![NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Lady Hamilton ('My Emma'), 'Victory off Ceuta', 24-25 July [1805], 2 pages, 4to, integral address leaf signed, seal (seal tear not affecting text).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2003/CKS/2003_CKS_06868_0157_000(064750).jpg?w=1)
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NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Lady Hamilton ('My Emma'), 'Victory off Ceuta', 24-25 July [1805], 2 pages, 4to, integral address leaf signed, seal (seal tear not affecting text).
Written in exasperation after the fruitless pursuit of the French fleet to the West Indies.
'[The] moment I find the Enemy are safe in Port ... I shall sett off for England'. Nelson blames the failure to find the French on [General Thomas] Brereton, 'I have reason to hate the name of Gen[era]l Brereton as long as I live and perhaps our Country for ever but it is vain to repine & fret myself ill ... We have been to Tetuan to water the fleet and to get some refreshment for our poor fellows who [have] much of the scurvy'. On the 25th he announces that he is leaving Cadiz to give orders to Collingwood and to send off to the Admiralty the news that he is steering for Ireland or England, and 'in a very few days ... Nelson will be in the arms of his dear dear Emma'.
Nelson anchored at Gibraltar on 19 July, on his return from the West Indies where a letter from Brereton, on St. Lucia, had given incorrect information (or French disinformation) about the whereabouts of the enemy fleet, sending him on a futile expedition further to the South. His anger against Brereton was a recurrent theme in subsequent letters. He had by now been at sea for two years (less ten days) and finally reached Lady Hamilton at Merton on 20 August, leaving her for the last time on 15 September.
Written in exasperation after the fruitless pursuit of the French fleet to the West Indies.
'[The] moment I find the Enemy are safe in Port ... I shall sett off for England'. Nelson blames the failure to find the French on [General Thomas] Brereton, 'I have reason to hate the name of Gen[era]l Brereton as long as I live and perhaps our Country for ever but it is vain to repine & fret myself ill ... We have been to Tetuan to water the fleet and to get some refreshment for our poor fellows who [have] much of the scurvy'. On the 25th he announces that he is leaving Cadiz to give orders to Collingwood and to send off to the Admiralty the news that he is steering for Ireland or England, and 'in a very few days ... Nelson will be in the arms of his dear dear Emma'.
Nelson anchored at Gibraltar on 19 July, on his return from the West Indies where a letter from Brereton, on St. Lucia, had given incorrect information (or French disinformation) about the whereabouts of the enemy fleet, sending him on a futile expedition further to the South. His anger against Brereton was a recurrent theme in subsequent letters. He had by now been at sea for two years (less ten days) and finally reached Lady Hamilton at Merton on 20 August, leaving her for the last time on 15 September.
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