MEMORIES OF NELSON

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1933, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEMORIES OF NELSON

TRAFALGAR ANNIVERSARY

(By

C.S.)

There are few more romantic and picturesque figures in British history than that of “the little one-armed, one-eyed hero of Trafalgar,” Horatio Nelson. Today is the one hundred and twenty seventh anniversary of that epic sea fight, and it brings to mind many memories of the admiral who fell in the midst of his greatest triumph. The fact that he lost both an eye and an arm in the service of his country have surrounded Nelson’s name with a certain wonderful glamour, especially in the eyes of the school children. In fact the average school child probably knows more about Nelson than any other figure in all history. He makes an almost irresistable appeal to the schoolboy’s love of adventure. His whole life was one long series of adventures. Anecdotes that come from his youth show us much of his early character and bring out traits that were seen much more clearly later on. Perhaps the \best known is that of his grandmother, after he and his brother had been lost. “Why,” said the old lady to them, “I wonder that fear and hunger did not drive you home.” “Fear grandmamma!” replied Horatio, “I never saw fear; what is it ?” And so it was throughout his life. He never seemed to know what fear was. In the thick of the battle at Copenhagen, when his flagship was in a rather tight comer being swept with shot from the shore batteries, one of his officers made some remark about wishing to be elsewhere. Nelson, hearing him, turned to his officers with a smile and said “This is warm w4rk; and this day may be the last to any of us in a moment; but mark me, I would not be elsewhere for thousands of pounds.” This was no mere boast. Fear was unknown to him as it is to other people. The place of danger was a tonic to him.

It was at the battle of Copenhagen that another well-known and much quoted incident in the great seaman’s life occured.| Sir. Hyde Parker was Nelson’s superior officer, and he hoisted the signal for Nelson to discontinue the action and retire. His attention was drawn to this signal. He recognised it, but after walking up and down in great emotion he turned to Captain Foley and said “What think you Foley? The admiral has hung out the signal to retire. Ypu know that I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes.” He then put his glass to his blind eye and exclaimed “I really do not see the signal. Keep mine for closer battle still flying. That is the way I answer such signals. Keep mine nailed to the mast.”

This was the real Nelson again. This was a brave action, and one of a determined man who never admitted defeat. Failure after a .flagrant disregard of orders like this would have meant dismissal and disgrace. His career would have been at an end. The conservative heads at home would have forgotten the hero of St. Vincent and the Nile had he failed at Copenhagen. Nelson fully realised all this. He knew that he could retire with grace, and all the blame for failure would fall on the shoulders of his senior,, Sir Hyde Parker. But he chose the courageous course. By disobeying the signal he took all responsibility on himself, and with his characteristic skill and daring he gained one more great success for the British arms, and once more brought to naught the schemes of Napoleon.

The American naval writer Admiral Mahon has always been a great admirer of Nelson, and it was he who really brought into being that well-known phrase, “The Nelson touch.” This he describes as being just that great genius that could turn what might appear recklessness into successful daring. Nelson’s strategy was always ambitious. He took what appeared to be tremendous risks, but he succeeded. Such schemes, had they been attempted by a less capable and fearless leader, would undoubtedly have resulted in a series of disasters. But with Nelson it was different. It was just that “magic touch” that turned defeat into victory and gave us some of the most glorious successes in our naval history.

Take for example that daring move at the Nile where he pushed part of his fleet in between the French and the shore in the face of the danger from the sand banks and the shoals. It was a move that might easily have resulted in disaster. It might be said that luck favoured him. Perhaps it did. Fortune they say favours the brave, but not the reckless. Nelson must be included in the former catagory. He was always brave with his projects. With others they would have been reckless but with Nelson a changed atmosphere existed. He believed firmly in his star, but he left as little as possible to chance. This was one of the hall marks of his greatness.

In stature Nelson was small, frail and almost insignificant. In a bygone age, when physical strength and physical strength alone was all that counted, Nelson would probably have gone to the wall. He was ill-fitted for a struggle for existence in an uncivilised age. The fact that with his frail body he was able to rise to the great position of eminence that he attained was in itself a tribute to the wonderful progress that civilisation has made. But in that small frame of Nelson there was an abundance of energy and a wonderful spirit, and it was this spirit that he was able to give to all under his command. Few commanders before and none since have enjoyed the same confidence with the British public that Nelson did. What was more important; he was idolised by the whole navy. Writing of his arrival at the fleet before Trafalgar an eminent historian has the following to say: “No one in the whole fleet from the moment of his arrival entertained a doubt that the fate of the enemy fleet was sealed should they venture out from Cadiz. So great was the terror of his name that notwithstanding the positive orders that the French admiral Villeneuvre had received, he hesitated to obey them when he heard of Nelson’s arrival, and at a council of war it was decided not to sally forth unless they had at least a one third superiority.” How they did come out and suffer one of the greatest defeats in all naval history at Trafalgar, and how Nelson fell mortally wounded in the moment of victory is too well-known to repeat. One can only conclude with the eulogy paid to the great sailor by Sir William Alison. “Nelson,” he writes, “was the greatest naval officer of ours or any other nation whose achievements have been recorded in history. The energies of an arduous and impetuous mind were in him wholly absorbed in patriotic feeling. His whole career, from his first entrance into the navy to the battle of Trafalgar, exhibited a pattern of every manly virtue. Bold in conception, cautious in combination, firm in execution, cool in danger, he was the most successful because the most profound and intrepid of leaders.”