Admiral, Lord Nelson, perhaps Britain's greatest naval commander, was mortally wounded at the moment of his greatest glory: smashing the Franco-Spanish fleet off of Cape Trafalgar in October 1805, thereby establishing a British naval supremacy that was not to be successfully contested for over 100 years (see Mark Churms' painting below). Son of a clergyman, Nelson went to sea as a boy in 1770. He later commanded the 64-gun Agamemnon in 1793 as the war against Revolutionary France escalated. His right eye blinded at Calvi during operations to seize Corsica in 1794, he lost his right arm after the elbow was shattered during the battle of Santa Cruz in 1797. Undaunted, Nelson established a reputation for unorthodox tactics, calculated daring, and success. Although General Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt in 1798 initially eluded him, he finally caught up with the enemy warships at Aboukir Bay, and utterly destroyed the French squadron in an overnight action in August 1798, called the Battle of the Nile. This earned Nelson the title of Baron and marooned Napoleon and his army in Egypt. In Naples shortly thereafter, the married Nelson met Lady Emma Hamilton, wife of the British Ambassador, and they began a love affair that scandalized Europe. That encounter also saw the only blemish upon his character: an overzealous Nelson executed hundreds of rebels who surrendered after a failed revolution. An inspirational leader, brilliant tactician, and shrewd naval strategist, Nelson won an enduring place in the pantheon of great captains while his victories helped to assure British dominance at sea. "At Trafalgar it was not [the French admiral] that failed, but Napoleon that was vanquished; not Nelson that won, but England that was saved." (Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History.) Naval Warfare in the Age of Napoleon Back to Table of Contents -- Napoleon #17 Back to Napoleon List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Napoleon LLC. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. The full text and graphics from other military history magazines and gaming magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com Order Napoleon magazine direct