Horatio, Viscount Nelson | Autograph letter signed, to Emma Hamilton, after the Battle of Copenhagen, May-June 1801

Vice Admiral Horatio, Viscount Nelson

Autograph letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte"), to Emma Hamilton ("My Dearest Friend"), explaining that although he last wrote to her just the days before, he is taking "an opportunity of writing you a line by way of Hamburgh" and expressing his imminent hope to be granted shore leave ("...if the new ad[miral] would arrive I should certainly sail on two hours. I have directed the London to be the Show Ship for I will have no visitors here that I can help, it is said that the Duke or Prince of Mecklinburgh [sic] intends to come here to see the fleet but nothing you may rely shall force me to go on shore, there is but one person and to that person the Devil himself should not keep me afloat..."), expressing his resentment at his tardy appointment as Commander in Chief of the Baltic ("...If Ministry had really thought highly of me they should have given me the command in feb[rua]ry, not in May when I can do no good..."), and mentioning poor dependents in need of their support ("...I am sure you will comfort poor Blind Mrs Nelson [...] & there is an old Black servant James Price as good a man as ever lived he shall be taken care of & have a corner in my house as long as he lives..."), 3 pages, 4to (235 x 195mm), integral autograph address panel ("Lady Hamilton 23 Piccadilly London"), HMS St George, Bay of Rostock, [24–31 May 1801], seal tear, remains of former mount, strengthened, small tears to corners

"...may God bless and protect you my dearest best most amiable virtuous friend..."

NELSON WRITES TO EMMA HAMILTON IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. Nelson's three-and-a-half months in the Baltic gave him another opportunity to demonstrate his exceptional qualities as a commander: he had been victorious in battle, administered and fed his fleet in unfamiliar and hostile waters, and his use of naval power had demonstrably forwarded British interests in northern Europe with the dissolution the League of Armed Neutrality. However, Nelson was seriously ill for much of his time at sea, anxious about the tumultuous state of his personal life, and, as so often, felt he had been slighted by the Admiralty. He had been making preparations to return home in early May when news came that he had (belatedly, in Nelson's own opinion) been promoted to Commander in Chief of the Baltic Squadron in place of Admiral Parker: the promotion came too late to satisfy Nelson's honour, and meant that he was forced to stay at sea. He immediately petitioned to be relieved of command but his replacement did not reach the fleet until 18 June.

This letter was written during the period when Nelson's fleet was moored in Rostock Bay for ten days to take on supplies. He wrote to Emma again on 1 June with news that had done little to improve his mood: when his unwelcome guest, Karl II, Duke of Mecklenburg, had arrived he came "with his whole Court with women & children to the amount of 100".

PROVENANCE

Sold in these rooms, 20 July 1989, lot 335