NELSON (HORATIO)


Letter signed ("Nelson & Bronte"), the text in the hand of Nelson's secretary, John Scott, to Lord Mark Kerr of the Fisgard, acknowledging receipt on 19 April of his letter of the ninth, "sent by Mr [Peter] Truppo in the Diligente, acquainting me that as the French fleet consisting of Eleven Sail of the line, Seven frigates and two Brigs, had passed through the Straits... You intended proceeding immediately Off Ushant and Ireland with Intelligence thereof"; assuring him that "In Answer to which I am much obliged by Your Lordship's sending the said Vessel to Me and very highly approve of Your proceeding Off Ushant and Ireland with the important information", 2 pages, paper watermarked ʻFellows/ 1804', integral blank removed, slight creasing and a few light fox-marks, folio, Victory at Sea, 1 May 1805
|ʻTHE FRENCH FLEET CONSISTING OF ELEVEN SAIL OF THE LINE' – VILLENEUVE BREAKS FREE FROM NELSON'S BLOCKADE, and the scene is set for the Great Chase. This – the moment that Kerr received and passed on Intelligence that Villeneuve had escaped – is identified by John Terraine as marking the crisis of the Trafalgar campaign: 'Captain Lord Mark Kerr of the frigate Fisgard was refitting at Gibraltar, with half his gear ashore, in April 1805 when Villeneuve escaped from Nelson and passed through the Straits. Kerr sent off a lieutenant [Truppo] in a hired brig [Diligente] to warn Nelson, abandoned his gear and cut short his refit, and fighting foul winds proceeded to carry his news first to Admiral Calder at Ferrol, then to Lord Gardner with the Western Squadron, then to Plymouth for the Admiralty and finally to Cork – a splendid, spontaneous, comprehensive act of illumination'; Terrain adds: 'All too often, in the matter of Intelligence, it is accident that plays a large part; in April 1805 it was a mixture of accident and discretion. It was the accident of being in the midst of a refit that placed Captain Lord Mark Kerr and the frigate Fisgard in Gibraltar on 8 April, as Villeneuve passed by on his way to Cadiz. We have already noted how Kerr reacted; it is necessary to go a little deeper into his story. We have seen that his first action was to try to warn his chief, Nelson. He cleared Gibraltar on the 11th, and on the 15th he spoke to the frigate Melampus, belonging to Sir Robert Calder's squadron off Cape Finisterre. The Melampus carried Kerr's news to Calder, who sent her on at once to warn Lord Gardner at Ushant, leaving Kerr to take the news to Ireland, always a sensitive area when the French were on the move. On the way, he made contact with one of Gardner's cruisers on 23 April, and Gardner (informed twice over) at once sent the news on to the Admiralty, who had it by 25 April. This means that, thanks to Kerr's discretion, the Admiralty had sure Intelligence of Villeneuve having passed the Straits of Gibraltar just seventeen days after he did so – very good going for those days. When the news arrived the political crisis was at its height... If it was accident and discretion combined that had brought in the first Intelligence of Villeneuve, what now followed was all due to discretion' (Trafalgar, 1998 edition, pp. 34, 73-5).On the day he wrote our letter to Kerr, Nelson also wrote to William Marsden of the Admiralty, apprising him of Kerr's news and approving of his action. Twelve days later, he set off in pursuit of Villeneuve across the Atlantic. Not in Nicolas.