The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-11-27
SCHOOTT HoRATIo NELSON
Il The Greatest Naval
HEIIHS Hero of England.
CoDyreh COrDtons Encyclopedias

m HE most famous naval COM
ii mander of the greatest
- maritime power in history
was, like James Watt, so frail that
he was not expected TO live to ma
turity. His fathers small income as
rector of the little parish of Burn
ham-Thorpe in Norfolk, forced the
boy to leave the home nest at 10
and enter the Navy as midship-
man.
His uncle, on whose vessel he
made his first voyage, thought that
the idea of trying to make a sailor
out of the delicate understood boy
was a piece Of folly, and that the
most merciful course would be to
discourage him. So the first day at
sea he ordered the boy aloft, saying,
"You are afraid, lad?" Eyes, sir"
replied the shivering morsel of 81
man, I'm afraid, but I'm going to
the top of the mast, SIR" And go
he did. But he never forgot the
sickening experience, and when at
the early age of 81 he was captain
Of a frigate, he used to race the
new boys up the top of the mast
and salute them at the top.
The little fellows, frightened half
to death but full of British grit,
never disappointed him. lie abolished
some Of the severe punishments then
practiced, saying that cruelty made
towards. He promoted brave men
and treated members of the crew
with great consideration. AS a re-
suit his ships soon were famous.
Fought With France
Nelson's rise to fame began in
1898, during the war with Revolu-
tionary France, when he was put in
command of the 64-gun ship Agame-
mnon. Repeatedly during the next
three years he distinguished him
self by. bravery, GOODNESS, and judg-
ment. During one of the famous
engagements Of this period-the
battle of Calvi-he lost his right
eye; and not long after in a disas-
trous assault on Santa Cruz, in the
Canary Islands, he received wound
which cost him his right arm.
His heroism was rewarded by a
pension, knighthood Of the Order
of the Bath, and promotion to the
rank of rear-admiral. Now came
Nelson's great chance. He was as
signed to hunt out and destroy the
fleet by which Napoleon hoped to
invade Egypt and strike England
in her most vulnerable spot-India.
On Aug. /, 1898, he attacked the
French ships in the Aboukir Bay at
one of the mouths Of the Nile.
Where there Is room for
French ship to swing at anchor"
he said. there is room for an Eng
lish ship to sail'; so he boldly sent
half his fleet into the narrow space
between the French ships and the
shore, while the rest attacked from
the seward side, thus raking the
enemy from both sides. This smash
ing victory of the battle of the Nile
as 1t was called, made the one-eyed
and one-armed admiral the idol of
England. He was raised to the peer
age as Baron Nelson Of the Nile, and
wealth and honors were heaped upon
him.
Defeats Danish Fleet
Three years later QS01). when he
had become vice-admiral, Nelson was
sent to coerce the Baltic States, win
ming a notable victory over the
Danish fleet at Copenhagen. In the
midst of the battle Nelson's superior
hoisted the signal of recall. Putting
the telescope to his blind eye, Mel
son said; 'I really do not see the
signal" and turned what might
have been disaster into triumph.
For this exploit he was made a Wis
count.
After a few months of leisure,
Nelson was called from retirement
to defend England once more from
the menace Of Napoleonic invasion,
and put in sole command Of the
Mediterranean fleet. For fourteen
months he lay off the port Of Tou-
lon. When the French fleet slipped
out he chased it to the West Indies
and back, laid siege to it and to the
allied Spanish fleet in the harbor
of Cadiz, and brought them both
to bay off Cape Trafalgar (Oce. 81,
1909. In going into battle Nelson
flew from the mast head of the Vic
tory the signal that ever since has
been Britains watchword: England