Lot 108: NELSON (HORATIO)

Autograph letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte"), to Admiral Lutwidge ("My Dear Admiral"), forwarding a letter to him by express and informing him that "the Assistance is also off Flushing so that our force there is very strong", one page, integral leaf removed, slight traces of mounting on verso but overall in fine fresh condition, 4to, Medusa, Margate, 5pm 6 August 1801

NELSON DEFENDS ENGLAND AGAINST INVASION BY NAPOLEON: he had been appointed by the Admiralty "to command the Sea defence of Great Britain" (letter to Captains Shield, Hamilton, Schombergh and Edge, 6 August 1801). Having dealt with the invasion fleet at Boulogne on 4 August, his attention then turned to the northern ports. He wrote to St Vincent earlier on the 6th: "I have now more than ever reason to believe, that the Ports of Flushing and Flanders are much more likely places to embark men from, than Calais, Boulogne, or Dieppe". That same day he also issued a call-to-arms to his captains: "As there can be no doubt of the intention of the French to attempt the Invasion of our Country, and as I trust, and am confident, that if our Seafaring men do their duty, that either the Enemy will give over the folly of the measure, or, if they persist in it, that not one Frenchman will be allowed to set foot on English soil" (letter to Captain Shield et al.).

The present letter is not published by either Nicolas, Dispatches and Letters, or White, New Letters, although Nicolas prints a letter to Lutwidge written earlier in the day, when the Medusa was still off Calais; and White prints one written the following day from Margate roads. The recipient, Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge (1740-1814), was at this time the senior officer in the Downs and Nelson's immediate superior. He had been a close friend of Nelson's uncle William Suckling, and had taken the young Nelson with him as midshipman on his Arctic voyage of 1773; and it was with him that the story of the fearless boy attacking a polar bear originated. The Assistance, described in this letter as being at Flushing, was a fifty-gun gun ship that had been built during the American War of Independence and had spent most of her career in American waters. She had recently returned to Chatham to undergo repairs; but was to be wrecked the following March before having a chance to return to Halifax.