of

Duty, while Nelson looms large in Thomas Hardy’s magnificent epic, “The

Dynasts.” No one who has read it is likely to forget:

 

“_In the wild October night-time, when the wind raved round the land,

And the Back-Sea met the Front-Sea, and our doors were blocked with

sand,

And we heard the drub of Deadman’s Bay, where the bones of thousands

are,

We knew not what the day had done for us at Trafalgar._

 

(ALL) _Had done,

Had done,

For us at Trafalgar!_

 

* * * * *

 

_The victors and the vanquished then the storm it tossed and tore,

As hard they strove, those worn-out men, upon that surly shore;

Dead Nelson and his half-dead crew, his foes from near and far,

Were rolled together on the deep that night at Trafalgar._

 

(ALL) _The deep,

The deep,

That night at Trafalgar!_”

 

 

 

 

Contents

 

 

PAGE

 

FOREWORD 7

 

CHAP.

 

I. BOYHOOD AND FIRST YEARS AT SEA 19

 

II. A HERO IN THE MAKING 29

 

III. PLEASURE IN FRANCE AND WORK IN THE WEST INDIES 42

 

IV. THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT WAR 52

 

V. “I WISH TO BE AN ADMIRAL” 66

 

VI. NELSON’S FIRST GREAT FIGHT: THE BATTLE OF CAPE ST VINCENT 74

 

VII. FROM TRIUMPH TO FAILURE: THE ATTEMPT ON SANTA CRUZ 87

 

VIII. IN CHASE OF THE FRENCH FLEET 96

 

IX. THE BATTLE OF THE NILE 102

 

X. THE NEAPOLITAN COURT AND LADY HAMILTON 112

 

XI. THE NEAPOLITAN REBELS AND THEIR FRENCH ALLIES 125

 

XII. NELSON IN TEMPORARY COMMAND 139

 

XIII. DISOBEDIENCE TO ORDERS 148

 

XIV. THE CAMPAIGN OF THE BALTIC 162

 

XV. THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN 171

 

XVI. THE THREATENED INVASION OF ENGLAND 182

 

XVII. THE VIGIL OFF TOULON 195

 

XVIII. TWELVE WEARY MONTHS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 207

 

XIX. THE CRISIS 215

 

XX. NELSON’S LAST COMMAND 225

 

XXI. THE ROUT IN TRAFALGAR BAY 232

 

 

 

 

Illustrations

 

 

PAGE

 

THE “BELLEISLE” AT TRAFALGAR (_Frank Craig_) _Frontispiece_

 

NELSON AND THE BEAR (_Stephen Reid_) 26

 

“HE HAD THE ILL-LUCK TO FALL UPON HARD STONES”

(_Stephen Reid_) 44

 

COMPARISON OF THE “VICTORY” WITH THE “HERCULES” 64

 

“I’LL NOT LOSE HARDY!” (_H. C. Seppings Wright_) 76

 

NELSON WOUNDED AT SANTA CRUZ (_R. Caton Woodville_) 90

 

“THE FLAME THAT LIT THE BATTLE’S WRECK” (_Chas. Dixon, R.I._) 106

 

THE EXECUTION OF CARACCIOLO (_Stephen Reid_) 136

 

LADY HAMILTON (_Romney_) 156

 

NELSON LANDING AT YARMOUTH (_Stephen Reid_) 160

 

“I REALLY DO NOT SEE THE SIGNAL” (_Stephen Reid_) 172

 

LORD NELSON 192

 

HOISTING THE FAMOUS SIGNAL (_C. M. Padday_) 234

 

NELSON AND COLLINGWOOD CUTTING THE ENEMY’S LINES

(_H. C. Seppings Wright_) 238

 

THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR (_W. L. Wyllie, A.R.A._) 242

 

HOW THE NEWS OF TRAFALGAR WAS CARRIED TO LONDON

(_Frank Dadd, R.I._) 246

 

 

 

 

_For ages past our admirals brave

Pre-eminent have stood;

And, spite of all the world, have held

The mast’ry of the flood,

Howe, Duncan, Hood,

And Collingwood,

Long triumphed o’er the main;

While Nelson’s name,

So dear to Fame!--

We may never see their like again_

 

 

 

 

[Illustration: The headpiece, a sketch by Mr W. L. Wyllie, R.A., is

printed by permission of the Art Union of London, 112 Strand.]

 

 

 

 

Chapter I--Boyhood and First Years at Sea (1758-1773)

 

 

Thus[3] runs one of the verses of a song dear to the British sailor

for many a long year. Nelson, dead over a century, is still revered in

the King’s Navy. To the landsman there is no more popular hero. The

_Victory_, riding at anchor in the placid waters of the Solent and in

view of the cobble-covered sally port through which the Hero walked

to his barge, still flies an admiral’s flag. One of the most modern

battleships in the service bears his name, the most famous of London’s

many columns is crowned by his effigy. Canvas sails have given place

to steam turbines, the days of oak and hemp are gone, but the memory

of “the greatest sea captain of all time” is at once an incentive and

an inspiration to every true patriot. His ashes lie in the crypt of St

Paul’s Cathedral; his spirit lives in the nation for whom he sacrificed

his life. Perhaps we should not be far wrong in venturing the apparent

paradox that the further we recede from his life and times the more

clearly we understand his consummate genius and appreciate the value

of his achievements. There is no sunset, only an added glory with the

passing of the years.

 

Horatio Nelson was born in the quaint old parsonage house of Burnham

Thorpe, a Norfolk Sleepy Hollow, on the 29th September 1758. His

father, the Rev. Edmund Nelson, M.A., was rector of the parish, and as

a clergyman was following the profession of his immediate ancestor.

His mother, Catherine Nelson, was the daughter of the Rev. Dr Maurice

Suckling, Rector of Wooton, Norfolk, Prebendary of Westminster, and

grandnephew of Sir John Suckling, whose name is known to all students

of English literature and of history. Galfridus Walpole, another of

Mrs Nelson’s relatives, had displayed considerable bravery in an

engagement with the French in Vado Bay in 1711. It was through Captain

Maurice Suckling, Nelson’s uncle, that the young son of the parsonage

eventually entered the Navy. In addition, his mother was a grandniece

of Sir Robert Walpole, the famous Whig statesman, and could therefore boast a distinguished lineage.