The man
who created history was afterall a small
man, just 5ft 4in tall, of slight build and with a weak constitution. He was
frequently very ill with recurrent bouts of malaria and dysentery, relics of
his time in the tropics, Madras, Calcutta and Ceylon. It is read that he sailed for East Indies and
arrived at the British outpost at Madras
on 25 May 1774. With the outbreak of the
First Anglo-Maratha War, the British fleet operated in support of the East
India Company and in early 1775 Seahorse was dispatched to carry a cargo of the
company's money to Bombay. In early 1776 Nelson contracted malaria and became
seriously ill. He was discharged from the vessel Seahorse on 14 March and returned to England
aboard HMS Dolphin. In 1780 he was again
very ill, this time with scurvy and his life, and the lives of his shipboard
companions, hung in the balance. But once again this small, apparently frail
man survived!
The famous battle
of Trafalgar (1805) was a naval
engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the
French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition of the
Napoleonic Wars(1796–1815). 27 British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord
Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the
line under the French Admiral Villeneuve in the Atlantic Ocean off the
southwest coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar, near the town of Los
Caños de Meca. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single
British vessel being lost. It was the most decisive naval battle of the war,
conclusively ending French plans to invade England. The
British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had
established during the eighteenth century and was achieved in part through
Nelson's departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy. During the
battle, Nelson was shot by a French musketeer; he died shortly thereafter,
becoming one of Britain's greatest war heroes.
In between,
we know ‘ Nelson ’ ~ for a different reason and meaning altogether – more of a
Cricket slang and superstition !! - in
the game, the reference is to scores of 111 or multiples thereof. Often the reference 111 meant that Nelson was
one eyed ! ~ it was feared that bad
things would occur at this score, batsmen would get out !! David Shepherd made popular the longstanding
practice of raising a leg from the
ground on Nelson in an effort to avoid ill fate. Whenever the teams or
individual score is 111 or multiple (222, 333, 444, 555) crowds would cheer
seeing the raised leg of David Shepherd.
No post on Cricket,
more on the famous sailor hero. Vice
Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté KB (1758 – 1805)
was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy.
Known for his inspirational
leadership, superb grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics, which
together resulted in a number of decisive naval victories, particularly during
the Napoleonic Wars, he is hailed as hero of UK. He was wounded several times
in combat, losing the sight in one eye in Corsica and most of one arm in the
unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He was shot and killed
during his final victory at the Battle of Trafalgar near the Port City of Cadiz
in 1805.
He was particularly
active during French Revolutionary Wars in the Mediterranean. In 1797, he
distinguished himself while in command of HMS Captain at the Battle of Cape St
Vincent. Shortly after the battle, Nelson took part in the Battle of Santa Cruz
de Tenerife, where his attack was defeated and he was badly wounded, losing his
right arm, and was forced to return to England to recuperate. The following
year, he won a decisive victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile and
remained in the Mediterranean to support the Kingdom of Naples against a French
invasion.
In routing the
French fleet during the Battle of the Nile, as it became known, he was
protecting British interests, threatened by Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of
Egypt which lay on the trade routes to India. Having earned the gratitude of
the Sultan of the Ottomon Empire, Horatio Nelson was given the Ottoman Empire's
highest military decoration. Sultan of
the Ottoman Empire bestowed on Nelson the Chelengk, the Ottoman Empire’s
highest military decoration. Traditionally pinned to a turban, but attached by
Nelson to the cockade of his hat, it would become one of the most famous, and
yet ill-fated, jewels in British history.
The 1st
Test in 2011 Series between Australia
and South Africa was played at Capetown.
Put in, Aussies made 284 and dismissed hosts South Africa for 96 runs.
In the 2nd essay, Australia
were reduced to 13–3 by tea ; 21–6 to 21–9, before being bowled out for 47
runs. Debutant Vernon Philander finished with figures of 5–15 from seven overs.
Then Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla both scored
centuries to ease SA to 8-wicket victory. On the final day of the test, being 11
November 2011, with the time at 11:11
with South Africa requiring 111 runs to win, the majority of the crowd and
umpire Ian Gould did Shepherd's leg raise Nelson for that minute with the scoreboard
reading 11:11 11/11/11.
A
glittering mass of more than 300 white diamonds, it was the size of a child’s
hand but with 13 fingers, one for each of the French ships taken during the
action; its centrepiece was a rotating
clockwork star which threw candlelight around a room. However, it reportedly brought misery to
Nelson and to every other person who later possessed it. It was to be stolen shortly
after World War II from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
London jewellers
Symbolic & Chase have financed a
replica which has just gone on show at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and
will be exhibited in London this week. Made
with real diamonds, and its own clockwork mechanism, it’s a faithful
reproduction of an object which seems to have brought ill-fortune to just about
everybody who came into possession of it.
Valued at £250,000, the replica will be auctioned in London next year,
with some proceeds going to fund the conservation of HMS Victory.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
13th
Nov. 2017.
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