NELSON’S FLAGSHIP.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20522, 25 September 1928, Page 10

NELSON’S FLAGSHIP.

WHY WE RESTORED THE VICTORY.

, ■^ le , Kil 'S s visit to the Victory, now that ahe has been restored to the rig which she carried in kelson’s time and at the crowning battle of Trafalgar, must recall attention to those far-off days of 1800 and their immortal events (writes H. W. Wilson in the Daily Mail). The battle was fought by the Franco, bpanish fleet because the French com* mander-in-chief, Admiral Villeneuve, knew taat he was about to be superseded. Another officer was 01. the way, sent by .Napoleon, to take his place and order him home for trial and disgrace. A council of war held in the Franco-Spanish Ueet decided unanimously against fightmg- The French ships were badly manned, supplies were short; the crews lacked practice in gunnery at sea. But when the Emperor Napoleon’s instruction* to light were made known all bowed their deads. The orders were issued for battle. Outside Cadiz Nelson waited with the Bntish fleet, which had only 27 ships of the line to the French and Spanish 33. But in efficiency the British force has never since been surpassed. At its head was the greatest admiral in history, Nelson, an officer whose very name was an inspiration, and who was beloved by all ranks from highest to lowest. What Napoleon was on land, that Nelson was at sea. He had no secret's from .his subordinates. One and all knew what he wanted and intended. His plan of battle had been for days in their hands, and such was his extraordinary force that when he discussed it with his captains their admiration for it drew tears from them. It sounds incredible, and yet it is true.

As Napoleon yearned on land for the perfect victory, po did Nelson strive to achieve it at sea. One of his watchwords in the momentous days before he died was. "Not victory, but annihilation.” One of his instructions to his captains was that no captain would go far wrong who placed himself alongside his enemy in battle. For at this date the British gunner* fired twice or thrice as fast as their antagonists. The British got off three broadsides a minute in close action; the enemy got off one. A British ship which closed would, therefore, barring accidents, shoot her adversary to bite. There was nothing wild or hot-headed about Nelson’s orders. They were the fruit of long study and reflection, and to-day, as in the past, they ought always to be borne in mind. He cared nothing foi maintaining strict and severe order in his line of battle as he bore down to engage. The British were reported by their adversaries to be approaching in great confusion. Nelson was ready to fake the risk of receiving their fire as he neared them. He was in great personal peril, but he refused to avoid it, as he might easily have done by permitting Ellab Harvey in the Temerraire, a magnificent fighting officer in a magnificent ship,*to lead. , , , , . When Collingwood at the head of one British line, and Nelson at the head of another, struck the Franco-Spanish fleets there were several minutes of the most desperate fighting, after which, as the fruit of superior gunnery and much superior strategy, the British rapidly ettablished their ascendancy. About an hour after Nelson and the Victory had entered the battle Nelson received ms mortal wound. As he lay dying be was told that 13 of the enemy’s ships had struck; but he refused to be content, and said he must have 20. As consciousness began to fail, his mind still clung to that ideal, which was supreme in his life and his naval career, "Not victory, but annihilation,” an ideal which since his day has only been fulfilled in one case at sea and by one commander—by Togo at Tsushima, the historic battle which resulted in the destruction of the Russian fleet in 1905. For Nelson, as he said himself, “counted nothing done while aught remained to do.” _ It is this splendid spirit of devotion, this extraordinary capacity in leadership which the King honours when he pays ms visit to the Victory. still we can say in the words of Swinburne; There is none other and there shall be none: When England finds again as great a son. He can but follow fame where Nelson led. There is none other and there shall be none.