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On this Day – Archive
On this day in December
1st December 1798 – Nelson writes of the Tuscan General Naselli: ‘There is this difference between us – the General prudently, and certainly safely, waits the orders of his Court, taking no responsibility upon himself; I act, from the circumstances of the moment, as I feel may be most advantageous for the honour of the cause which I serve, taking all the responsibility on myself’.
2nd December 1795 – To Fanny on his fleet’s failure to prevent the French attacking Austrian Posts near Borghetta in November, although his fleet is considerably outnumbered: ‘Let the blame be where it may, I do not believe any party will seriously lay it at my door’.
3rd December 1796 – To Jervis giving his account of events at Genoa, having been accused of breach of faith and being unworthy of his rank by the Marquis of Spinola: ‘But I cannot allow the Marquis’s Note to pass without a severe reprobation. It is couched in Language which his rank as a Nobleman and representative of the Republic of Genoa, ought to have made it impossible for him to use’.
4th December 1804 – Nelson hears that Vice-Admiral Sir John Orde is appointed to part of his old command, as commander-in-chief of a squadron off Cadiz. To Keats, Superb: ‘I suppose, by the arrival of Sir John Orde in our vicinity that I may very soon be your troublesome guest [for passage home] therefore, that I may not hurry your Ship too much, I shall, with your leave, send some of my wine to the Superb this morning’.
5th December 1799 – Writing to Sir Sidney Smith from Palermo: ‘One of my greatest boasts is; that no man can ever say I have told a lie’.
6th December 1798 – Naples is at war with France, Malta has fallen to the French. To Commodore Ruckworth; ‘I most heartily congratulate you on the conquest of Minorca – an acquisition invaluable to Great Britain, and completely in future prevents any movements from Toulon to the westward’.
7th December 1803 – Off Toulon, to the Duke of Clarence: ‘The French keep us waiting for them during a long severe winter’s cruise; and such a place as all the Gulf of Lyons, so for gales of wind from the N.W. to N.E., I never saw; but by “always going away large”, we generally lose much of their force and the heavy sea of the Gulf’.
8th December 1797 – Nelson, having regained his health, arranges a note to the clerymen of St. George’s, Hanover Square: ‘An officer desires to return thanks to Almighty God for his perfect recovery from a severe wound, and also for the many mercies bestowed upon him’.
9th December 1799 – Nelson begins another disputation over prize money for Ethalion, Alemene and Niad, taken off Finisterre, when he contends his senior officers had quitted the station. He writes to Davison: ‘I am cut short enough having no other emoluments. I, as the King gives me this, am determined no power shall take if from me’.
10th December 1798 – On hearing that French privateers had been disarmed at Naples: ‘The enemy will be distressed, and, thank God, I shall get no money. They would, I know, thinks that money is our God! And now they will be undeceived as far as relates to us’.
11th December 1789 – The Neapolitan general, St Philip, commanding 19,000 men, deserts to an enemy of 3000. His army fled: ‘The Neapolitan officers have not lost much honour; for God knows they had but little to lose; but they lost all they had’.
12th December 1786 – Captain Horatio Nelson to Frances Nisbet: ‘Our young Prince William is a gallant man; he is indeed volatile, but always with great good nature. There were two balls during his stay, and some of the older ladies were mortified that HRH would not dance with them; but he says, he is determined to enjoy the privilege of all other men, that of asking any lady he pleases.’ Nelson married Frances (Fanny) Nisbet on 11 March 1787.
13th December 1797 – ‘We the undersigned, [Thompson, Waldergrave, Parker, & Nelson], serving in the Fleet, under the command of the Right Honourable the Earl St Vincent, conceiving, and having no doubt (except the table-money allowed to the Commander-in-Chief) that all emoluments – viz., Prize-money and Freight-money, belonging or appertaining to the Admiral or Flag-Officer in a fleet, where there is only one, must and does by right belong to the Flag-Officers jointly, where there are many’.
14th December 1803 – Vice Admiral Nelson to his elder brother William: ‘The main Battle is over, if I’m victorious, I shall ask for my retreat – if, unfortunately to the contrary, I hope never to live to see it. In that case you will get an early Seat in the House of Lords.’
15th December 1785 – Captain Nelson to his elder brother William: ‘I am in affair way of changing my situation. The dear object you must like. Her sense, polite manners and to you I may say, beauty, you will much admire: and although at present we may not be a rich couple, yet I have not the least doubt but we shall be a happy pair:- the faith must be mine if we are not.’ The ‘dear object’ was Frances Nisbet whom Nelson married in March 1787.
16th December 1798 – In consequence of the state of affairs at Naples, Nelson in Vanguard shifted her berth out of gun-shot of the forts. To Troubridge: ‘Most Secret-Things are in such a critical state here, that I desire you will join me without one moments lost time. The King is returned here, and everything is as bad as possible. For God’s sake make haste’.
17th December 1798 – Queen Maria Carolina commits 60,000 ducats in gold and her family diamonds to Nelson’s war effort against Rome (which Nelson smuggled on board on the 19th. Rear Admiral Nelson writes to Earl Spencer, ‘I have had the charge of the Two Sicily’s intrusted to me, and things are come to that pitch, that I do not know that the whole Royal Family, with 3000 émigrés will be under the protection of the King’s flag this night.’
18th December 1797 – To Earl Spencer: ‘I am just from Chatham. The Vanguard will be out of dock at half past one this day and ready to receive men whenever your Lordship is pleased to direct her being commissioned’.
19th December 1804 – Vice Admiral Nelson to the queen of the Two Sicilies on Europe’s attitude to Napoleon, “Would to God these great Powers reflected that the boldest measures are the safest! They allow small states to fall, and serve the enormous power of France, without appearing to reflect that every kingdom which is annexed to France, makes their existence as independent states more precarious.”
20th December 1798 – Memorandum Respecting the Evacuation of Naples: ‘Three barges, and the small cutter of the Alemena armed with cutlasses only to be at the Victoria at half-past seven o’clock precisely. Only one barge to be at the wharf, the others to lay on their oars at the outside of the rocks’.
21st December 1798 – To the Marquis de Niza: ‘You are hereby required and directed to order Commodores Stone and Campbell to make preparations for burning the Guiscardo, St Joachim, and Tancredi, and you will be so particular on this service, that on no consideration you will sail until it is accomplished’.
22nd December 1798 – Nelson to Commodore Duckworth, ‘I have only to tell you that their Sicilain Majesties with their august Family, arrived in safety aboard the Vanguard last night at nine o’clock, feeling it a necessary measure in the present moment.’
23rd December 1799 – To Evan Nepean from Palermo regarding Malta: ‘Culloden, on going into the Bay of Marsa Sirocco, to land the cannon, ammunition, &c., taken on board that ship at Messina for the seige, struck a rock, and her commander [Troubridge] has informed me that the rudder and greatest part of the false keel are carried away . . . I have not as yet the least co-operation or assistance from Admiral Ouschakoff or the Russian fleet. They are, I believe, still in Naples Bay, and not any of their troops yet arrived in Malta’.
24th December 1798 – Nelson captures a Spanish ship but she is retaken. He attempts a deal over captives with the Spanish captain general, “The fortune of war put La Sabina into my possession after she had been most gallantly defended; the fickle dame returned her to you with some of my officers and men in her. I have endeavoured to make the captivity of Don Jacobo Stuart, her brave commander, as light as possible and I trust to the generosity of your nation for its being reciprocal for the British officers and men.”
25th December 1804 – Swiftsure joins the squadron at 8 am. To Captain Mark Robinson, “I would not trouble you to come out of Swiftsure with this swell, not being sure that you are not in Quarantine, and therefore I might be deprived of the pleasure of seeing you on board Victory; and also, hearing from Captain Cracraft that you have lately had the gout.”
26th December 1804 – Vice Admiral Nelson to William Marsden, Secretary to the Navy, ‘The Fleet is in perfect good health and good humour, unequalled by anything which has ever come within my knowledge, and equal to the most active service which the times may call for or the country may expect of them.’
27th December 1798 – To St Vincent on receipt of orders: ‘I have just received your orders relative to the taking care of the Coasts of the Sicilys’. also for the blockade of Malta and Toulon. I shall endeavour to comply with them all, by staying myself to take care of this Country, by writing to Commodore Duckworth to take care of Toulon, placing Captain Ball with a squadron at Malta and by sending Captain Troubridge to Egypt, to endeavour to destroy transports in Alexandria’.
28th December 1803 – Nelson informs Mr Langstaff he has every species necessary except wine. “I am therefore to desire you will immediately purchase such a quantity of wine at this place for supernumeraries at nine pence per gallon, and, very probably, considerably under.”
29th December 1804 – To Davidson, lamenting Orde’s appointment to a position to obtain prize money: ‘I believe you could have hardly thought it possible that any man could have been sent to take the chance of a few pounds Prize-money from me, in return for all my service. At this moment, I am as poor as when I left you in Portsmouth . . . God knows, in my own person, I spend little money as any man; but you know I love to give it away’.
30th December 1804 – Nelson to William Marsden, Secretary to the Navy, on hearing he is to return to England to regain his health, “I am much obliged by their Lordships’ kind compliance with my request, which is absolutely necessary from the present state of my health, and I shall avail myself to their Lordships’ permission, the moment another Admiral, in the room of Admiral Campbell, joined the fleet unless the enemy’s Fleet should be at sea, when I should not think of quitting my command until after the Battle”.
31st December 1798 – Nelson learns that Sir Sidney Smith is trying to wrest some of his squadron. He writes to St Vincent: ‘I do feel, for I am a man, that it is impossible for me to serve in these seas, with the Squadron under a junior Officer . . . Pray grant me your permission to retire, and I hope the Vanguard will be allowed to convey me and my friends, Sir William and Lady Hamilton, to England’.
