Horatio Nelson

The greatest of all Naval Officers

This Naval History continues on from: "Early Actions"

It will be instructive, and not uninteresting to examine the professional career of Horatio Nelson, the greatest of all naval officers. He entered the Service at the age of 12 as a Midshipman of "H.M.S. Raisonnable."

He was breaking rules already a century old, but censure is somewhat out of place when we discover that very nearly every other officer, at one time or another, was doing the same thing.

In his next commission, still aged 12, he actually put himself right, going to sea as the Captain's Servant in the "Triumph." Next, from just under 13 to just over 15, he served in four different ships, as a Midshipman in each.

At 15 he was rated Able Seaman in "H.M.S. Seahorse". This is interesting as it shows him lowering his grade to serve aboard a ship in the 1770s. Then during the whole of his seventeenth year he was a Midshipman in "H.M.S. Dolphin."

At 18 he passed his Lieutenant's examination and was instantly made Lieutenant of the "Lowestoft." Here he broke a rule, for he should have been 20 years old. Now his rise was meteoric. At 20 he was made Commander of the "Badger" and, still at 20, Captain of "H.M.S. Hinchinbroke".

Early Actions

Today promotion is a lot different

Now this, to a twenty-first-century naval officer, would seem too good to be true. At the age when Nelson became a Captain he would just about be contemplating his first stripe as a Sub-Lieutenant. And it was reasonably good in Nelson's time, but far from being a record.

It has been said; that in the eighteenth-century an officer needed three favorable conditions in order to reach the top. First he must have ability. This was true, though a man who had this might not rise very high and a man who did not have it might rise fairly high.

Next it was essential to live in an age when there were plenty of wars. There is much obvious truth in this too. And the last and most important condition for success. It was essential to know the right person at the right moment.

There were several "right moments" in an officers career. The first was when he was hoping for his commission: if he had no influence, he would very likely never get it at all; and so good-bye to high command. Other occasions arose each time he left one ship and started to look for another.

More depended on "backing" than what was right.

Nelson enjoyed all three conditions. His ability is well known and can hardly be exaggerated. The wars came just at the right moment for him, and he knew the right man.

His uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling, was comptroller of the Navy, and was prepared to "use his interest" on his nephew's behalf.

Nelson had to have interest of course, but there were more than enough honest, observant and patriotic officers to see such a genius did reach the top.

Returning to Nelson's career, we find that he served as Captain in many ships, but was not promoted to be Rear-Admiral until he was 38 years old. This may seem surprising at first. Eight years from Captain's Servant to Captain, but eighteen years from Captain to Rear-Admiral!

It was certainly not through lack of seeing service, nor through failure to shine through, nor was it through lack of recognition from above. He was a famous man before he obtained his flag. He had been the principal instrument in the victory off Cape St. Vincent, and he had been created Knight of the Bath.

Nelson's name rang throughout Britain

His Captain's service was not particularly long when measured against that of his contemporaries. He was still only on the lowest rung when he won the 'Battle of the Nile.' From here his rise once more accelerated.

He skipped only one grade in the long path upwards; on that occasion he went straight from Rear-Admiral of the Blue to Rear-Admiral of the Red: he was 40 years old. At 42 he became a Vice-Admiral of the Blue.

It was at this stage in his career that he won the 'Battle of Copenhagen' for which he was created Viscount. He was still on this rung of the ladder, when, in 1803, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief-Mediterranean, which was one of the great "plums" among the naval posts.

He was 45 when he took his next step up to be Vice-Admiral of the White and with that title he fought the "Battle of Trafalgar". Most Englishmen take it for granted that Nelson was an Admiral, but it is wrong. He did not fulfil the sole condition which would make him one; he did not live long enough.

He was still working gradually up that long ladder, and had just reached the half-way rung, when he was killed. The most significant fact of all is revealed if we ask when he would have reached the top, had he lived.

A brief study of the current Navy Lists will give the exact answer. All we have to do is follow of those above him in the list and see when they died.

Charles Nugent first posted as a Captain in 1779, in the same year as Nelson but just before him. Thereafter they remained in exactly the same relative positions. Nelson died of course, in 1805, but Nugent survived for another thirty-nine years, steadily rising all of the time until he won that scramble to be Admiral of the Fleet.

Nelson, would have had to remain alive until 1844, when he would have reached the top rung of the ladder; at the early age of 86!

The Trafalgar Letter

Below is a letter from a Seaman who was at the "Battle of Trafalgar"

A Remarkable Letter after the "Battle of Trafalgar"

His ship safely home from the "Battle of Trafalgar", sailor Robert Hope was brimming with pride. ‘What do you think of us lads of the sea now? I think they won’t send their fleets out again in a hurry,’ he wrote in a letter to his brother about the victory over the French and Spanish.

Hope, a sailmaker, was part of the crew of the gunship H.M.S. Temeraire, which went to the aid of Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship H.M.S. Victory at the height of the fighting.

The two-page letter, which resurfaced days before the 205th anniversary of Trafalgar Day, has been hailed as a highly significant find because it gives an ordinary seaman’s view of the famous battle.

'They wont send their fleets out again in a hurry': The triumphant letter from Robert Hope, written 205 years ago after the "Battle of Trafalgar", is now in the possession of the National Maritime Museum.

The nation's favorite: Robert Hope would have been part of a gun crew on H.M.S. Temeraire - which was depicted in one of J.M.W. Turner's most celebrated paintings. "The Fighting Temeraire"

'But we soon cooled them for in the height of the smoke our men from the upper decks boarded them both at the same time, and soon carried the day. What do you think of us Lads of the Sea now,? I think they won't send their fleets out in a hurry.'

Quintin Colville, curator of naval history at the National Maritime Museum, which has purchased the letter from Hope’s descendants for an undisclosed sum, said: ‘There are numerous accounts of Trafalgar written by officers but this is a very rare example of a voice from the lower decks.’

Hope wrote the letter to his brother John, a carpenter, from Ashford, Kent, a fortnight after the battle while his ship was moored at Portsmouth. He gives a vivid account of the conflict, telling how his 98-gun ship engaged the Santisima Trinadada, a Spanish four-decker, for 45 minutes alongside Nelson’s Victory before they came under heavy attack.

‘Five more of the enemy’s ships came upon us and engage us upon every quarter, for one hour and 16 minutes,’ wrote Hope, whose job on the Temeraire would have involved joining a gun crew for the battle, as well as his primary role of repairing sails. ‘When one struck but being so closely engaged that we could not take possession of her at that time, two more seemed to be quite satisfied with what they had got so sheered of, but the other two, was determined to board us.'

The Letter Robert Hope Wrote To His Brother

Dear Brother

This is with my love to you hoping It will find you in good health As I bless god I am at present, what do you think of us Lads Of the Sea now, I think they wont send their fleets Out Again in a hurry, I suppose you know more About the Action than I can tell you, the first Ship that we Engaged was the Santa Trinadada.

The Spanish four Decker, we engage her three Quarters of an hour when the Victory fell Along side of him we dropt a Stern when five More of the Enemy’s Ships came upon us and Engage us upon every Quarter, for one hour and Sixteen Minutes, when one Struck but being so Closely Engaged that we could not take possession Of her at that time, two more Seemed to be quite Satisfied with what they had got so Sheered Of, But the Other two, was determined to Board Us, So with that Intent.

one Dropt on our Starboard Side, Called the La Fue and other dropt on our Larboard Side called Le Doubtable, they Kept A Very hot fire for some time But we Soon

Page 2

Cooled them for In the height of the smoke Our, men from the upper decks Boarded them Both at the same time, And soon Carried the Day, at this time, I Counted when Smoke Cleared away Seventeen Prizes and one All on fire, But we have only got four Into Gibraltar, for a Gale of wind Came on the day following that we was Obliged to Scuttle them for they was so very leaky, Taken & Destroyed

In twenty five, we had forty three Killed And Eighty five wounded, And twenty Seven Drowned In the Prizes, I sent a letter to my Father from the Rock, So when you receive this Please to let him know that I am arrived In England for I long very much to hear from him.

And Give my love to my Sister and your Answer upon the receipt of this will Oblige your loving Brother

Dr Colville said Hope is almost certainly referring to the "Redoubtable" when he says ‘Le Doubtable’.

It was a musket ball fired from the Redoubtable

that killed Nelson

Hope does not refer to Nelson’s death, but Dr Colville said that is not surprising. ‘For an ordinary sailor his ship was his whole world – and not even the ship, but the crew immediately around him,’ he explained. The letter was written on November 4, 1805.

Naval records have confirmed that Hope was 28 when he joined the "Temeraire" a month before Trafalgar, but little else is known about him.

Hope, who had joined the crew of the Temeraire only a few weeks before the historic battle - which would pave the way for Britain's naval dominance in the nineteenth century - also displays great affection for his family, and an awareness of his good fortune at coming through unscathed.

'This is with my love to you, hoping it will find you in good health as I bless god I am at present...'

Modern-day-Pages Fast Boats Pages Joe Wezley Pages

The letter was retained as a treasured possession

Hope's family, held on to the letter, treasuring it, and has passed it down through the generations. The current owners, realizing its historical significance, recently donated it to the National Maritime Museum.

Quintin Colville, curator of naval history at the museum, said the document offered new perspectives that would need to be 'woven into the texture of the battle'.

The elegantly written letter also puts paid to the traditional view that ordinary sailors in the 18th century were 'uneducated and inarticulate'.

'The Battle of Trafalgar is a well documented event but most of the objects relating to Trafalgar belonged to officers. 'Voices from the lower deck are much rarer, and we don't have a single record of the battle from the crew of the Temeraire - which makes Robert Hope's account extremely valuable.'

Colville said that once essential conservation work was completed, the letter would be put on public display alongside the 'high status' objects in the museum's collection relating to Trafalgar, such as officers' uniforms and medals, and the J.M.W. Turner painting "The Battle of Trafalgar".

'This remarkable document sheds new light on the battle, and on the lives of ordinary sailors,' he said. The museum published the letter to coincide with Trafalgar Day 21st October.

A painting of the Temeraire by J.M.W. Turner was voted the nation's favorite.

"When England expected" is Thomas Buttersworth's depiction of the "Battle Of Trafalgar".

"Thick of the action" another painting of the famous engagement as depicted by J.M.W. Turner in the "Battle of Trafalgar", with "H.M.S. Victory" taking centre stage. It shows the ship being tugged to her final berth to be broken up in 1838, 33 years after her heroics at Trafalgar.

Turner had already painted her in 1808, three years after Nelson's victory, in his depiction of the "Battle of Trafalgar". In Turner's painting the ship which helped rescue Britain from Napoleon, was no more than a ghostly hulk being towed upriver by a modern steam tug belching out fire and soot.

The breaker at the yard paid £5,500 (about £3 million in today's money) for the hull of the Temeraire.

The continuation of this Naval History will be: " "

Horatio Nelson

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