Nelson: Britain's Greatest Naval Commander

Nelson: Britain’s Greatest Naval Commander by David Ross

978 1 84934 4944   Paperback; 193 x 123mm 192pp  with 12 black and white illustrations (printed within the text)

Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson KB (1758 – 1805) 
was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. Nelson is one of the greatest naval commanders of all time.

Horatio Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, on 29 Sept 1758 at a rectory. He was the sixth of eleven children of the Reverend Edmund Nelson and his mother was Catherine Suckling. His uncle Maurice Suckling was a high ranking naval officer.

Nelson was admired for his leadership, strategy and tactics. He led many decisive British naval victories, 
particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. Known for his bold actions, 
and sometimes for disobeying his seniors, Nelson was taken into the 
hearts of the British people. When Admiral Horatio Nelson died, people who had never seen  him wept because they felt they had lost someone special and irreplaceable. This book tries to describe how that came about.

Battles:
 Nelson helped to capture Corsica and took part in the Siege of Calvi 
(where he lost the sight in his right eye). He later lost his right arm 
at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1797. Nelson destroyed 
Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, and thus gained a 
direct trade route to India for Britain.

From 1794 to 1805, and under Nelson’s leadership, the 
Royal Navy proved its supremacy over the French. Nelson’s most 
famous engagement, at Cape Trafalgar, on the south western headland

of Cadiz, Spain, saved Britain from threat of  invasion by Napoleon, but it would be his last.

Before the Battle of Trafalgar began on 21 October 1805, Nelson sent out the famous 
signal to his fleet ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’. 
He was killed by a French sniper just a few hours later, while leading 
the attack on the combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson’s body 
was preserved in brandy and transported back to England where he 
was given a state funeral. He is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Nelson: Britain’s Greatest Naval Commander

David Ross    ISBN 978 1 84934 4944   £7.99  192 pages

Format: 193 x 123mm

This edition printed 2024

David Ross is a historian, publisher, and writer.