Lord Nelson’s letter reveals his desperation to fight the French
July 13th, 2010 - 12:50 pm ICT by ANILondon, July 13 (ANI): A letter that was written by Lord Nelson four days before Trafalgar, has revealed his desperation to fight the French.
In the letter, which was sent from flagship HMS Victory to the Gibraltar governor, Nelson wrote that he was fed-up waiting at sea for the enemy fleet to come out of its bolthole in the Spanish port Cadiz.
And on top of the tedious waiting, he also wrote in the letter dated 17 October 1805 that his men were running short of water.
“Keep this news to yourself or we shall see it in an English newspaper,” he wrote about the situation.
Nelson also wrote that he was “anxious for an Easterly Wind” as it would encourage timid French admiral Villeneuve to leave port and face the British fleet.
His wish came true when a day after he wrote the letter the wind changed and the Franco-Spanish fleet emerged.
The letter, to be sold by Sotheby’s for its owner, is expected to fetch 12,000 pounds.
“Nelson just wanted to get on with the battle. The letter is an evocative thing because within days of writing it, Nelson’s body was received by Knight,” the Sun quoted Sotheby’s Gabriel Heaton as saying.
“There are collectors who’d love this. Nelson’s letters get more valuable the nearer they were written to his death,” Heaton added. (ANI)
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Tags: bolthole, british fleet, cadiz, desperation, easterly wind, enemy fleet, franco, french admiral, gibraltar, governor nelson, heaton, hms, hms victory, london, lord nelson, love, sotheby s, spanish fleet, spanish port, trafalgar