.jpg?maxwidth=3840)
NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Sir Evan Nepean (Commissioner of the Admiralty), Victory, 11 May 1805, one page, 4to, integral blank, contemporary endorsement (remnants of guards).
'MAY GOD SEND US ALONGSIDE OF THEM': Nelson in hot pursuit of the French fleet. Nelson frets about the delayed arrival of a convoy under Rear Admiral John Knight (commander at Gibraltar) who has 'put most unfortunately into the Tagus'; if he does not appear off Cape St Vincent by later the same day 'I shall leave R[oya]l Sovereign off the Cape ... & proceed direct for Barbadoes for ... we are far astern of the Enemy may God send us alongside of them prays fervently Yours faithfully Nelson & Bronte'.
At the very opening of the campaign that was to lead to Trafalgar, the French fleet under Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon on 30 March, evading Nelson, and had passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 8 April. Nelson only received definitive news of this on 8 May, three days before the present letter: he immediately identified Villeneuve's destination as the West Indies, and set off after him on what was to be a wild goose chase on a grand scale. Nelson would have to wait until 21 October for the battle he so craved, off Cape Trafalgar.
'MAY GOD SEND US ALONGSIDE OF THEM': Nelson in hot pursuit of the French fleet. Nelson frets about the delayed arrival of a convoy under Rear Admiral John Knight (commander at Gibraltar) who has 'put most unfortunately into the Tagus'; if he does not appear off Cape St Vincent by later the same day 'I shall leave R[oya]l Sovereign off the Cape ... & proceed direct for Barbadoes for ... we are far astern of the Enemy may God send us alongside of them prays fervently Yours faithfully Nelson & Bronte'.
At the very opening of the campaign that was to lead to Trafalgar, the French fleet under Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon on 30 March, evading Nelson, and had passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 8 April. Nelson only received definitive news of this on 8 May, three days before the present letter: he immediately identified Villeneuve's destination as the West Indies, and set off after him on what was to be a wild goose chase on a grand scale. Nelson would have to wait until 21 October for the battle he so craved, off Cape Trafalgar.
NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Sir Evan Nepean (Commissioner of the Admiralty), Victory, 11 May 1805, one page, 4to, integral blank, contemporary endorsement (remnants of guards).
'MAY GOD SEND US ALONGSIDE OF THEM': Nelson in hot pursuit of the French fleet. Nelson frets about the delayed arrival of a convoy under Rear Admiral John Knight (commander at Gibraltar) who has 'put most unfortunately into the Tagus'; if he does not appear off Cape St Vincent by later the same day 'I shall leave R[oya]l Sovereign off the Cape ... & proceed direct for Barbadoes for ... we are far astern of the Enemy may God send us alongside of them prays fervently Yours faithfully Nelson & Bronte'.
At the very opening of the campaign that was to lead to Trafalgar, the French fleet under Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon on 30 March, evading Nelson, and had passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 8 April. Nelson only received definitive news of this on 8 May, three days before the present letter: he immediately identified Villeneuve's destination as the West Indies, and set off after him on what was to be a wild goose chase on a grand scale. Nelson would have to wait until 21 October for the battle he so craved, off Cape Trafalgar.
'MAY GOD SEND US ALONGSIDE OF THEM': Nelson in hot pursuit of the French fleet. Nelson frets about the delayed arrival of a convoy under Rear Admiral John Knight (commander at Gibraltar) who has 'put most unfortunately into the Tagus'; if he does not appear off Cape St Vincent by later the same day 'I shall leave R[oya]l Sovereign off the Cape ... & proceed direct for Barbadoes for ... we are far astern of the Enemy may God send us alongside of them prays fervently Yours faithfully Nelson & Bronte'.
At the very opening of the campaign that was to lead to Trafalgar, the French fleet under Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon on 30 March, evading Nelson, and had passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 8 April. Nelson only received definitive news of this on 8 May, three days before the present letter: he immediately identified Villeneuve's destination as the West Indies, and set off after him on what was to be a wild goose chase on a grand scale. Nelson would have to wait until 21 October for the battle he so craved, off Cape Trafalgar.