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For the first time I am writing my Dispatch while at sea! I am sailing in the Baltic to, among other cities, Tallinn and Copenhagen. We all know that Nelson was familiar with the Danish capital, but it is likely that fewer people are familiar with his visit to the beautiful Hanse city of Tallinn, which translated means ‘Danish town’. In Nelson’s day it was called Revel. In fact he was in these waters almost exactly 207 years ago to the day, before sailing for England aboard the brig Kite. Toompea Castle, or ‘Cathedral Hill’, which today has a Nelson Room in honour of his visit, is still the seat of government. Originally founded by the Teutonic Knights it now houses the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia.
Nelson’s Baltic command – he was appointed Commander-in-Chief after the Battle of Copenhagen – had lasted for less than two months before he used ill health as a reason to return to England. He sailed for Great Yarmouth towards the end of July 1801. Nevertheless, in that time he had taken the main body of his victorious fleet to Revel to deter the Russians, who he always saw as the real enemy. Moreover, he demonstrated a confident understanding of the complicated political and diplomatic situation of this complex region. The Baltic was a critical source of naval supplies and the entrance to it had to be kept open to British merchantmen, hence the Battles of Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807, to break respectively the Armed Neutrality of the North and the Continental System.
