Nelson's Death and Victory

Also commonly referred to as "The Death of Nelson", "On Board a Man o' War", and "The Battle of Trafalgar", this traditional folk song eulogizes the death of Napoleonic era Admiral Horatio Nelson, Lord Nelson. The earliest written record of the song dates to 1891 in Ashton's Real Sailor Songs,https://www.vwml.org/roudnumber/18837 but the song likely dates to shortly after Nelson's death in 1805. The song has been performed by countless folk artists since. 
==Lyrics==
These lyrics are based on the version performed by the Longest Johns in their livestreams. Numerous versions of the lyrics exist, but they most closely resemble those sung by Peter Bellamy, which can be found here.
On the twenty-first of October, before the rising sun,
We formed the line for action, boys, at twelve o'clock begun
Old Nelson to his men did say: “The Lord'll prosper us this day. 
Give them the broadside, fire away!”
{Chorus}
On board the man of war.
Let him die in peace, God bless you all
On board the man of war.
From broadside to broadside the cannon balls did fly,
Like hailstones across our deck, the small shots did lie.
Our mast was blown away, besides some hundreds on that day,
Were killed or wounded in the fray,
{Chorus}
But then our great commander, with grief he shook his head:
There is no reprieve, and no relief, old Nelson- he is dead.
It was a fatal musket-ball that caused old Nelson for to fall,
Let him die in peace, God bless you all!
{Chorus til finish}
==Recordings==
====Full Band Streams====
*The Longest Johns Impromptu Singing Stream! (17 Nov 2018)
*The Longest Johns Streamtember (4 Sep 2019)
*STREAM (4 Aug 2021)
*Big Announcment Stream (22 Nov 2023)
====Gaming Streams====
*Ocean of Larcenists! - Sailing & Singing with Jd, Andy & Dave (21 Feb 2019)
*Sea of Sings! with Spammals! SHANT! - 1/11/2020
*Sea of Sings! with Captain_Falcore! SHANT! - 2/11/2020
*Four men and a baby. (The baby is our ship) - 10/05/2021
Category:Songs
Category:Traditional
Category:Andy Songs