Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805) - photo 1
Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805) - photo 2

Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)

Lot 55
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 32 760
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1249790
Lot 55 | Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)
Estimate value
£ 15 000 – 20 000
Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)
Document signed (‘Nelson & Bronte’), ‘Order of Battle and Sailing’ addressed to Captain Israel Pellew of the Conqueror, HMS Victory off Cadiz, 29 September 1805
One page, 325 x 200mm, window-mounted, docketed on verso, framed and glazed.

The ‘Nelson Touch’: Nelson’s order of battle for Trafalgar, signed on his 47th and last birthday. Just over three weeks before Trafalgar, the ‘Order of Battle and Sailing’ lists the fleet in two squadrons, ‘Van’ and ‘Rear’: here Victory is named third in the van column (which she was to lead in the battle), with Pellew’s Conqueror here named seventh in the same column.

The order reflects Nelson’s remarkable and high-risk tactics for the impending battle against the Franco-Spanish fleet then blockaded at Cadiz: while prevailing theory had fleets approaching each other in parallel in a single line of battle, Nelson’s approach at Trafalgar was to have his fleet divided in two, approaching the Franco-Spanish fleet at a right angle with the aim of cutting it into three parts and initiating a mêlée; a decisive innovation was not to waste any time in forming a distinct ‘order of battle’ when a chance for battle occurred, but to make the ‘order of sailing’ synonymous, as here, with the ‘order of battle’. Nelson had arrived with the fleet aboard Victory on the evening of the previous day (28 September), and immediately arranged to meet all his commanders as soon as possible in order to explain his plan of action. As he wrote to Emma Hamilton, ‘when I came to explain to them the “Nelson Touch”, it was like an electric shock. Some shed tears, all approved – “It was new – it was singular – it was simple!”; and from Admirals downwards, it was repeated – “It must succeed, if ever they will allow us to get at them”’.

The recipient of the present order, Captain Pellew (later Admiral Sir Israel Pellew, 1758-1832) took command of HMS Conqueror in April 1804, initially in the Channel and then in the Mediterranean. Conqueror ‘fought at Trafalgar, being fourth ship in the van or weather column, and it was to her that the Bucentaure, Villeneuve's flagship, surrendered. She also engaged the Santisima Trinidad and attempted to block the escape of Dumanoir's squadron. Although Conqueror's sails and rigging suffered considerable damage, she lost only three dead and nine wounded. One prize, however, was denied Pellew. He sent a marine captain and five men to secure the Bucentaure, that officer refusing to accept Villeneuve's sword and that of the commandant of her soldiers with the remark that the swords should go to Captain Pellew. In the heat of the action, though, they never reached him, ending up with Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood who, much to Pellew's disgust, kept them’ (ODNB).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.07.2024 – 10.07.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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