Page 40 - All About History - Issue 16-14

Heroes & Villains

Horatio

Nelson

Master strategist and popular hero, 1st Viscount

Horatio Nelson enjoyed a meteoric rise to command

Written by Owen Williams

ice Admiral Horatio Nelson stood on the deck His father was a cleric but it was his uncle
of the HMS Elephant in April 1801, surveying William, a Navy captain, who arguably had a
the carnage in the seas off Copenhagen. greater influence on him, providing the young
Negotiations had failed to avert a stand- Horatio with his earliest opportunities and
Voff between the mighty British fleet and facilitating his nephew’s smooth progress from
a ‘League of Armed Neutrality’ formed between lowly midshipman to commissioned officer. In
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Prussia and Russia, his early teens, Nelson twice crossed the Atlantic
insistent on pursuing free trade with Britain’s great on merchant ships, ironically discovering that he
enemy, France. Denmark was to be separated suffered from chronic seasickness, but picking up
from the League “by amicable arrangement or insights into the life of ordinary seamen that would
actual hostilities”, but when the Danes rejected the serve him well in his Admiralty career.
ultimatum, battle was inevitable. With the Nelson next found himself on a voyage
British ships Russell, Agamemnon and searching for the Northwest Passage
Bellona all already run aground, Nelson’s – the fabled Arctic waterway
and heavy fire coming from connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
the Danes, the day was not naval career Oceans, only finally discovered
going well for the British fleet. by Roald Amundsen in 1906.
Admiral Sir Hyde Parker sent a began in 1771 Subsequent early commissions
signal for Nelson to withdraw. when he was saw him involved with the
Nelson held a telescope to his fleet supporting the British East
blind right eye and explained to only 12 India Company; skirmishing
his flag captain that he could see during the American War of
no such signal. The battle raged years old Independence, making a scientific
for three more punishing hours, expedition to the Bahamas, patrolling
ending in an exhausted truce. the Central American coast, taking up
This was behaviour typical of Nelson, who position to defend Jamaica against French
in the preceding decade had established himself as invasion at Fort Charles, Kingston (a threat that “Nelson held a
both a genius of naval strategy and command, as never materialised) and joining a British assault telescope to his
well as something of an uncontrollable maverick. on the Spanish colonies in Central America,
He was legitimately adored by the British public specifically at Fort Castillo Viejo in Nicaragua. blind right eye
for his seagoing heroics, but Nelson was also a He was appointed acting lieutenant of the HMS
tremendous self-publicist and a firm believer of his Worcester aged 17, was commander of the HMS and explained
own hype. “His conversation – if I can call it that – Badger aged 20, and landed his first captaincy
was all on his side and all about himself,” recalled aboard the HMS Albemarle aged just 23. that he could not
The Duke of Wellington of an encounter in 1805. In It was clear for all to see that he was a rising star
the 18th and 19th centuries, when Britannia ruled of the Royal Navy. The young man was popular see the signal to
the waves, Nelson enjoyed nothing short of rock- with his crewmen due to a friendly rapport with all withdraw”
star status. of them, regardless of how lowly a rank they held,
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