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Lot 133

"we shall not be long before the fleet is at anchor"
Horatio Nelson

5 July 2005, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £3,600 inc. premium

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"we shall not be long before the fleet is at anchor"
Horatio Nelson

Autograph letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte"), to Dr Felix, acknowledging receipt of his application on behalf of his son ("...I will soon take an opportunity of explaining myself farther as we shall not be long before the fleet is at anchor..."), one page, 4to, integral blank, docketed, Victory, 10 October 1804

Footnotes

In early October 1805, Dr Matthias Felix was serving as Surgeon on the Royal Sovereign. When Collingwood transferred his flag to the refitted Royal Sovereign just before Trafalgar he took with him his own surgeon, and Felix was transferred to Collingwood's old ship, the Dreadnought, serving on her at the battle. In a letter approving of the transfer, Nelson described Felix as "the oldest Surgeon in the Fleet, and of good character" (3 October 1805). At the time this letter was written, the fleet was on passage from Toulon to its anchorage at the Maddalena Islands in the north of Sardinia. Nelson clearly intended to summon Felix for a face-to-face interview once the fleet had anchored.

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