Nelson City Council

How Nelson was named

The settlers arrived here in 1842, a couple of years after the one of the world's most famous landmarks, Nelson's Column, had gone up in London's Trafalgar Square. Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson had defeated the French at Trafalgar in 1805, and was even more famous than Beckham and Posh are today!

In February 1841, the New Zealand Company announced that Arthur Wakefield RN would lead the expedition to the 'Second Colony'. Arthur was linked with Nelson via his own former skipper, Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy - the recipient of the famous remark Nelson made on his deathbed: 'Kiss me (or was it kismet?) Hardy'.

The death of Hardy the year before may have prompted Wakefield to suggest Nelson, and to call one of the first streets Hardy St. Streets with references to the great admiral include Nile for the famous battle where he kicked French derriere, Vanguard Street , after his flagship at the Nile and Collingwood (the street and the Golden Bay town) for Cuthbert Collingwood who was second in command at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Nelson - the coach connection

Interest ran high in the event and several readers came forward with fascinating snippets - including a brochure from Newman's Coach Lines from the 1960s. This has information about Nelson city's connections with the famous Admiral, and tells how the Newman coaches came to carry names like Colossus, Thunderer and Minotaur. Newman's history in Nelson goes back to the every early days of stage coaches, replaced by 'mail-cars' from early in the 20th century. These vehicles were given unofficial names by their drivers, then for many years a numbering system was adopted. In 1965 the drivers suggested names instead of numbers, the firm agreed and it was decided to name the coaches after the ships that took part in the Battle of Trafalgar. The brochure continues:

"So it was arranged and each of the coaches in the Newman fleet now bears the name of a ship which was part of the illustrious fleet which Nelson led into the great battle. Thirty-three British ships took part. Of these we know the names of twenty eight; the remainder were three frigates and two brigs."

Gun power was in those days the gauge of size and power, and the list of ships ranges from the Victory at 100 guns, the Temeraire, Prince and Neptune with 98, to the Polyphemus, Agamemno and Ajax with 64 guns. The British lost 2500 men in the battle of Trafalgar, with the French loss calculated at 7000.

The brochure concludes: "It is to mark the valour of these British ships of old that Newman's coaches now bear such historic names and as someone so aptly put it: 'Nelson's Fleet Cruises Again'."

Nelson Connection

Nelson lived during the Georgian era - when most of the kings were called George! George lll ruled during all but the first two years of Nelson's life (1757-1805). George was thought to be mad, but it's in more enlightened times it seems more likely he was suffering from a rare inherited gene condition called Porphyria, which Mary Queen of Scots and James l may also have had. The film 'The Madness of King George' starring the late Nigel Hawthorn, gives a great insight into the dress, manners, music, politics and the state of psychiatric medicine in the 17th century.

George lV followed George IIII on the throne, but was not a popular king - in fact was 'fat and lazy'. William lV who succeeded him had more connection with Lord Nelson. He joined the Navy when he was 13, fought in the American Revolution and is often referred to as 'The Sailor King'. While serving in the West Indies he became a close friend of Nelson's and took the role of giving the bride away when Horatio married Francis Nisbet. William had a short reign as a king who was: 'a little old red nosed, weather beaten, jolly looking person with an ungraceful air and carriage'.

School chums with the Admiral

Nelson woman Sarah Holman can claim an alma mater link with Lord Nelson!

Sound a bit tabloid to you? It's not so different from the recent claim that the first place Horatio stepped ashore in New Zealand was Collingwood, but in fact Sarah's claim is much more modest and readily verified. She attended the same school as the hero of the Royal Navy, in North Walsham, Norfolk .

Sarah is the secretary of the Nelson Heritage Advisory Group. Her own heritage includes growing up in Norfolk , the land of 'Swallows and Amazons' where childhoods are whiled away on the maze of rivers and the Broads , lakes left behind from peat diggings in medieval times. Sarah says the waterways and the climate with huge cumulus clouds blown in from the North Sea make Norfolk a place where sailing is 'in the blood'.

She recalls the role the Nelson tradition played in her school days. "The boys from Paston Grammar used to come to school in sailor suits on days when they were having cadet training, and we used to have a special church service on Trafalgar Day when we sang the Victory Hymn."

However, Sarah says because there is so much history in England, the link with the Admiral was quite understated and looking back she 'didn't really appreciate the greatness of it'.

Praying for Victory

Lord Nelson wrote his famous prayer just before The Battle of Trafalgar. He was asking that he would find victory in battle not only for England, but for all of Europe and that all crew would act in an honourable way - this at a time when the spoils of war were part of the reward for the hardships of navy life. It could be said that Nelson was ahead of his time in seeing himself as a European.

Nelson's Prayer

May the great God, whom I worship, grant to my Country and for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious Victory: and may no misconduct, in any one, tarnish it and may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British Fleet.

For myself individually, I commit my life to Him who made me and may His blessing light upon my endeavours for serving my Country faithfully. To Him I resign myself and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend.

Amen amen amen.

Nelson's seat

If you have £650 to spare you could sit yourself down on a stool made with oak from Lord Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, HMS Victory.

The Victory has been in dry dock since 1922 and as she is restored there is reusable oak and copper that is being removed, along with material that has rotted and needs replacing.

Cabinet makers, Simpsons of Norfolk are making 200 commemorative stools from this oak, each with a brass commemorative plate.

Simon Simpson says every stool is slightly different because the wood is so full of character: "We include a certain amount of defects - it looks good that way."

From the proceeds Simpsons are making a donation to the Victory restoration project. They are just one company of about 30 making saleable items from material off the old sailing ship, under the banner 'The 1805 Collection'. Authenticity has been certified by the British Ministry of Defence for products ranging from wooden jigsaws to tables and chairs.

Wood it have been at Trafalgar?

It's hard to say. The HMS Victory had seen action before the big battle of 1805, and would have been patched up by ship's carpenters where she had taken a hit. Find out more about artefacts from the HMS Victory at www.nelsonsvictory.com

Cat or Cannon?

If the cat o' nine tails didn't get you the cannon might - conditions in the British Navy in Nelson's day were notoriously bad. So why join up?

Poverty played a large part. In the navy men were sure of regular meals, pay, medical attention, a pension and possibly 'Prize Money' when an enemy ship was captured. However, by 1805 the Napoleonic war had taken its toll and volunteers were harder to find - about 60 % of Victory's crew had been 'pressed' into service. Even the volunteer officers had often been sent to sea by their parents at a young age.

The Press Gangs

The word 'prest' means an advance, the 'King's shilling' paid by the press gangs. The Impress Service set up in every port and hired local men as 'gangers' - one way of not being caught by the Press Gang itself. The Gang roamed the countryside for recruits, and were paid for each man they brought back, with plenty of scope for bribery and corruption!

The press also worked at sea, boarding merchant ships and taking crew. Merchant captains often built small hideaways for valuable men, and though the Press Gang was supposed to leave enough men to navigate the ship, vessels could still be left seriously undermanned.

Quota Acts passed in 1795 demanded a certain number of men from each county to serve at sea, for example London had to produce 5704. This led petty criminals being given the option to go to sea - not a bad choice given the harsh conditions in gaol at the time. But by being in the cells before going aboard they often brought gaol fever (typhus) with them and thinned the ranks rather than boosting them.

St Vincent - a street with a big name!

The Nelson bi-centenary commemorations have already begun with some of the Admiral's earlier battles.

14 February 1997 marked the bicentenary of the Battle of Cape St Vincent, where Nelson's dramatic action secured victory for the British and began his rise to fame.

At the battle Admiral Sir John Jervis (later Earl St. Vincent) led a squadron of 15 sailing ships against a numerically far superior Spanish fleet. He fell on them off the southern coast of Portugal as they were running for Cadiz and divided their line into two parts.

From his flagship, HMS Victory, he ordered his ships to tack in succession and prevent the gap from being closed. Nelson, last but two in the line, saw that this manoeuvre would not be completed in time and made a quick decision to turn his ship, HMS Captain into the gap. He took on seven Spanish ships, including the Santissima Trinidad, the largest ship in the world and two other ships, the San Nicolas and San Josef.

Through a hail of pistol and musket fire, he led boarding parties to capture both the San Nicolas and San Josef. By nightfall, four ships had been taken and ten others crippled. Admiral Jervis was generous in his praise of Nelson who was knighted (KB).

The battle for Corsica

In 1794, the British were at war with the French revolutionary government. They needed a base to fight and the obvious place was Corsica - already in revolt against the French. The keys to Corsica were the two fortress-cities of Bastia and Calvi on the east and west coasts.

The English dragged their guns ashore and heavily bombarded Calvi for several days in July 1794. On 12 July, Nelson was wounded. He had been watching the bombardment from a vantage point with a view of the battlefield and besieged city, when a shell burst on the rampart of sandbags, sending up a shower of stones and sand. Nelson's face was cut, the worst wound on his right brow.

Nelson wrote to his commander Lord Hood: "I got a little hurt this morning: not much, as you may judge by my writing."

Hood replied: "I am truly sorry to hear you have received a hurt, and hope you tell the truth in saying it is not much."

A few days later Nelson wrote to his brother William: "You will be surprised when I say I was wounded in the head by stones from the merlon of our battery. My right eye is cut entirely down, but the Surgeons flatter me that I shall not entirely lose my sight of that eye. At present I can distinguish light from dark, but no object . . . . Such is the chance of War, it was within a hair's breadth of taking off my head."

French surrender

It took until 10 August 1794 for the French to surrender. Nelson had lost his eye but Corsica was now a British possession. Incidentally the famous image of Lord Nelson wearing a patch is not accurate. He lost his sight but the eye was not disfigured and his letters show his relief that his appearance would not be marred.

Two Names

Nelson resident Jim Sargent of Bronte Street asks: "Why was Horatio, Viscount Nelson, Admiral of the British Navy, given the title 'Duke of Bronte', when Bronte is a town on the slopes of Mt Etna in eastern Sicily?"

The answer: Nelson was indeed Viscount Nelson. He was also Duke of Bronte. This came about after the massive defeat he inflicted on the French fleet in 1798 at the Battle of the Nile, off Aboukir Bay. Nelson returned in triumph to Naples in his ship HMS VANGUARD to a hero's welcome from Emma Hamilton. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile, Parliament voted him a pension of 2000 pounds sterling a year, the East India Company awarded him 10,000 pounds sterling and the King of Naples conferred on him the title of Duke of Bronte, in Sicily. But why did the King want to favour Lord Nelson with a title?

Nelson in the Mediterranean

Horatio was on continuous active service in the Mediterranean for most of the 1790s. He lingered for a year in Naples, which is where he fell in love with Lady Emma Hamilton. During his time in Naples, Nelson evacuated its Royal Family to Sicily and helped to crush an uprising and presumably it was that deed that brought him the gratitude of the King.

Nelson to Nelson

This story makes another Nelson connection for us:

Vanguard Street is named after Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of the Nile. Shame about Lady Emma, though. Since the Hotel Nelson closed in the mid '80s we haven't had a memorial to her. The old 'Nellie' used to have a small lounge bar called the Lady Hamilton Bar, wood panelled and decorated with paintings of one of the most famous heroines in romantic history.

In Nelson’s day...

When a sailing ship spent six months at sea, there had to be plenty of stores to last the distance. HMS Victory would set sail with up to 300 tons of water, 30 tons of beef, 15 tons of peas, 4 tons of oatmeal and 45 tons of bread and biscuits. There were also vegetables, dried fish and livestock, including chooks and a milking cow. When fodder ran out, the animals became food for the crew. Cats were kept on board to deal with the mice and rats and it was not unusual for an officer to take his favourite dog on board. Fresh meat was kept cool in a 'nautical meat safe', a wooden disc with hooks to hang the meat from, that was slung from the overhang of the ship’s stern in the fresh salt air.

Would you like to see the menu?

Breakfast was a cold oatmeal porridge called Burgoo, served with Scots coffee - ships’ biscuits dropped into the galley fire until they were burnt to charcoal, then crushed up and mixed with hot water.

Lunch was some sort of soup or stew with salt beef, pork or fish and dried vegetables; and the evening meal was ships’ biscuits with butter or cheese and often weevils! A ten year-old boy who served at Trafalgar wrote this letter home about the food:

"We live on beef which has been ten to eleven years in the cask and on biscuit which makes your throat cold in eating owing to the maggots which are very cold when you eat them, like calvesfoot jelly."

It's not hard to see why a saying of the times was 'Better one volunteer than three pressed men.'