TRAFALGAR RELICS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 244, 12 September 1935, Page 8

TRAFALGAR RELICS.

EXHIBIT AT CHRISTCHURCH. Relics of the battle of Tratalgar are a special exhibit at the Canterbury Museum at present. First there is a replica of the medal which was issued in 1848 to those who fought in naval engagements from June 1, 1794, through the Napoleonic Wars to the attack on Algiers and the battle ol Navarino, and in the battle of Trafalgar. A claret glass used by Lord Nelson in the Victory is shown, together with a piece of wood from the ship and a small section of the flag that covered him after be fell. Of most interest is a set of surgical instruments which were used in more than 100 engagements, both during and after the fighting. A little later than 1835 these came into the possession of Dr. Redman, of Picton, who gave them to the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of New Zealand.* The lodge disposed of them for £558 in an art union which was organised to raise £IO,OOO for wounded members of the fraternity, and for dependants of those who were killed. On Dr. Redman’s wish the instruments were handed over to the Canterbury Museum. Their primitiveness shows how crude the operations of that time must have been, and indicates also the hardihood of the men who could undergo them without any anaesthetic.

In tire collection are several facsimiles of Nelson’s letters, none of which, however, makes direct relerence to Trafalgar. Many such copies are in existence, and ail of them show the boldness and clearness of the great admiral's handwriting.