Footnotes

A rare signature of the officer entrusted by Collingwood with the historic Trafalgar Dispatch. Collingwood's dispatch with its famous opening ("The ever-to-be-lamented death of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, who, in the late conflict with the enemy, fell in the hour of victory, leaves to me the duty of informing my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty...") was written the day after the battle from the frigate Euryalus, to which Collingwood had shifted his flag. It was of course usually a mark of the greatest distinction to be entrusted with dispatches after such a victory. But, after Trafalgar - the fleet being swept by a most terrible storm - the usual courtesies were waived and, in light of the pressing urgency, the most expedient means chosen. Thus, when the great storm abated on 26 October, news of the victory was entrusted to Lieutenant Lapenotiere, captain of the schooner Pickle. Crowding all sail, he reached Falmouth on 4 November. He set off post-chaise, changing horses twenty-one times, and arrived at Whitehall at one in the morning of 6 November, delivering the dispatches to Lord Barham. The First Lord then informed the King and William Pitt, as well as Lady Nelson and Emma Hamilton: "The Prime Minister, who was in residence at 10, Downing Street, confided in Lord Malmesbury next day that during an eventful career he had become accustomed to being knocked up at all hours by messengers bringing news of every description, but hitherto, be it good or bad, he had always been able to lay his head on his pillow and sink into a sound sleep again. On this occasion only had Mr Pitt been unable to recover repose, and at length got up and dressed, although it was three in the morning. The image of Nelson in this quarter was too vivid, too recent...Lord Barham's message reached Windsor Castle about seven o'clock, and it was noticed that His Majesty remained utterly silent for about five minutes after learning the news" (Carola Oman, Nelson, 1947, p.639-40). A re-enactment of Lapenotiere's journey from Falmouth to Whitehall is being staged this year under the auspices of the New Trafalgar Dispatch Committee, and his sea voyage will be re-enacted by the Jubilee Sailing Trust's three-masted barque Lord Nelson: for further details, see The Times of 11 May 2004, and Grahame Aldous, '"Death & Glory": Bringing Home the News of Trafalgar' in The Nelson Dispatch, vol.8, pt.7, July 2004, pp.425-8).