ltwilliammowett:The musket ball that killed Admiral Lord Nelson. The shot was fired by an unknown Fr
ltwilliammowett:The musket ball that killed Admiral Lord Nelson. The shot was fired by an unknown French marine from the top of the mizzen mast of the Redoubtable, a 74-gun French battleship, at the height of the battle.It entered Lord Nelson’s left shoulder, passing diagonally through his chest, damaging two ribs and lung tissue before severing his spinal cord and lodging in his back muscles.As he lay dying and crippled with pain, Lord Nelson famously spoke to Victory’s commander Captain Hardy, saying: “Kiss me Hardy.” He reportedly added: “They have done for me at last. Hardy… my backbone is shot through”.Lord Nelson was tended by ship’s surgeon Dr William Beatty who removed the musket ball which was still fused to lace from the epaulette of his jacket. But his wounds were too severe and Beatty was unable to save him before the battle off Trafalgar ended in the defeat of the French and Spanish fleet which ended Napoleon’s hopes of invading Britain. After giving instructions for his possessions to be sent to his beloved mistress Emma , Lady Hamilton, Lord Nelson’s dying words were “Thank God, I have done my duty”. Beatty kept the so-called Nelson Bullet and had it put it in the locket which he wore for the rest of his life. His family then presented it to Queen Victoria after his death in 1842 as a grisly memento of Britain’s greatest Naval victory. -- source link
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