Nelson: Britannia's God of War

by Andrew Lambert

  On 3 April Parker sent Nelson ashore to negotiate. Having completed his report and visited the ships that had fought so well the previous day, he landed at the Customs Quay with Hardy and calmly walked down the street to the Palace. The crowd showed no hostility: many wanted to get a glimpse of the hero. Nelson opened the business by flattering the Danes on their courage, and gave the Crown Prince two options: accept Parker’s terms or disarm the fleet. The latter offered the Crown Prince and his Foreign Minister an opening. Anxious to attack Russia, Nelson was prepared to ignore explicit government orders, and open a political negotiation. He would settle for neutralising Denmark while the fleet set about Russia. He stressed that Denmark would not profit from a Russian-dominated Baltic, and that their neutral trade would not survive. He was anxious to get to Reval before the Russians could retreat to Cronstadt – indeed, he told St Vincent he would have been there two weeks earlier, except that Parker would not pass Denmark without a political settlement, fearing their batteries could stop his supplies. Such feeble conduct made him ill and anxious to go home.66 His terms were lenient, because Britain held the Danish colonies and trade hostage, and could easily burn Copenhagen. It was best not to do so, because it would make reconciliation more difficult.67 The purpose of the armistice was to move Hyde Parker.68

  After six days of bluff and counter-bluff, the British settled for Danish neutrality for a period of fourteen weeks, the time Nelson believed he needed to deal with the Russians. The terms were made that much better for the Danes by news that the Tsar had died; they no longer needed to fear reprisals from their mighty ally. The British did not hear this news for another two days. While the negotiations were under way, Nelson placed a large order with the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain works,69 an event still celebrated in the company’s Copenhagen showroom!

  While the negotiations dragged on Parker kept the bomb vessels ready, fitted out the Holsten as a hospital ship, and repaired the fleet so he could proceed as soon as he had finished with the Danes. His official dispatch contained effusive praise of Nelson’s zeal. Fortunately for his peace of mind he had no idea that St Vincent had just written a reply to his letter of 23 March, expecting the complete destruction of the Danish fleet.70 As soon as the armistice had been signed on the morning of 9 April, Parker exploited the terms, demanding water and fresh victuals. He also moved the bomb vessels.

  Parker’s report stressed that the armistice kept the fleet effective and the narrows open for the rest of the campaign, while any attack on Copenhagen would have rendered the critical bomb vessels useless for operations against Russia.71 On 13 April the fleet passed over the Drogden Shallows into the Baltic, the two flagships having to take out their guns to reduce their draught. On the same day Captain ‘Bounty’ Bligh, now commanding the shattered Monarch, convoyed Holsten and Isis back to Britain.72 These three ships were too badly damaged for local repairs. A frigate was sent to locate the Swedes, and offer them the same terms as the Danes. When she returned on 15 April, reporting that they were at sea off Carlscrona, Nelson had himself rowed from the St George to the Elephant, in case the fleet went into action while his flagship was disarmed.

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  The political situation in the Baltic, meanwhile, was changing rapidly. News of Paul’s murder and the change of Russian policy reached London on 13 April, in time to influence the initial response to the battle. The Cabinet elected to exploit the new Russian policy, suspending the order of 14 March to attack Reval and the other Russian ports. Now Parker should check if the embargo on British merchant ships had been lifted. He could suspend hostilities as long as the Russians were prepared to negotiate and the Revel Fleet did not attempt to leave harbour. Hostilities could be opened after twelve hours’ notice.73 Arriving off Carlscrona on 19 April, the Swedish fleet was sighted at a distance, and Parker signalled for a chase, but on further inspection it was clear that they were secure inside the rocky archipelago. As the fleet waited for reinforcements off Bornholm Parker was once more paralysed by indecision. Should he sail for Revel, or watch the Swedes?

  Back in Britain there was no doubt who had won the glory. Lord Spencer stressed that Nelson ‘need be in no anxiety about the feelings of the Country on your account. They give, as they ought, the whole merit in so very hazardous and difficult an attack to the man who carried [it] into execution, and the battle of Copenhagen will be as much coupled with the name of Nelson as that of the Nile.’ Furthermore, ‘the universal applause of a grateful nation and having already been looked up to as the best proof of our Glory in War, will most probably be blest as the principal instrument of procuring an honourable peace’.74 The King and Parliament offered their thanks, while St Vincent sent the news to the Lord Mayor of London, praising Nelson for having ‘greatly outstripped’ himself and promising to attend to his wishes.75 These wishes were, as ever, headed by the desire that his favourite brother Maurice be promoted. This was done: Maurice would have an extra £400 a year, but not a seat at the Navy Board. Davison reported him contented,76 but Nelson himself was not. Sadly Maurice died suddenly on 24 April.77 It was a terrible loss for a man who loved his family above all things.

  On 20 April Colonel Stewart, who had been privy to much of the discussion, and all of the fighting, had arrived in London, taking with him the view of Parker’s conduct that was held on the quarter-deck of the St George and the Elephant. The following day Parker was recalled because of his pusillanimous conduct, foolish handling of battle, and feeble negotiations. The Armistice was upheld, and Nelson was ordered to take command.78 St Vincent now had a better appreciation of the battle, and stressed to Nelson that he had ‘command of the Baltic Fleet, on the conduct of which the dearest interests of this Nation depend’. He must be ready for sudden changes in Russian policy, despite the death of Paul. He had commended Stewart to the King, but sent him back to the fleet as he would be ‘of great use to you, both in treating and fighting, if there should be again occasion’.79

  The Earl’s explanation of his decision to the King was that:

  On a consideration of all the circumstances that have occurred since Sir Hyde Parker was first entrusted with the command of the Baltic Fleet, and the difficulties which he has raised on every occasion, wherein a prompt and vigorous execution of his duty has been required, he is under great apprehension that your Majesty’s service will derive no advantage from Sir Hyde’s continuance in that command.80

  This was not entirely honest. Parker’s real fault was that he did not comprehend war at the same level as his second in command, and lacked the political courage to act on his own judgement. Anyone going out with Nelson under their command was sure to lose their reputation. He would be given any credit, while they must explain a failure.

  It had been Nelson’s comments – relayed by Stewart, who shared his view – that persuaded the ministers to remove Parker for dilatory proceedings. They may also have been aware that the new situation required a new leader. Having broken the back of the conspiracy the British now wanted to ram home their advantage, securing a full retraction from the Tsar, and for this mission a fleet under the international celebrity Nelson would be far more powerful than one commanded by an officer who had so obviously failed.

  On 21 April Rear Admiral Totty joined the fleet off Bornholm with reinforcements. The following day a Russian messenger from Copenhagen informed Parker that the Tsar had opened negotiations with London, and expected him to refrain from any hostile action against League members. Parker returned to Kioge Bay to wait for orders.81 Inevitably Nelson found the delays that followed the armistice soul-destroying. Even by 20 April, he was writing to Emma that he was desperate to go home, and reminiscing about ‘days of ease, and nights of pleasure’ on a voyage from Palermo the previous year.82 He also instructed Davison to tell Fanny that he wished to be left alone, threatening to live abroad for ever on his Sicilian estate.83 The fact that he had the time to deal with private affairs suggests he was losing focus: there appeared to be no further prospect of action,
or of being able to reward his followers.84 Like Nelson after the Nile, Parker had burnt the captured ships, lacking the time and manpower to refit them while further service beckoned. St Vincent promised to pay handsomely for the one remaining ship and head money, but rejected the idea of a grant as ruinous.85

  On 29 April, the Swedes sent a flag of truce. Sensing the campaign was over, Nelson requested permission to go home for his health. Parker, doubtless glad to see the back of his over-mighty subordinate, now there was no prospect of any further fighting, merely requested a surgeon’s report ‘for form’s sake’, and provided a passage in Graham Hamond’s frigate HMS Blanche.86

  St Vincent, meanwhile, was troubled by the strategic situation. He called a Cabinet to the Admiralty on 4 May and requested they sign new orders for the fleet, as the current disposition would enable the Swedes to join the Russians at Revel.87 These were issued the following day. St Vincent approved Parker’s conciliatory attitude towards the Russians and the suspension of hostilities that had been agreed following discussions with the Russian Minister at Copenhagen; now Nelson was to place the fleet to prevent the Swedish and Russian fleets joining at Revel or Cronstadt. He should inform the Swedes that he would not attack them if they stayed at Carlscrona. However Britain would be at war with Denmark at the end of the armistice period, if the grounds of dispute were not resolved.88 The Admiralty was happy to press on, expecting the situation would ultimately return to the status quo ante: Britain already held the Swedish and Danish West Indian islands as a pledge for their future behaviour.89

  On 4 May Parker learnt that his decision to suspend hostilities had been correct. But any satisfaction he took was short-lived; he was astonished by orders to resign the command to Nelson, who was to have sailed that day for the recovery of his health. Admiral Young reported that Parker received the decision ‘with strongly marked indignity’: he complained not only about the insufficiency of his forces, but also that Nelson had disobeyed his orders – ignoring the reality that had Nelson withdrawn, he would have exposed his force ‘to certain destruction’, as Young acknowledged. Now Parker waited on Nelson to deliver his public orders and instructions. The following day he resigned his command, and took Nelson’s place on the Blanche. She ran aground passing through the Sound, and he was obliged to call on the Danes for assistance. It was a sorry end to a feeble command.

  Although Nelson believed that the command had come too late, he was quick to assure the Admiralty that he would do the best that ‘my abilities and a most wretched state of health will allow’. He remained convinced that his health was failing, constantly asking to be relieved, though without making an official request.90 Stewart was convinced that Nelson’s ill health was due to chagrin, not sickness, and Nelson himself realised, as he told Emma, that he could not leave until the business was finished.91 He was anxious to do something decisive to show the Russians that Britain still had a fleet in the Baltic.92 He took the best of the seventy-fours to Revel, while the sixty-fours, ex-Indiamen, the flotilla and other odd packets remained to watch Carlscrona. Had the war continued he planned to attack the twelve Russian battleships lying alongside a wooden mole at Reval. Now the mission had changed, he was to keep the Swedes and Russians divided, until the peace was secure, and dressed up his coercive visit as a compliment to the Tsar. If the Russians were still hostile he was ready to act.

  Arriving off Revel on 11 May, Nelson was disappointed to find the Russians had moved their squadron three days earlier – the more so as he could see no reason why his force could not have destroyed them where they lay. As he reported to his confidant Vansittart, and through him to Prime Minister Addington, the British should have been off to Revel on 2 April, when the annihilation of the Russians fleet would have brought Denmark and Sweden, if not Russia, to their senses. The problem had been getting Parker past the Kronborg, or through the Belt; he seemed to want to wait in the Kattegat and fight the enemy there, ‘a measure disgraceful to our country’.93 His report to St Vincent was more measured, though equally menacing. ‘We know the navigation, should circumstances call us here again.’ He had gathered a wealth of hydrographic intelligence and other sailing information for this relatively unknown sea.94 Next time it would be a lot easier.

  The Russian response to the threat posed by Nelson and his squadron was extraordinary. They had sawn their way through thick ice, at enormous cost, to get the ships out of Revel before the British arrived, and were equally anxious to keep Nelson away from St Petersburg and the naval fortress/arsenal at Cronstadt. The Russians were well aware of their inability to match the impetuous, irresistible Royal Navy. Many British officers had served in the fleet of Tsaritsa Catherine, because they were far superior in all-round naval skills to their Muscovite contemporaries, and offered the Russian Navy a short cut to competence. This dependence only reinforced the sense of inferiority felt now that the British officers had been sent away, and British ships were coming. The forts at Revel and Cronstadt were weak: they would not have lasted long in the face of a determined British attack, directed by Nelson.

  The Russians affected to be upset by Nelson’s arrival, as a gesture open to ‘misconstructions … at a moment of infinite importance to the interests of both countries’.95 They asked him to leave the anchorage on 16 May. Well aware that the diplomatic discussions were in hand, he sent an emollient reply, hoisted anchor and stood down for Bornholm to rejoin Totty. As there was no chance of a battle and he had no desire ‘to die a natural death’,96 he made an official application to be relieved on 17 May.97

  Despite the disappointment of missing the enemy, and the chance of battle, Nelson continued to be the thorough professional. Anxious to keep his force efficient, he made careful use of captured stores and local food to improve the condition of the fleet. His fleet management was based on the existing routines established by St Vincent, and employed the standing Channel fleet report forms and orders. This was not merely to flatter the Earl: St Vincent had taken maintenance and health care to a new level, the better to keep his ships at sea, in front of the enemy, and away from the temptations of port.98 As many of the Danish ships had been newly fitted out, he used their ropes to improve the rigging of several ships.99 Nelson now had twenty-two battleships, forty-six other craft and not a man sick: ‘a finer fleet never graced the ocean.’100 He would do all he could to keep it that way, at the lowest cost.101

  He also worked on the intelligence picture. Fremantle reported on the Russian fleet and forts at Cronstadt, having been allowed to walk around the dockyard. The twelve ships from Revel were in poor condition, and none had been completely rigged. Most of the fleet was dismantled. It was obvious that hasty efforts had been made to put Cronstadt in a state of defence: a new fort similar to the Danish Trekroner was under construction and the flotilla was fitting out.102 Stewart produced a plan of Revel Bay, which Nelson sent home to be lodged in the new Hydrographic Office, accompanied by his plan for an attack.103 It was still there fifty years later, when his plan was revived for the Crimean War.104

  Returning westward, Nelson encountered Lord St Helen’s, the new Minister to St. Petersburg, at sea on 20 May. With becoming theatricality, he stressed his anxiety to be ready in case negotiations broke down, more to stiffen the arm of the envoy than from any belief that hostilities might resume. The Russian-speaking Lieutenant Thesiger and two luggers were sent with the envoy, to keep up communications.105

  On 24 May Nelson rejoined Totty off Bornholm. The same day junior envoy Benjamin Garlike at St Petersburg reported the Russians would release the impounded merchant ships, and would also repair them. To preserve the Tsar’s dignity, this would be described as an act of justice, rather than a response to English demands. The embargo had been lifted immediately after Nelson left Revel on the 17 May. England and Russia would negotiate an end to any differences without third parties; Russia would then dictate terms to Prussia, Sweden and Denmark. Garlike was confident Russia would not expect England to ‘abandon any one of the princip
les of Maritime Law’.106 This would be a complete success for British policy. St Helen’s reached the Russian capital on 29 May. With the negotiations close to completion, Nelson suddenly found the Russian attitude friendly, but the invitation to St Petersburg came too late: he was already off Rostock, heading west.107

  Back in London St Vincent had somewhat prematurely told the King that:

  Lord Nelson, who is in the habit of complaining of ill-health – has, it appears, received considerable benefit from the additional responsibility which has recently been thrown on him, and will, Lord St Vincent has no doubt, be able to continue in the command.108

  Nelson’s official request for relief galvanised the Admiralty, and a week later the King may have been surprised to learn that St Vincent was now ‘very apprehensive, unless his lordship is immediately relieved, his life may be in danger’. It would be difficult to find a suitable flag officer, ‘considering the present critical situation in the affairs with the Northern Powers’.109 The following day he settled on Nelson’s old friend Charles Pole. Already commissioned for an overseas command, Pole sailed on 7 June. Acknowledging a number of letters from Nelson, the Earl expressed his ‘deepest concern’ at his state of health:

  To find a fit successor, your Lordship well knows, is no easy task, for I never saw the man in our Profession, excepting yourself and Troubridge, who possessed the magic art of infusing the same spirit into others which inspired his actions … Your Lordship’s whole conduct, from your first appointment to this hour, is the subject of our constant admiration; it does not become me to make comparisons. All agree there is but one Nelson; that he may long continue the pride of his country is [my] fervent wish.110