Horatio+Nelson

media type="file" key="Manion_Nelson.mp3"[|Manion_Nelson.mp3] Horatio Nelson Horatio Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, on September 29, 1758 to Reverend Edmund Nelson and Catherine Nelson. His mother died in 1767, and he and his ten other siblings were left to be taken care of by his father. In 1771, at the age of 12 Horatio Nelson began his naval career aboard his maternal uncle’s, Captain Maurice Suckling, vessel the sixty-four gun warship Raisonnable. In 1777 Horatio Nelson was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned the West Indies as well as places like Canada and the Baltic. Captain Suckling became Comptroller of the Navy in 1775 and used his position to help Nelson's rapid advance. By 1780 Nelson was made Captain of the Hitchinbroke at Port Royal, Jamaica. Nelson and the //Badger// spent most of 1779 cruising off the Central American coast, ranging as far as the British settlements at Honduras and Nicaragua, but without much success at intercepting enemy prizes. He was also involved in an action against the Spanish fortress of San Juan in Nicaragua. Nelson received orders on October 23 to take the ship Albermarle to sea, and collect an inbound convoy of the Russia Company at Elsinore, then escort them back to Britain. The HMS Argo and HMS Enterprize were placed under his command to aid him in his orders. Voyages like this were given to him so he would gain experience at sea. In the year 1783 he continued his efforts against American rebels up until the official end of the war. In 1784, he received command of the frigate Boreas, a twenty-eight gun frigate, and then was assigned to enforce the Navigation Act in the area of Antigua. The Act had become a major problem with the end of the American Revolution, as American vessels, now foreign, continued to dominate trade between the West Indies and the former colonies. When returning from his tour of duty in the Caribbean, Nelson married Frances (Fanny) Nisbet on March 11, 1787. A friend of Nelson’s is quoted saying, “The Navy, Sir,” he remarked sadly, “yesterday lost one of its greatest ornaments, by Nelson’s marriage. It is a national loss that such an officer should marry; had it not been for that circumstance, I foresaw Nelson would become the greatest man in the Service.” (p. 77 __Nelson the Essential Hero__ by Ernle Bradford) Nelson’s friend was saying that Horatio’s marriage to Frances was such a blow to the navy because of the role he played for them. Nelson joined Sir John Jervis's fleet off Cape St Vincent, and reported the presence of a Spanish fleet that had sailed from Cartagena. Jervis prepared to give battle and the two fleets met on 14 February. Here Nelson found himself towards the rear of the British line, and realizing that it would be a long time before he could get into action, he carried out his first famous act of disobeying orders. Instead of continuing to follow the line, he wore ship, breaking from the line and heading to engage the Spanish van, consisting of the 112-gun //San Josef//, the 80-gun //San Nicolas// and the 130-gun //Santísima Trinidad//. She engaged all three, assisted by HMS //Culloden// which had come to Nelson's aid. The Battle of the Nile was a major blow to Napoleon's ambitions in the east. Nelson helped win the Battle of the Nile because he ordered his fleet to attack even though the British fleets were late and the French ships were anchored in strong positions and had greater combined fire power then that of Nelson’s fleet. At the age of forty-one Nelson was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Red, which is the seventh highest rank in the Royal Navy. Two years later, on January 1st, he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue. After being married Horatio Nelson was given command of the sixty-four gun Agamemnon, which began the period of his greatest triumphs. Nelson had the ability to draw out skills and capabilities of his workers, and his ability to do this became known as the Nelson Touch. Then in October of 1805 his final and greatest battle of the coast of Spain called the Trafalgar. His goal was to destroy thirty-three French and Spanish ships based in Cadiz. He broke the large fleet into to smaller fleets, but even with this strategy he still couldn’t defeat them. On October 21, 1805 Horatio Nelson died. Sources: wikipedia.com, s9.com, geographia.com/stkitts-nevis/nelson5.htm, and __Nelson the Essential Hero__ by Ernle Bradford

Horatio Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, on September 29, 1758 to Reverend Edmund Nelson and Catherine Nelson. In 1767, his mother died which left him and his ten other siblings under the care of his father. When Horatio Nelson was twelve he began his naval career aboard the //Raisonnable//, his uncle’s sixty four gun warship. Six years later he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to regions like the West Indies, Canada, and the Baltic Sea. In 1780, Horatio was promoted to Captain of the //Hitchinbroke// in Jamaica. His rapid advance through the rankings was from the help of his uncle, who was promoted to Comptroller of the Navy in 1777. Before becoming Captain, he was on the ship the //Badger// which sailed along the coast of Central America intercepting enemy prizes. He was also involved in an action against the Spanish fortress of San Juan in Nicaragua. Nelson received orders in October 1779 to take the ship Albermarle to sea, and collect an inbound convoy of the Russia Company at Elsinore, and then he was to escort them back to Britain. To aid him the HMS Argo and HMS Enterprize were placed under his command. He received voyages like these to help him gain experience at sea. In 1783 he continued his efforts against American rebels up until the official end of the war. In 1784, he received command of the frigate ship the //Boreas//, a twenty-eight gun frigate, which he used to enforce the Navigation Act in the area of Antigua. The Act had become a major problem with the end of the American Revolution, as American vessels, now foreign, continued to dominate trade between the West Indies and the former colonies. When returning from his tour of duty in the Caribbean, Nelson married Frances, nicknamed Fanny, Nisbet on March 11, 1787. A friend of Nelson’s said, “The Navy, Sir,” he remarked sadly, “yesterday lost one of its greatest ornaments, by Nelson’s marriage. It is a national loss that such an officer should marry; had it not been for that circumstance, I foresaw Nelson would become the greatest man in the Service.” Nelson’s friend was saying that Horatio’s marriage to Frances was such a blow to the navy because of the role he played for them. After being married Nelson was given command of the sixty-four gun //Agamemnon//, which began the period of his greatest triumphs. Nelson had the ability to draw out skills and capabilities of his workers, and his ability to do this became known as the Nelson Touch. Nelson joined Sir John Jervis's fleet off Cape St. Vincent, and reported the presence of a Spanish fleet that had sailed from Cartagena. Jervis prepared for battle and the two fleets met on 14 February. Nelson found himself towards the rear of the British line, and realizing that it would be a long time before he could get into action, he carried out his first famous act of disobeying orders. Instead of continuing on line, he broke from the line and headed to engage the Spanish fleet, consisting of the 112-gun //San Josef//, the 80-gun //San Nicolas// and the 130-gun //Santísima Trinidad//. Nelson and his ship engaged all three, but were assisted by HMS //Culloden//. Nelson helped win the Battle of the Nile because he ordered his fleet to attack even though the British fleets were late and the French ships were anchored in strong positions and had greater combined fire power then that of Nelson’s fleet. Nelson’s move helped end Napoleon's ambitions in the east. In 1799 Nelson was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Red, which is the seventh highest rank in the Royal Navy. Two years later, on January 1st, he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue. Then in October of 1805 his final and greatest battle, the Trafalgar, began of the coast of Spain. His goal was to destroy thirty-three French and Spanish ships based in Cadiz. He broke the large fleet into to smaller fleets, but even with this strategy he still couldn’t defeat them. On October 21, 1805 Horatio Nelson died at the age of forty seven.