FACTS ABOUT HORATIO NELSON

1. He was the sixth of eleven kids from a poor upper-class family. He was sent to sea under his uncle at age 12.  His uncle famously said that perhaps a cannon ball would take off his head and thus solve his financial straits.  He took to life at sea, but he suffered from seasickness his whole career.  He also had trouble sleeping asea.  He took catnaps in a special chair.
2. At age 14, he went on a failed expedition to the North Pole. He defended a small boat from a walrus attack and fended off a polar bear with the butt of his rifle when it misfired.
3. He was promoted to Admiral at age 39 for disobeying orders (a trait of his). At the Battle of Cape Vincent (1797), his ship was near the rear of the British column.  He broke formation and took on three ships.  On boarding one of them he yelled either “Glorious Victory” or “Westminster Abbey” (the former seems more likely).  His superiors overlooked his disobedience and promoted him.
4. That same year, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, he led an amphibious attack via boats. He was hit by a musket ball in the right arm.  It was amputated without anesthesia.  He had earlier lost most of the sight in his right eye from debris during the siege of Calvi in 1794.
5. In 1798, he destroyed Napoleon’s fleet in Egypt at the Battle of Aboukir Bay (sometimes called the Battle of the Nile). He was proclaimed Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe (his birthplace).
6. In 1801, he once again disobeyed orders at the Battle of Copenhagen. When his commanding officer signaled for him to hold off on an attack, he held his telescope up to his blind eye and said he could not read the signal.  This is the origin of the phrase “turning a blind eye” meaning to disregard something purposely.  Nelson won another spectacular victory and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy. 
7. The captains under him were referred to as his “band of brothers”. His leadership style was called “the Nelson touch”, a phrase he used himself.  Both phrases probably came from his favorite Shakespeare play “Henry V”.  Historians posit he was thinking of “a little touch of Harry in the night” which is a line in the play describing King Henry’s mingling with his men the night before the battle.  Nelson would meet with his captains before a battle to outline his plan and then he would give them the initiative to carry it out.
8. He suffered probably the most famous death in British military history. Before the Battle of Trafalgar, he famously signaled the fleet “England expects that every man will do his duty”.  (Which, if you think about it, is slightly condescending.)  It was almost like he had a death wish as he would have known that the French loved to use snipers and yet Nelson wore his full uniform with all his medals on the deck of the HMS Victory.  Sure enough, he was hit by a bullet that punctured a lung and fractured his spine.  It was a mortal injury and he lingered a few hours. Long enough to learn of the extent of his victory.  His captain Thomas Hardy (Nelson was the Admiral using the ship as his flagship) would periodically come below deck to appraise Nelson of how the battle was going.  The last time, Nelson said “Kiss me, Hardy” (as in kiss me goodbye).  British historians were uncomfortable with this phrase and turned it into “Kismet, Hardy”, which they explained meant “it’s destiny, Hardy”.  Nelson’s last words were:  “Thank God I have done my duty.”
9. Nelson’s body was returned to England in a cask of brandy to preserve it. 100,000 people filed by his body when it lay in state.
10. He had one of the most infamous love affairs in British history. After ten years of marriage, he started an affair with Lady Emma Hamilton (the wife of Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to Naples).  He was 40 and she was 33 when it began.  Sir William tolerated the arrangement and it was no secret in England.  (Nelson had a portrait of her in his cabin.)  The public was intrigued and upset with the “menage a trois”.  It was a good thing Nelson was so successful in battle.   It was a true love match.  They had a child named Horatia.  Although he never divorced his wife, he and Emma exchanged rings the day before he left for the Battle of Trafalgar.

https://www.anglotopia.net/british-history/ten-interesting-facts-admiral-horatio-nelson/

https://www.thetrafalgarway.org/blog/fun-facts-about-lord-nelson

https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-horatio-nelson/

                                 Nelson in his cabin on the Victory