Admiral Lord Nelson's Wounds
How the Hero of Trafalgar lost his Arm and the Sight in One Eye
Nelson was a small, frail man whose enormous spirit enabled him to overcome losing his arm and the sight in one eye in the years before Trafalgar
Poor Horatio
When asked to take his nephew into his ship, Captain Maurice Suckling replied, “What has poor Horatio done, who is so weak, that he, above all the rest, should be sent to rough it out at sea? But let him come, and the first time we go into action, a cannon-ball may knock off his head, and provide for him at once.” (Nelson family papers.)
A stout heart in a frail body
Nelson was physically frail and as a child suffered from ague – a form of malaria common in England at that time - and when fully grown he was under 5 ft 6 inches tall. Aged twelve,he joined his uncle’s ship, the Raisonnable at Chatham and was classed as a Captain’s Servant – a term used then for apprenticed officers. Like the other youngsters on board, he adapted to a life of damp and discomfort, sustained by foul meat and maggoty biscuit. But Nelson’s spirit overcame his physical frailty and by determination and disregard for his own safety, he quickly progressed in that hard Service, becoming a Post Captain in 1779 at the age of just twenty.
The siege of Calvi
In a combined operation against the French on Cicely, Nelson landed guns and men ashore at Calvi in 1794 when Captain of HMS Agamemnon. During a bombardment a cannon ball stuck the ground close to his feet, sending particles of gravel into his face. His right eye was damaged but he reported to Lord Hood, his superior, that he had “got a little hurt that morning – not much.” He added the following day that he would be able to attend his duty in the evening. In fact, he was blinded in that eye but made so little of it that his name was not included in the list of wounded.
The attack on Santa Cruz
In June 1797, Nelson again took part in an armed landing – attacking Santa Cruz in Tenerife. The Spanish opposition was well prepared and there were around 250 British casualties. As Nelson stepped ashore from his boat under heavy fire, a musket ball passed through his right arm above the elbow. He had drawn his sword just before being hit, but caught it in his left hand as he fell. The weapon had once belonged to his uncle, Capt. Suckling and at that moment, Nelson vowed never to part with it while he lived.
Amputation
Nelson was taken to the Theseus and managed to get aboard using his left arm to haul himself up a rope – refusing help from the boat’s crew whom he ordered to return to collect others who were wounded. The arm had suffered a compound fracture and an artery was severed. It was immediately amputated by the Surgeon of the Theseus.
Recuperation
Nelson suffered greatly from this wound due to a nerve being caught in one of the stitches after the operation. But he never gave up and in early 1798, he hoisted his flag as an Admiral aboard HMS Vanguard.
The Norfolk Hero
Nelson’s subsequent death at Trafalgar in 1805 shocked and grieved the Navy and the whole of England – not least in his native county where several pubs are still rightly named “The Norfolk Hero.”
Sources
The Island Race - Winston S Churchill - Cassell and Co Ltd 1964
The Life of Nelson - Sothey - Everymans Library - 1969
