NELSON’S ARM

The Treaty of Lldefonso on 19 August 1796 allied Spain with France in Napoleon’s war against England.  Now the combined French/Spanish navies of 38 ships-of-the-line threatened England’s Royal Navy’s control of the seas.  A February 1797 attempt by British ADM John Jervis to knock out the Spanish fleet near Cape St. Vincent, Spain, resulted only in a draw, as did a follow-up attack on the repairing Spanish fleet at Cadiz.  Jervis now sent RADM Horatio Nelson with eight ships to attack the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands, where the treasure convoys from America regularly called.

Nelson reach Santa Cruz on 17 July carrying 4000 assault troops and mounting 400 guns on HMS THESEUS, 74, (flag); HMS CULLODEN and ZEALOUS (both 74s); LEANDER, 50; SEAHORSE, 38; EMERALD, 36, and TERPSICHORE, 32.  Ashore LTGEN Antonio Gutiérrez de Ortero y Santayana commanded a garrison of 1700 inside reinforced fortifications mounting 91 guns.  Nelson’s plan involved a night landing of the troops onto a mole projecting from the harbor, from whence the troops would overwhelm the Castle de San Andrés under bombardment from Nelson’s warships.  However, the initial attack this night failed after strong currents whisked the assault boats from their intended landings and shoals prevented Nelson’s ships from closing to gun range of the city.  A second attempt on July 23 landed 1000 men despite more difficulty with the currents, but these became stranded for lack of naval gunfire support.

A frustrated Nelson vowed to lead the next assault himself, which he did under cover of nightfall on the 24^th.  As his launch nudged ashore, Nelson leapt to the beach, sword in hand.  But he lurched violently backward into the launch, his sword flung from his grip, blood gushed across his uniform.  A Spanish ball had struck his right arm above the elbow.  The bleeding admiral was rowed back out in the direction of his flagship.  But as the oarsmen pulled, Nelson spied British troops foundering in the water from upturned boats.  He ordered them rescued–delaying treatment for his own wound.  When he finally reached the surgeon aboard Theseus, his arm could not be saved.

This third assault failed as well.  The gracious Spanish commander allowed those captured ashore to be repatriated under a flag of truce, and Nelson’s flotilla sailed away disgraced.

Nelson’s surgical site became infected and required months of recuperation in England before it finally healed.  For the rest of his career his missing right arm constantly reminded him of his one major defeat in the King’s service.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  28 JUL 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Bennett, Geoffrey.  Nelson the Commander.  New York, NY: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1972, pp. 108-13.

Hibbert, Christopher.  Nelson:  A Personal History.  Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1994, pp. 119-26.

Warner, Oliver.  Victory: The Life of Lord Nelson.  Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1958, pp. 118-23.

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                                                 NELSON’S EYE

The French Revolution in 1789 shocked the rest of Europe as existing monarchies feared the spread of republicanism.  Dread intensified as the “Reign of Terror” unfolded, and French King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, prisoners in the Bastille for years, were beheaded on 21 January 1793.   England formed a coalition of nations against France, blockading the Mediterranean port of Toulon, home of the French fleet.  Among the blockading warships was HMS AGAMEMNON, 64, skippered by CAPT Horatio Nelson.  Toulon fell to the British on 27 August, but French Republicans retook the city in December–led by a then unknown artillery lieutenant, Napoleon Bonaparte.

On nearby Corsica, claimed by France since 1756, their overlord nation’s turmoil encouraged Corsicans.  They struck to throw off their French yoke, a movement supported by Britain.  CAPT Nelson was sent with a small squadron and 2500 soldiers to aid the Corsican revolt.  In May of 1794 Nelson’s force landed at Bastia on the northeastern coast, one of two French strongholds.  Here they manhandled guns into the mountains above the fortifications and forced a French surrender by 23 May.  Nelson then sailed for the stronger French garrison at Calvi, on the northwestern coast.  Again, his men muscled guns into the hills while British troops besieged the bastion.  The French returned an accurate fire for more than a month.

At 0700 this morning, while Nelson stood at the front of his artillery line, a screaming French shot shattered a large rock in front of the Captain.  A shower of stone chips knocked Nelson to the ground, deeply lacerating his face and penetrating his right eye.  With sand and grit also lodged in his cornea, Nelson could distinguish nothing except light and dark.  He belittled his injury, not wishing to alarm his men, but the surgeon later confirmed that Nelson would never again see from his right eye.  Despite his injury, the siege of Calvi was successful, and Nelson gained stature within the British Mediterranean Fleet.

Years later, at the battle of Copenhagen in April of 1801, the Royal Navy attempted to remove the threat of the Danish Navy, newly allied with France.  (Now) ADM Nelson engaged the Danes in a violent battle that was obscured from the distant view of overall British commander, ADM Sir Hyde Parker, who feared a British defeat.  When Nelson’s flag captain aboard HMS ELEPHANT, 74, pointed out that Parker was signaling a British withdrawal, Nelson, supremely confident of victory, turned in Parker’s direction.  “I see no signal,” Nelson replied, at which the junior officer noted that Nelson held the spyglass to his blind eye!

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  18 JUL 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Bennett, Geoffrey.  Nelson the Commander.  New York, NY: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1972, pp. 37-38.

Hibbert, Christopher.  Nelson:  A Personal History.  Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1994, pp. 93-104.

Warner, Oliver.  Victory: The Life of Lord Nelson.  Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1958, pp. 83-85.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Nelson’s right eye later scarred over, creating a ghastly clouded appearance.  Artists were kind in painting-out this facial defect in Nelson’s subsequent portrait sittings.

Nelson’s unabashed boldness in battle earned him victory at the battle of Copehagen above, but it would also contribute to his death.  In 1805, standing fearlessly, in plain view, in full uniform (with medals) on the quarterdeck of HMS VICTORY, 104, at the battle of Trafalgar, Nelson became a target for a sharpshooter who took his life.

ADM Lord Nelson came to the Navy at a young age and had completed only a couple years of grammar school.  His grasp of English and French was wanting, leading him to refer to Napoleon as, “Buona Parte.”

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