29th September: Birthdate of Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson was born on this day in 1758 so I thought I'd make him the subject of today's "column"!

1. He was the sixth of eleven children of the Reverend Edmund Nelson and his wife Catherine Suckling. He was named after his godfather Horatio Walpole (1723–1809) then 2nd Baron Walpole, of Wolterton.
2. His mother was was a grandniece of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
3. From his early days at sea, Nelson suffered from chronic seasickness.
4. Nelson's naval career was supported by his mother's brother, Maurice Suckling, who it seemed, often used his influence to get his nephew promoted.
5. One one expedition, Nelson reached within ten degrees of the North Pole while surveying a possible route to India via the Arctic, but the ship he was on had to turn back. A story circulated that during this expedition, Nelson chased a Polar Bear in order to get the skin for his father - but had been ordered to let the animal go and return to the ship.
6. He lost his right arm and the sight in his right eye in battles, and on both occasions was up commanding his crew within half an hour of surgery.
7. Inspirational leader he may have been, but he wasn't always great at following orders. On one occasion, he ignored orders to withdraw, used his bad eye to look through the telescope and claimed he couldn’t see the signal to withdraw. He literally turned a blind eye.
8. His famous order, "England expects that every man will do his duty" was originally intended to read, "England confides that every man will do his duty", which he told his signal lieutenant, John Pasco, to convey quickly because he also wanted to signal for close action. Pasco suggested changing 'confides' to 'expects', which could be signalled by the use of a single flag, whereas 'confides' would have to spelt out letter by letter. Nelson agreed.
9. Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar after being shot through the back by a French marksman. Earlier, the Victory’s captain, Thomas Hardy, had suggested that Nelson remove the decorations on his coat, so that he would not be so easily identified by enemy sharpshooters. Nelson replied that it was too late 'to be shifting a coat', adding that he did not fear to show them to the enemy'. It is not recorded whether Hardy ever commented, "I told you so."
10. Nelson's body was placed in a cask of brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh, which was then lashed to the Victory's mainmast and placed under guard. Once in England, the body was transferred to a lead-lined coffin filled with spirits of wine. His lead coffin was placed inside a wooden one, made from the mast of L'Orient which had been salvaged after the Battle of the Nile. The sailors charged with folding the Flag draping Nelson's coffin and placing it in the grave instead tore it into fragments, with each taking a piece as a memento.