Page 222 - The Secret Museum

well enough what to do.’

As they headed towards the Spanish and French ships, the British sailors would

have seen this flag flying from San Ildefonso. The ship was positioned near the right
side of the top of the T, four from the end. As the British got closer, the French and
Spanish opened fire and a bloody battle waged for four hours. This is when the flag
got the holes you can see in it today – they were made by musket balls. Much later,
perhaps when the flag was hanging in St Paul’s, souvenir hunters armed with a knife
or a pair of scissors cut out the larger holes on the left-hand side. Moths probably
had a go at it too, before it was brought to the museum and properly conserved.

Just over an hour into the battle, Nelson was shot down by a sniper hiding on a

French ship, Redoutable. A deadly musket ball went through his body, shattering two
ribs, puncturing his lung and his pulmonary artery. He fell and was taken below deck,
wrapped in a sailcloth and propped up against the side of the Victory.

The sound of battle raged on as Nelson lay dying, swayed by the ocean swell,
murmuring ‘Drink, drink; fan, fan; rub, rub,’ as his stewards fed him lemonade and
watery wine, fanned him, and the ship’s captain rubbed his chest to ease the pain. By
the time he died, at 4.30 p.m., his fleet had won the greatest victory, destroying or
capturing 18 ships without losing a single ship of their own.

One of those captured ships was the San Ildefonso, and it was taken, with its flag,
back to Britain. The ship that had been four down from San Ildefonso was San Juan

Nepomuceno, also a Spanish ship. Its ensign flag still exists as well. The British
handed it back to Spain, and it is looked after in a museum in Madrid. The two
Spanish flags are the only surviving ensign flags from Trafalgar.

Nelson’s body was brought home in a barrel of brandy on HMS Victory and was
laid in state in the Painted Hall at Greenwich, opposite where the National Maritime
Museum is today. From there, he was taken down the Thames by boat, to St Paul’s
Cathedral, for his funeral.

Nelson had destroyed the Spanish and French fleet and prevented France from
invading his country. As this flag moved in the breeze inside the cathedral, the whole

nation was in mourning.
His wife was at the funeral, but his bereft mistress, Emma Hamilton, was not.
Nelson’s requests in his will and on his deathbed to ‘Look after Lady Hamilton’ and

to allow her to sing at his funeral were ignored. She wasn’t even invited to the
ceremony.

He and Emma had a daughter, Horatia Nelson. When she was born, they gave her
an extra surname, Thompson, the nom de plume Nelson sometimes signed off with
when writing in secret to Emma. Some famous writers are connected to Nelson – the
Brontës. Their father was born Patrick Brunty but changed his name quietly to Brontë,
perhaps in admiration of Lord Nelson, who was given the title Duke of Bronte by the
King of Naples. Bronte is an estate in Sicily, and is the Greek goddess of thunder.