Horatio Nelson was a courageous yet strict British naval commander who played a pivotal role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. As the leader of the British fleet, Nelson used innovative tactics like breaking the enemy line in two places to allow his ships to flank the French from multiple angles. During the battle, Nelson was fatally shot by a French sniper. Before dying, he learned that his tactics had secured a decisive victory over Napoleon's combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson's final words exemplified his lifelong dedication to serving his country.

1. Table of contents
• Nelson’s signal
• Nelson as a boy
• Nelson’s career in the navy
• The Battle of Trafalgar
• Tactics
• Nelson’s Death
• HMS Victory
• Life on board HMS Victory
By James Colson Lake 6S

2. This man was a very courageous man and was
also very strict and even sometimes ruthless
to the sailors aboard his ship. This made the
men very ordered and on strict rules. If they
took a single wrong step they would be
flogged usually with a cat of nine tails.
Nelson always wanted to do the right thing
for his country and was a very driven man.
He had always wanted to be a sailor and this
was one of his lifelong destinies.

3. Horatio Nelson was born on the 29th of
December 1758 in a house called the
Shooting Box in a village named
Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk. Burnham
Thorpe is a larger village of Burnham
market on the North Norfolk Coast.
Nelson’s father, Edmund Nelson was the
local parish priest, and his mother was
called Catherine. Horatio was the sixth
of their 11 children. The church of All
Saints, Burnham Thorpe, has much
Nelson memorabilia. There is even a
cross in the church that is made out of
wood from HMS Victory.
When he was nine his mother very
tragically died. This was devastating for
Nelson and it affected the rest of his life.

4. In March 1771, at the age 12, Nelson
joined the Royal Navy. This was truly
amazing for a boy of his age. He
became a lieutenant in 1777. some
two years later nelson was promoted to
commander and was given
independent command of the HMS
Badger. Nelson also for 13 years as a
frigate captain and this gave him much
experience. Sadly Nelson’s career
almost end because he became
involved in a nasty argument but luckily
it did not. In 1794, Hood put Nelson in
command of Naval forces ashore during
the capture of the island of Corsica. He
ended his career as the leader of the
British fleet at The Battle Of Trafalgar.

5. On the 19th October 1805 the French
and Spanish fleets left Cadiz together
and headed south. Nelson shadowed
this combined fleet until it was well
away from the harbour and then on
the morning of the 21st October1805
battle commenced by the British
attacking the Franco- Spanish fleet .
Nelson was given command of this
fleet when war broke out with France.
Unfortunately Napoleon’s plan was not
successful and they did not invaded
England. Nelson used a very useful
tactic in order to defeat the French
fleet this was called the Nelson Touch.

6. At Trafalgar, Nelson rejected the
traditional approach. Instead he
chose to attack at right
angles, aiming to break the French
line in two places. This was an
extremely dangerous move as it left
his ships unable to fire back as they
approached the French line.
However, once they had broken the
line the British ships were able to
rake the French ships with gun fire
– astern or to the fore – causing
devastating damage without the
French being ale to fire back.

7. Admiral Lord Nelson devised a
signal which was used during the
Battle of Trafalgar at 11.48 hours.
It was a signal constructed out of
a series of flags which spelt out
the famous message to all of the
ships in the British fleet:
“England expects every man to
do his duty.”

8. It was 13.00 hrs. At the moment when
the British were close to securing
victory over the French and
Spanish, HMS Victory drew close to a
smaller French battleship, the
Redoutable, and from her rigging a
bullet was fired which struck Nelson at
around 13.15 hrs while he was with
Captain Thomas Hardy on the
quarterdeck. Fatally wounded, Nelson
was carried down to the cockpit below
Victory’s waterline. At 16.30 hrs he
died soon after learning that he the
fleet under his command had secured
a decisive victory. His patriotism was
evident until the end. His last words
were “Thank God I have done my
duty.”

9. The ship which Nelson commanded at
the Battle of Trafalgar was named HMS
Victory. HMS Victory was launched at
Chatham Dockyard on 7th May 1765 with
a keel made of elm and oak. The ship
was finished in Portsmouth Dockyard and
was commissioned in 1778. She was the
seventh ship to bear the name “Victory.”
Sir Thomas Slade designed HMS Victory
and he looked carefully at the designs of
the previous ships to bear the same
name.
The ship was heavily armed for its day
containing a vast number of cannons (its
main defence system.)

10. He faced death from
battle, accidents, disease and his floating
home was damp, dark and crowded.
The ship’s company lived on the middle
and lower gun decks with few
possessions. Hammocks were slung in
netting overhead. Each man had about
40 inches to sleep on. The hammocks
were washed regularly.
Although a sailor risked death from
enemy fire or falling from the rigging, for
each seaman who died this way as many
as forty died of disease.
It was almost impossible for men to
wash properly. They washed their
clothes in urine and rinsed them in sea
water.