NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Sir Evan Nepean (Commissioner of the Admiralty), Victory, 11 May 1805, one page, 4to, integral blank, contemporary endorsement (remnants of guards).
NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Sir Evan Nepean (Commissioner of the Admiralty), Victory, 11 May 1805, one page, 4to, integral blank, contemporary endorsement (remnants of guards).

细节
NELSON, Horatio, Viscount (1758-1805). Autograph letter signed ('Nelson & Bronte') to Sir Evan Nepean (Commissioner of the Admiralty), Victory, 11 May 1805, one page, 4to, integral blank, contemporary endorsement (remnants of guards).

'MAY GOD SEND US ALONGSIDE OF THEM': Nelson in hot pursuit of the French fleet. Nelson frets about the delayed arrival of a convoy under Rear Admiral John Knight (commander at Gibraltar) who has 'put most unfortunately into the Tagus'; if he does not appear off Cape St Vincent by later the same day 'I shall leave R[oya]l Sovereign off the Cape ... & proceed direct for Barbadoes for ... we are far astern of the Enemy may God send us alongside of them prays fervently Yours faithfully Nelson & Bronte'.

At the very opening of the campaign that was to lead to Trafalgar, the French fleet under Villeneuve had escaped from Toulon on 30 March, evading Nelson, and had passed the Strait of Gibraltar on 8 April. Nelson only received definitive news of this on 8 May, three days before the present letter: he immediately identified Villeneuve's destination as the West Indies, and set off after him on what was to be a wild goose chase on a grand scale. Nelson would have to wait until 21 October for the battle he so craved, off Cape Trafalgar.
拍场告示
Please note that all book lots sold in this sale cannot be returned within 14 days of the sale if found to be defective.

荣誉呈献

Katharine Cooke
Katharine Cooke

更多来自 拉格伦珍藏:惠灵顿、滑铁卢及克里米亚与伦敦德里侯爵珍藏工艺精品

查看全部
查看全部