| David Howarth wrote an interesting book
entitled ‘The Nelson Touch’. This phrase is used in connection with Nelson and
his brilliant planning of the ships’ movements, especially at Trafalgar. It was ,
however, as David Howarth says, Nelson himself who first used the phrase; in a letter to
Emma Hamilton. So nobody knew of the phrase until after Nelson’s death.
Nelson had
left his ‘Dear Dear Merton’ on September 13th 1805 at 10.30pm, prior
to the Battle of Trafalgar, and arrived at Portsmouth the next day at 6.30am to join the
Victory at 2pm. His flag was hoisted. He did not join the fleet until 28th
September. This he mentions in a letter dated 1st October to Emma Hamilton. He
then goes on to say…..I believe my arrival was most welcome, not only to the
Commander of the fleet, but also to every individual in it; and 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
down it was repeated, it must succeed. If only they will allow us to get at them.
Nelson had
the Nelson Touch in more ways than one. The men adored him because of his close
relationship with them. Never before or since has a leader had this gift – it was
unique. From captains down to the newest recruit, Nelson cared for them, and at times
their wives
too. There are many instances of this. He was even said to play leapfrog with the men, and
of course there is the well known incident when he climbed the mast with a timid sailor.
But perhaps the most poignant instance was that of a young boy who joined the Victory and
wrote home to say – Lord Nelson has been very kind to me.
The Poem: “1805” by Robert Graves
Readers may
enjoy this poem which I keep reading over and over again, as it pictures so well the
jealousy of some of Nelson's superiors, and the love the men in the fleet had for him.
1805
At Viscount
Nelson's lavish funeral,
While the mob milled and yelled about St Paul's,
A General chatted with an Admiral:
‘One of your Colleagues,
Sir, remarked today
That Nelson's exit, though to be lamented,
Falls not inopportunely, in its way.’
‘He was a thorn in our
flesh,’ came the reply –
‘The most bird-witted, unaccountable,
Odd little runt that ever I did spy.’
‘One arm, one peeper,
vain as Pretty Poll,
A meddler, too, in foreign politics
And gave his heart in pawn to a plain moll.’
‘He would dare lecture us
Sea Lords, and then
Would treat his ratings as though men of honour
And play at leap-frog with his midshipmen!’
‘We tried to box him
down, but up he popped,
And when he'd banged Napoleon at the Nile
Became too much the hero to be dropped.’
‘You've heard that
Copenhagen “blind eye” story?
We'd tied him to Nurse Parker's apron-strings -
By God, he snipped them through and snatched the glory!’
‘Yet,’ cried the
General, ‘six-and-twenty sail
Captured or sunk by him off Trafalgar -
That writes a handsome finis to the tale.’
‘Handsome enough, The
seas are England's now,
That fellow's foibles need no longer plague us,
He died most creditably, I'll allow.’
‘And, Sir, the secret of
his victories?'
‘By his unServicelike, familiar ways, Sir,
He made the whole Fleet love him, damn his eyes!’
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