Footnotes

Captain Hardy on Nelson's Trafalgar signal 'England expects that every man will do his duty'. After being detained by the great storm that followed the battle, Hardy arrived back in England in the partially dismasted Victory on 5 December (the day appointed for a National Thanksgiving), writing this letter four days later. Trafalgar was the first major engagement on which the signalling system adapted by Admiral Popham in his Telegraphic Signals, or Marine Vocabulary (1803) was used; Nelson taking out with him fifty copies of Popham's code book when he joined the fleet off Cadiz. In the lead-up to the battle, Blackwood, captain of Nelson's leading frigate the Euryalus, wrote to his wife: "At this moment we are within four miles of the Enemy, and talking to Lord Nelson by means of Sir H. Popham's signals" (Oman, 1947, p.615). As N.A.M. Rodger has pointed out, Popham's telegraph "for the first time allowed an officer to compose signals in his own words"; and it was, famously, because of Popham's codebook that Nelson's signal, originally running 'England Confides that Every Man will do his Duty', took its more familiar form of 'England Expects...', 'Expects' being in included in Popham's vocabulary, whereas 'Confides' would require seven hoists ('D-u-t-y' being the only word in the emended signal that had to be spelt out): see Lieutenant Pasco's letter, lot 165 in our sale of 5 July 2005. Such was the system's success that after the battle it became known as 'The Trafalgar Code'.

Hardy's correspondent, the Rt Hon George Rose, MP, Vice-President of the Board of Trade and joint Paymaster-General, was a close friend of William Pitt and had known Nelson since his days as an officer on half pay in 1789, tirelessly promoting his career. Accompanied by George Canning (then Treasurer of the Navy) Rose was the last to visit Nelson on the Victory, before he sailed for Trafalgar (see Nelson's letter of 15 September, lot 144 in our sale of 5 July 2005). His name was much on Nelson's lips during his last moments and, in accordance with the dying man's wishes, Rose pressed Lady Hamilton's claims upon Pitt, his efforts however being frustrated by Pitt's early death. He also served as guardian to Horatia.