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Horatio Nelson Signed Manuscript Orders....
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$3,500.00
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Description
Horatio Nelson Signed Manuscript Orders. Two pages, 8 x 12 1/2 inches, "on Board the Victory at Sea"; March 14, 1805. Framed to an overall size of 22 1/2 x 18 inches, alongside two engravings of Nelson mounted to each side of a cardstock sheet. Addressed to Richard Thomas, commander of HMS Aetna, and signed "Nelson of Bronte." Additionally signed by Vice Admiral John Scott, Nelson's trusted secretary and confidant aboard the Victory, who, along with Nelson, would be killed at the Battle of Trafalgar just seven months later. It reads, in part:"By the Right Hon'ble Lord Viscount Nelson K. B. Duke of Bronte in Sicily...Pursuant to Instructions from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty - You are hereby required and directed to Order all the Ordnance Stores on board His Majesty's Bomb Vessel Aetna under Your Command, to be put under the Charge of the Gunner of the said Vessel, and direct him to receive them and give the necessary receipts to the Officer in whose charge they are at present."
Written during Nelson's Mediterranean command, this order dates to his blockade of the French fleet at Toulon. Early in 1805, after months of confinement, the French fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve slipped out of port and evaded the British patrols. Nelson, commanding from his flagship Victory, pursued them across the Mediterranean before learning that the French had returned to Toulon. In April, Villeneuve again escaped, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic, while Nelson's fleet followed in a futile chase that spanned across the Caribbean and back.
The campaign culminated later that year in the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. Napoleon had ordered Villeneuve's fleet to the English Channel to provide cover for a planned invasion of England; but, with the entry of Austria and Russia into the war, Napoleon was forced to abort the plan. Villeneuve attempted to slip away again but was spotted by patrolling British frigates on October 20. At four-o'clock in the morning on October 21, facing a fleet of thirty-three ships with only twenty-seven of his own, Nelson boldly ordered his squadrons to attack. The Victory took heavy fire in the opening exchange; John Scott was killed early in the action by a cannonball, and Nelson himself was mortally wounded by a musket shot from the French ship Redoutable. He died in the cockpit of the Victory at half-past four in the afternoon. His victory, however, was absolute, ensuring British naval supremacy for a century and immortalizing Nelson as the greatest admiral of his age.
Condition: Not examined out of frame. Orders lightly toned with smoothed folds; archival tape at right edge of letter. Adhesive remnants from previous mounting at top edges of orders and engravings. Engravings somewhat toned with minor foxing.
Auction Info
2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction #6328 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
February, 2026
26th
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 2
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