![NELSON, Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Sir Richard Bickerton, 2nd Bart (his second in command), Victory [off Toulon], 6 September 1804, communicating his intention to stand inshore before standing out again in the evening, 'merely to take a look who are out for I think they will now push to the Westw[ar]d and if they should get out of the Straights [of Gibraltar] I think they will push for the West Indies and then with 7000 Troops farewell our Islands'; a postscript refers to the recent death of Viscount Duncan (the victor of Camperdown), whose son is serving with Bickerton, 'perhaps it is better not to say anything', one page, 4to, bifolium. Provenance: Edwin Wolf 2nd collection; Christie's, 21 June 1989, lot 264; private collection.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2010/CKS/2010_CKS_07854_0215_000(nelson_horatio_viscount_nelson_autograph_letter_signed_to_sir_richard042802).jpg?w=1)
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NELSON, Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Sir Richard Bickerton, 2nd Bart (his second in command), Victory [off Toulon], 6 September 1804, communicating his intention to stand inshore before standing out again in the evening, 'merely to take a look who are out for I think they will now push to the Westw[ar]d and if they should get out of the Straights [of Gibraltar] I think they will push for the West Indies and then with 7000 Troops farewell our Islands'; a postscript refers to the recent death of Viscount Duncan (the victor of Camperdown), whose son is serving with Bickerton, 'perhaps it is better not to say anything', one page, 4to, bifolium. Provenance: Edwin Wolf 2nd collection; Christie's, 21 June 1989, lot 264; private collection.
Nelson had been blockading Toulon since July 1803; the French were not to make their first sortie until January 1805, and it was not until April that year that they eventually made the dash for the West Indies that Nelson predicts in the present letter. The reference to Viscount Duncan is appropriate: Duncan's blockading of the Dutch in the Texel during the two years before his victory at Camperdown in 1797, in the face of terrible weather, with ramshackle forces (at one stage he was reduced to only two ships when the remainder of his fleet joined the mutiny at the Nore) and on a lee shore, was possibly the most complete demonstration of the blockader's art.
Nelson had been blockading Toulon since July 1803; the French were not to make their first sortie until January 1805, and it was not until April that year that they eventually made the dash for the West Indies that Nelson predicts in the present letter. The reference to Viscount Duncan is appropriate: Duncan's blockading of the Dutch in the Texel during the two years before his victory at Camperdown in 1797, in the face of terrible weather, with ramshackle forces (at one stage he was reduced to only two ships when the remainder of his fleet joined the mutiny at the Nore) and on a lee shore, was possibly the most complete demonstration of the blockader's art.
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