Scott (for whom see also lots 24 and 194) was Nelson's chaplain from May 1803 when Nelson was appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean. He remained with Nelson throughout the campaign in the mediterranean. A gifted linguist, he had been spotted by Nelson while with Hyde Parker, and although officially HMS Victory's chaplain, Nelson used him as his private secreataery and interpreter, and employed him on various delicate intelligence missions ashore in Spain and Italy. His place at Trafalgar was with the surgeon Beatty in the cockpit, attending to the wounded and dying. He attended Nelson in his death throes, rubbing his chest to ease his blood-filled lungs and saying prayers (as depicted in Devis's famous painting of the 'Death of Nelson') and was deeply affected by Nelson's death, never leaving his body from his death until his funeral at St Paul's in January 1806. He was later appointed chaplain to the Prince Regent and settled at Catterick in Yorkshire, where he accumulated a large library of mostly foreign titles. The portable communion sevice in the present lot (dated 1834) was reputedly a gift from King William IV (a friend of old who had served in the Navy with Scott.)