611. Nelson: Bonaparte Prepares to Strike (Part 4)

27:14I think she'd have always found it difficult, wouldn't she, back in London? I think there would always have been people who looked down their noses at her. But she might have been cut more slack, I think. A little bit, yeah. But she makes it worse. She's very bad at her own PR. So whenever she does go out in London, she says to people very loudly, Sir William has been so hard done by. He's such a brilliant man. And he should be in the palace at Lambeth. Nelson should be a duke greater than Marlborough. And so people say, God, these Hamiltons, they're ghastly people, just massive sponges and whinges.

27:44Here's Sir William, said to the government, I've run out of money. Can you settle my debts, please? And the government said, no, sell your art collection. Why should we settle your debts? And I think what happens is that they, in this period, they do feed a trait that Nelson already had, which is this kind of neediness and this self-pity. You know, this is one of, I think, one of his least attractive traits, that he's always moaning, moaning at his superiors, saying that he's not being taken seriously enough, that he should have better rewards, sort of this kind of thing. It's a bit like, do you remember when, wasn't it David Beckham?

28:18There was a leaked message. Yes, he wanted a knighthood. He wanted a knighthood. And he was absolutely furious. What more do I have to do? But to be fair to him, he got it in the end. He did. He did. So I think if you nag hard enough, maybe you get there. That's the lesson. There's a lesson for you there, Tom. So some listeners may well say, well, this is all just ghastly snobbery from the establishment. You know, poor old Emma, poor old Nelson. Well, I mean, I think it is. Well, I think there's an element of truth that it is snobbery, but they're not saints. Even Nelson's not a saint, I hate to break it to you.

28:53And Emma does, she does let herself down in this regard. She is waging a long campaign against Fanny still. and she is writing to nelson's relatives and saying to them fanny is a wicked bad artful woman with a cold heart and infamous soul and all of this kind i mean this is shows her at her worst i think she also has an animus isn't she a little bit against um edmund edmund nelson who she knows doesn't approve of her because she says to the relatives edmund is just fanny's dupe edmund is fanny's puppet and all of this kind of thing now actually we know edmund was incredibly close to Fanny. He saw her as a second daughter.

29:31He adored her. And when Nelson kicked her out, Edmund said to her, I would happily come and live with you in Bath. And actually Fanny said no, because she said, I don't want to drive Horatio against you. This will drive a wedge between you and Horatio, which is, you know, poor old Fanny. I think Fanny's brilliant. Brilliant, but quite boring. Well, yeah, but maybe I like a boring person. You know, I'm more tolerant than you are, Tom. I mean, everyone always says that about me. I'm such a tolerant. They do. Such a tolerant and kind person. So, if I only make one last attempt to win Nelson back in Christmas 1801, another heart-rending letter.

30:13Do, my dear husband, let us live together. I assure you I have but one wish in the world to please you. Let everything be buried in oblivion. It will pass away like a dream. And, Tom, how does Nelson reply to this? He completely ignores it. and the comment on the letter is opened by mistake by Lord Nelson, but not read. That's harsh, isn't it? So a few months after that, Edmund finally died. He died in Bath. He had his funeral in Burnhamthorpe. Everybody, all the other Nelsons went, but Horatio Nelson did not go. He said he was ill. Roger Knight in his biography says, come on, we all know what's going on here.

30:51basically nelson feels really guilty and embarrassed about his father and their relationship and how the turn his life private life has made yeah but also the classic i you know you don't want to take your your new partner you know she doesn't want to go it's yeah yeah so um he doesn't go edmund's death is pretty bad news for fanny actually because the rest of the family then cut her off some of nelson's fellow officers though did keep in touch with her didn't they so thomas hardy who in many ways is actually quite an unattractive man with his enthusiasm for the lash. He made a great effort to keep in touch with Fanny.

31:25He used to have breakfast with her. And there's a letter that he writes to his brother and said, I've just had breakfast with Fanny Nelson. She's one of the best women in the world, he said. High praise. And I think it's interesting that in the wake of all this, you can tell that Nelson is feeling bad about himself because he then arranges to go on a kind of publicity tour in which loads of people will turn out and give him hussars and say how brilliant he is. So he goes in the summer of 1802. He and the Hamiltons go on a trip to Wales. And actually it's prompted by Greville, who is Emma's old, you know, she'd been mistress to him eons before, and he wants to develop a port in Wales.

32:12So that's the ostensible reason that they go. But actually, it's like a kind of rock star on tour. And I think that it plays a crucial role in establishing Nelson as a genuinely national hero, because no one has ever done this before. I mean, maybe royals have on occasion, but it is like a kind of royal progress. He's the first commoner to do this. And it has this, you know, it kind of seals the relationship between him and the people of Britain, I think. Yeah. I think there's a slight melancholy to Nelson, though. Do you not have this? Of course. in these years. When people went to dinner, they would say, you know, Emma does all the talking and he sits there very quietly sort of staring out of the window and he was always wearing black.

32:52I mean, that's not, this is a morning, it's just because he often, he dressed in a very conservative style, ironically, given who he's living with. Well, I think actually that when he comes back to Merton, I think he is happy with Emma there and I think particularly after what happens in April 1803, which is when Sir William Hamilton dies. I mean, Emma mourns him. Nelson mourns him. He dies in Emma's arms. Nelson is holding his hands. And Emma's terribly upset about it, partly emotionally, but partly also because it unleashes additional money problems because she'd been hoping to be left lots of money in his will.

33:33But actually, Hamilton has left his estates to a relative and she just gets this income of 700 pounds a year. And I think that's because Hamilton is assuming that Nelson will be able to look after her. So it's a problem. And Hardy, who doesn't like her at all, kind of basically gloats over it. How her ladyship will manage to live with the hero of the Nile now? I'm at a loss to know, at least in an honourable way. And it's very, very Jane Austen again. The sense in which it's never just about your personal emotions. It's always about your income. However, money problems aside, it does now mean that essentially Emma and Nelson can live together as a married couple in all but name.

34:18And I think that this makes both of them as happy as either of them have ever been in the course of their lives. And for both of them, there is a kind of novelty in being a happily married, inverted commas, domestic couple. because Andrew Lambert in his biography quotes this amazing fact, which I'd never have thought of before. He says that when Nelson returned ashore from abroad in October 1801, it was the first time that he had ever slept in his own house. He'd never done that before. Yeah, because he'd been living with his father or been in hotels or whatever. Or on ships most of the time. So a real novelty.

34:57And for Emma to live with Nelson, I mean, it's the first time she is living with a man who she hasn't been pimped to. So I think there is real happiness there. However, Dominic, the problem is that even when the sun is shining, there are always clouds massing in the background to block out the rays. What's really frightening is if those clouds turn out to be the storm clouds of war. And do you know what? Over the winter of 1802, 1803, there have been growing fears that the peace of Amiens, as its critics claimed, was just a sham after all. So both Britain and France have basically spent the peace rearming, the French in particular spending a lot of money on their navy.

35:41Now, Napoleon has shown no sign of curbing his appetite for conquest. In September 1802, he annexed Piedmont and he declared himself the president of the Salpine Republic in northern Italy. And then he sent troops to intervene in Switzerland. so it's clear that he is gearing up for another go. I suppose, just to put it in the balance, the British have not given up Malta. But would you, Tom? Would you give up Malta in the face of such a threat? No, I wouldn't. But just setting that in the balance. Yes, that's fair. Our French listener will appreciate that. So by the turn of 1803, the mood in Britain feels very summer of 1939.

36:25We've given Bonaparte every chance to prove himself a man of peace, but he can't be trusted. And you quoted Andrew Lambert, great naval historian earlier. Lambert, who is very much a Bonaparte sceptic, if not a Bonaparte phobe. He's actually got a book out just now on how Britain organises things after Napoleon's defeat to ensure that a Bonaparte will never arise again. Right. Well, he says basically Bonaparte's long-term aims were such that no British government could ever have accepted them. He wanted to reduce his neighbours to client states. His long-term aims were southern Italy, Greece, Egypt, and so on.

37:02There could be no lasting peace with a regime that did not accept the rules of the state system, and this would require a total war. So on the 10th of May, 1803, Britain's ambassador, Addington's ambassador in Paris, hands over an ultimatum. They want the French to pull out of Holland and Switzerland, and they want Britain particularly to keep this naval base in Malta. They get no reply. And a week later, Britain declares war on France. And everybody knows that this will be, it's not going to be like the Seven Years' War. Beating France will be a total national mobilization. The Napoleonic Wars have been eclipsed, I think, in our popular imagination by the World Wars as an existential challenge.

37:45But an existential challenge is exactly what they are. And to give you a flavor, two months into the war, William Pitt, who's been ill, comes back to the Commons, and he gives an incredible speech to kind of stiffen the nerves of his old colleagues. Churchillian speech. And he says, this is not just another war. It's a war against a dictator who's broken all his promises and will stop at nothing. We are called to struggle for the destiny, not of this country alone, but of the civilized world. This is a war for our property. It is for our liberty. It is for our independence, nay, for our existence as a nation.

38:18It is for our character. It is for our very name as Englishman. It is for everything dear and valuable to man on this side of the grave. And I think that just as Churchill was summoning Britain in 1940 to a total war, Pitt is doing the same. And it's a great mustering of finance and manpower. And the focus of that effort is the Royal Navy. and the maintaining of the Royal Navy in this war is, I think, probably the greatest project undertaken by any state in history up until that point. And it is a precursor of the total wars of the 20th century. It is a massive, massive moment. And of all the Royal Navy's weapons, I suppose two stand out.

39:05So one of them we're very familiar with, Nelson himself. He's given his orders on the day war breaks out, take command of the Mediterranean fleet, proceed to Malta, and then head to Toulon, ideally to destroy the French fleet. And that same day, the 18th of May, he arrives in Portsmouth to take control of the other great weapon. And this is his new flagship, one of the greatest ships that Britain has ever built. She is almost 50 years old, but she's been in the dockyards for repairs for three years. She's a first-rate ship of the line with three decks, 850 sailors, and 104 guns, the supreme fighting machine, the great weapon to defy the dictator.

39:46And her name, of course, Tom, is the victory. Well, do you know, Dominic, I feel so overwhelmed by patriotism that I need to have a break. I'm sure everyone else does as well. So let's do that. And when we come back, the war begins.

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40:41Hello, welcome back to The Rest is History and to Total War Napoleonic style. So we are in the late summer of 1803. Nelson has arrived in Malta. He's taken over as commander in chief in the Mediterranean, and he has established himself in command of a blockade outside the French base at Toulon. And Dominic, I'm guessing this is a very sweet moment for him because he'd been acting commander in chief before, but then he'd been replaced by Lord Keith. And the fact that the Admiralty are happy to give him command of the Mediterranean theatre reflects the rise in his reputation, the degree of trust that government is now prepared to place in him.

41:23Yeah, I think that's right. I think he's completely redeemed himself from the low point a couple of years earlier, and he is seen as the only man for the hour. Now, his task might sound a bit dull. Basically, he has to destroy the French fleet, but everyone knows the French fleet is very unlikely to come out to be destroyed. So it's going to be a question of bottling them up in Toulon, blockading them. but it's so important because as you said before the break this is a war that for britain will be won and lost on the seas not on land because if the french were to win control of the seas that's it if they get control of the channel well that's the key isn't it because basically they don't need to win control of all the seas they just need to win control of the straits of dover for what 24 hours um and obviously the focus of of guarding against that prospect for the british is the Channel Command.

42:15But the fleet in Toulon is crucial as well, because if they do manage to break out, to slip past the blockade, go out through the Straits of Gibraltar, then they could join in the invasion of Britain or of Ireland or of Britain's holdings in the Caribbean, which would then act as a possible distraction. Fleets might be sent from the Channel. So there's all kinds of jeopardy in play for Nelson. There is indeed. And a blockade sounds not as exciting as a battle, but a blockade is really, really important, both as a defensive weapon and as an attacking one. Because actually for the next 12 years, Britain's strategy will basically be to blockade France's ports, to suffocate its trade, to squeeze its economy, and really to persuade France's satellites that they'd be better off if they broke with Napoleon.

43:00And we know now that this strategy works. It takes a long time, but it pushes Napoleon to construct his continental system. When the Russians break with the continental system, He invades Russia and he makes the terrible mistake, the retreat from Moscow, all of this kind of thing. All of this you can trace back to that British strategy of basically squeezing him by sea. The downside, though, of course, nobody knows it then that it's going to work. And it's really, really hard work, isn't it? Snelson has 11 ships to the line, 15 frigates, seven support ships, and he has to keep them in play far from home the whole time has to keep them healthy well fed watered all of this well the thing is that in the long run nelson and the crew on the victory will not set foot on dry land for two years so those ships are permanently out there yeah there's no break there's no leave and he spent so that's two years for him in the cabin or on the quarter deck of the victory working beneath his portraits of Emma and Horatia.

44:07The victory itself is run by his old mate, Hardy. And Hardy is... You don't want to get on the wrong side of Hardy. Hardy ordered 204 floggings in 12 months. And he had this reputation that if you were doing something wrong that was a flogable offence, he would glide up unhurt behind you and apprehend you. And so his nickname was The Ghost. He's like a terrifying headmaster, basically, isn't he? Yeah. Misbehaving again, Holland. You'll see me afterwards for a flogging. And so I guess the upside for Nelson is it allows him to play the benevolent. I don't think he's playing it, is he? I mean, I think that's his kind of natural instincts.

44:52I think he loves his crew in a kind of manly way, obviously. Hearts of oak and all that. But to quote Andrew Lambert again, he's so good on this. To work with Nelson was to love him. Even the most hard-bitten veterans were unable to resist his courage, commitment, and charisma. His colleagues were his friends, and he expected their love and loyalty, not mere service. And I worry that listeners may be thinking that we're over-egging the Nelson adulation. But I think there is clearly qualities of charisma that you have to keep harping upon, because otherwise his achievements don't make sense. if he was just a strict disciplinarian he wouldn't be able to carry this off it's the fact that he is able to inspire people to do what otherwise they might not have done well he does it by yeah they're at sea for a heck of a long time he helps them to organize they i mean it sounds petty but they have these little plays and musical reviews and he will go to watch them he'll tour the decks and chat to men and a lot of captains and admirals do not do this there is a distance there isn't very there is not so much of a distance with nelson and also of course you know if you're on board a ship for two years at a time you need to be supplied and nelson isn't all about dash and charisma he is also a very very good organizer of things i mean he knows that you know his ships have to be supplied so you you've written down in a year they will need 1881 tons of bread oh i mean just millions of stuff the gallons of beer tons of beef pork peas oatmeal butter cheese vinegar and although a lot of this is kind of supplied by the vittling board back in Deptford in England not all of it is Nelson has to source a lot of material obviously kind of fruit in particular which keeps scurvy at bay so oranges and lemons and the notorious limes that gives Americans the nickname for Englishman, Limeys.

46:49And this is something that he's picked up from St. Vincent, his kind of great father figure, the importance of maintaining his men in a condition of health. And so Nelson says to the physician that comes on board the victory, that the great thing in all military service is health. And it is easier for an officer to keep men healthy than for a physician to cure them. His own vettler who's serving him directly on board the ship, he ends up sourcing food from as far away as russia and n.a.m roger the great historian of the royal navy says of nelson's sailors you know in this period that they must have been the healthiest body of british subjects in the world because even though there isn't any germ theory to be on board the ship they understand that going aboard one of the reasons that they don't allow leave is because there you might pick up infections they don't understand how or why but they know that it's bad and and therefore in a sense you're kind of you're kept healthy by being on board the ship and and basically people on board victory do not fall sick well it's a reminder that nelson's not just a great warrior he's actually a great bureaucrat because to do all this you know you're messing around with ledgers and you're sending out staff and all of this kind of thing he's a good manager he's good at all these kinds of things and to emphasize the point they're waiting off too long for 22 months without a break now this is not what nelson enjoys is doing.

48:12He doesn't like blockades. Blockades are very boring. He would much rather lure the enemy out and destroy them completely. And that's ultimately his plan, isn't it? That's his battle plan. So even while he's maintaining the blockade, he has to kind of give the French a sniff of the possibility that they might be able to slip past, because otherwise he will never be able to have the battle of annihilation that is his great ambition. Undoubtedly will not surprise listeners to hear that Nelson spends a lot of time brooding about his health. He's got all his night sweats and his heart palpitations.

48:46He's writing to Emma to say, my eyesight is failing. I'm so thin that the rings are slipping from my fingers. My love for you is as unbounded as the ocean. It's very profound and original. And he's writing to Horatio as well, isn't he? Yes, he is. So this is lovely, actually. This is really lovely. He writes his first letter to Horatio in October 1803. He says, my dear child, receive this first letter from your most affectionate father. So he's up front there. Yes. He's acknowledging her. And then a few months later, January 1804, he sends, how old is she at this point? She's like three, I think.

49:22Yeah. He sends her a lock of his hair and a watch, which I give you permission to wear on Sundays and on very particular days when you're dressed and have behaved exceedingly well. I've kissed it and send it with the affectionate blessing of your Nelson and Bronte boasting about his titles to his own daughter still boasting about his titles exactly but all the time he is brooding straining at the leash waiting for this chance for this showdown with the French fleet because he knows one more victory is probably all that it will take to crush them at sea for good completely they can't have another battle of the Nile they can maybe want more go but that's it i think he thinks it's going to happen because he genuinely i think sees himself as um you know the agent of divine purpose so when he writes letters to the admiralty he frames his mission in these terms again and again in a way that has no comparison with letters written by other figures in the navy i mean just to reiterate this does require him even as he's maintaining the blockade to give the French the sniff of a chance that they might be able to get past him.

50:34So we get to the late summer of 1804. Addington's government back home has fallen. Pitt is back as prime minister. There are more reports of Napoleon building up an invasion force on the Channel Coast. Nobody knows what Napoleon is planning. Nelson in September that year turned 46. He said to friends that he felt like a man lost in the dark. He's actually thinking at this point of going on leave because he's so tired from the work of maintaining the blockade. And you can sense on the victory, after 22 months, morale is really beginning to fray. This is boring, grueling work. The logbooks and whatnot show that there are more floggings for bad behavior.

51:14There are more incidents of drunkenness and insolence and insubordination because people are bored. They're sick of being there. They're sick of each other at this stage. So a lot more gliding for the ghost. Yes, the ghost's having a brilliant time. And then a bombshell. The British learn that Bonaparte has struck a secret deal with Spain. The Spanish have agreed they will hand over a subsidy of tens of millions of francs a year. And the only way for them to get out of it is if they actually join the war on the French side. William Pitt orders basically a preemptive strike against the South American treasure fleet.

51:48It goes horribly wrong. A ship, the Mercedes, doesn't surrender. They fire warning shots at it. They hit the magazine. The Mercedes explodes. 200 people are killed. Spain then declares war on Britain, a catastrophe for the British war plan. Because although the Spanish are not the power that they once were, when you combine the French and Spanish fleets, they outnumber the Royal Navy by 102 ships of the line to 83 ships of the line. And also, this is why Nelson's Bittler has to start going to Russia and other such places, because all the fruit in Spain is now embargoed. Exactly. And then, Tom, you were saying Nelson wants to lure them out, so he's always left them the little sniff of a chance, hasn't he, the French.

52:36Now, in January 1805, a shattering development. He is off the coast of Sardinia taking on provisions. It's a rainy, windy day. And then through the gale, he sees two frigates that he'd left watching the French at Toulon coming towards him. And they have sensational news. While he's been getting provisions, the French have finally left Toulon and nobody knows where they have gone. And this is the firing of the gun for the most celebrated chase in naval history. I mean, and the only one that would rival it, of course, is Nelson's pursuit of Napoleon back in the campaign that culminates in the Battle of the Nile.

53:17And he doesn't know, as with the Nile, right? We know that they were going to Egypt. Nelson didn't know it then. Now, this time, once again, he has no idea where the French could be going. And in fact, He thinks they're probably going to Egypt again. So off he goes, rushes off to Alexandria. Seven days it takes him to get there. They're not there. He goes back across the Mediterranean, back to Sardinia, and there he hears that they have doubled back the French to Toulon. So then he sets another trap for them. He feints towards Barcelona so that the French will think he's guarding the western route.

53:53But then he sneaks back east, hoping that they will go east, you see. And he waits for them off the coast of Sardinia. And then on the 4th of April, 1805, another frigate comes towards him through the rain again, the Phoebe. And they say, yeah, the French have left Toulon again, but they knew what you were planning. They found out about your scheme. They have gone sort of south and west past Mallorca, and then they vanished. So now Nelson, he spreads out his fleet towards the coast of North Africa, like a net trying to catch them. but there's no sign of them and he's he's exhausted he's depressed he tells friends he feels half dead very very miserable he says and then on the 19th of april they pass a merchant captain who says 10 days earlier i saw a french fleet passing through the straits of gibraltar into the Atlantic.

54:53And for Nelson, this is an unbelievably heavy blow. He has been completely out-thought and out-manoeuvred, and the French have escaped into the Atlantic. And who knows where they're then going? Is it to Britain? Is it to Ireland? Or is it to the great holdings in the Caribbean? Well, because also, having now gone into the Atlantic, they can link up with the Spanish. Yeah. So they can fulfil this dream of having a combined fleet. And this brings us to what we know and Nelson doesn't know. So what are the French planning? The commander of the French fleet is this aristocratic officer called Pierre Charles Villeneuve, who came from an old naval family.

55:32The Tsar Paul I would not have liked him. Or maybe he would, because Villeneuve was, by ancient right, a knight of Malta. Yeah, and so the fact that the British now control Malta, you know, Villeneuve has skin in the game. Well, he has skin in the game as well, because Villeneuve himself is actually in some ways quite an attractive man. He's very polite and sophisticated and he's quite a reserved man and cautious. He had commanded the French rear at the Battle of the Nile. And if you listened to season one, you'll remember that he actually got away. And rather than saying, oh, well done, you got away.

56:06French public opinion says, look at you, you dreadful coward. Everybody else was killed or captured and you ran away. And also he's of aristocratic background, which again isn't entirely a help. Exactly. Now, Villeneuve is following a plan that was devised in Paris by Napoleon Bonaparte, who is now, of course, crowned himself Emperor of the French. What Napoleon exactly wanted from this plan is really unclear. So he kept changing his mind. And actually, one estimate I saw in one of these Nelson books is Napoleon had eight different plans in 12 months after September 1804. And one of them was the kind of the old fantasy of, you know, taking Egypt and marching on India.

56:44And the thing is, Napoleon doesn't really know much about the sea and naval affairs. So his admirals, when they see his latest plan, often their hearts rather sinks because they think, oh, this is just not possible. Well, I mean, and that obviously includes Villeneuve himself, who thinks these plans are mad. And also the minister of the Navy, who's a guy called Denis Decre, who also thought it was mad. And he too, like Villeneuve, had fought at the Nile. he had then been captured after trying to break nelson's blockade of malta and after his capture he had dined with nelson himself so he really understands what the french are up against in nelson and the royal navy to a degree i think that napoleon just doesn't understand at all i don't think napoleon does understand now what's napoleon's ultimate goal his ultimate goal is obviously one thing you were talking about before tom which is getting across the channel getting an army across the channel and launching an invasion of Britain.

57:42A lot of historians now say he never had the transports. He never had the control of the channel. This was never a realistic prospect. However, what Napoleon seems to be saying to Villeneuve is, look, I want you to get out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic. I want you to link up with the Spanish. I want you to strike west towards the Caribbean, towards Britain's Caribbean colonies, lay waste to them or whatever. That will terrify the British. That will draw the Royal Navy out of the Channel, possibly, ideally, in pursuit. As soon as the British have come out, race back to Europe across the Atlantic, link up with the other big French fleet at Brest, wind controlled at the Channel.

58:25I will have my invasion force ready at Boulogne. We can bring them across. Bang, job done. And he tells one of his generals, All I need is a favourable wind in order to plant the imperial eagle on the Tower of London. And that is a very complicated scheme, isn't it? Involving vast distances, communications across an immense ocean. And you can see why both the minister and Villeneuve himself thought this was impractical. What are you going to do when you've got an emperor telling you to do things? Yeah, I mean, Villeneuve said not only is it a mad plan, but even if the British are a third weaker than we are, they'll still beat us because they're much better than us.

59:00We'll be the laughingstock of Europe. That's the fighting spirit you want. But obviously he can't say that's the emperor, can you? No, of course not. So on the 9th of April, Villeneuve, as instructed, had linked up at Cadiz with the Spanish fleet under Federico Carlos Gravina. So Gravina was actually a Sicilian by birth, wasn't he? Born in Palermo, a place close to Nelson's heart. And he had actually served this. I only recently discovered this fact. It's a great fact. He had actually served alongside Nelson's mentor, Admiral Hood, in the siege of Toulon, when the Spanish were on the other side.

59:36Well, the Spanish keep kind of changing sides, don't they? And in due course, they will change sides again and team up with Wellington. So very much in play. And Gravina is a, I mean, the thing with Trafalgar, which we'll be getting to, is both Gravina and Villeneuve are in their way. They're quite likable characters, I think. Gravina is a very corkly man, kind of experienced sailor. He's good at his job. They have joined up their fleets. They're going to go west across the Atlantic. They're going to hit at the Sugar Islands, on which Britain's prosperity partly depends. By the time Nelson realizes what's going on, he is shattered.

1:00:12Of course, he's been scouring the Mediterranean for months. He hasn't been sleeping. He's been alone on the quarterdeck, staring out into the night and driving rain. His stewards and all his staff are very worried about him. But he can't stop. He has to keep going because the Caribbean trade depends upon him now. So he races through the pillars of Hercules. He picks up the Atlantic trade winds and he rushes west. And by the 4th of June, an extraordinary feat, he has reached Barbados. And there he hears that Villeneuve had reached Martinique three weeks earlier. But Villeneuve has not launched a major operation against the British islands.

1:00:56Why not? Obviously, because Napoleon's orders are, you should scare the British, lure them out, but then double back. In other words, he's not going to begin any big operations. So now the focus has moved to the Caribbean, the islands of the Caribbean, and Nelson is kind of wandering through these islands. He tracks Villeneuve to Trinidad, to Port of Spain, and he's convinced he's going to find him in Trinidad. In fact, Nelson was so convinced that he ordered the ships cleared for action, thinking, This will be the showdown. But when he gets to Port of Spain, the French and Spanish are not there.

1:01:31I mean, just imagine in London, we might have had Port of Spain Square rather than Trafalgar Square. That would be a good name though, no? Yeah, I like it. It has a ring. Now, what's been going on in the combined fleet? Actually, Villeneuve and Gravina get on quite well for kind of two rival commanders of the same fleet, but they don't have a clear plan that they believe in because they both kind of think Napoleon's plan is mad. And has our old friend yellow fever started spreading? Yes, it has. So the Spanish are riddled with yellow fever. He says chuckling. Yeah. Well, they already think they're going to lose, don't they?

1:02:06I mean, that's the other thing. Villeneuve has already publicly stated, if we meet the British, they're bound to defeat us. Morale is not tip top. No. So on the 10th of June, which is only six days after Nelson had first reached Barbados, Villeneuve decided to abandon the Caribbean and to head back east. But that was the orders he'd been given by Napoleon. It was the orders, but I think the orders were that they would turn back east in the spirit of martial vigour. London, here we come. Rather than limp miserably back in a bit of yellow fever. Everyone dying, yeah. And Nelson, of course, gaining on them all the time.

1:02:45So three days later, Nelson followed suit, sailing east from Antigua. It was an incredible job by Nelson to have pulled off this chase and to be so close behind them. I mean, he has been at sea for months racing, pushing his men to the absolute limit. And he has, in his own mind, saved the Caribbean colonies because they haven't really been able to launch any serious operations against them. The French and Spanish threat has been dispelled. And he's done an incredible job. And in fact, the Caribbean sugar planters are suffused with gratitude to Nelson, aren't they? Sure. However, against that, he hasn't actually caught up with Vilna, has he?

1:03:24No. I mean, that's the thing. Nelson has very high standards for himself. He thinks he should have caught up with them. And he writes in his journal that he feels very, very low that he hasn't caught up with Vilna. Well, because what if they are heading up the Channel? What has the channel fleet, the British channel fleet, been doing? I mean, he doesn't know. He's operating blind here. And, of course, you fear the worst, don't you? You do. So now he's heading back east across the Atlantic towards Gibraltar. Who knows where the French and Spanish have gone? He and his men are absolutely shattered.

1:03:57They have not had time to stop for supplies or fresh water. So he has had to, for example, cut the water rations to less than half the norm. And this is the hottest time of the year in midsummer in the Caribbean. I mean, they must be so sunburned and hungry and thirsty that, again, the records show, the punishment records show that there are lots of cases of people being drunk or fighting or insubordination because basically their morale is, I mean, they're frayed almost to kind of breaking points, I think, the bonds between them. They finally reach Gibraltar, having made incredible time on the 19th of July.

1:04:36And for the first time in two years, Nelson sets foot on dry land. And here he hears reports that Villeneuve has taken refuge in the port of Ferrol, which is in Galicia in northern Spain. And so with Villeneuve back in port, Nelson thinks, well, finally, I can take the chance for a break. Because he can set the blockade up, bottle them up, and rely on his men to maintain the blockade while he goes back to England. To England, exactly. So on the month later, on the 19th of August, 1805, Nelson steps ashore at Portsmouth for the first time since he left England to begin this whole operation. And he picks up a coach bound for Merton and for Emma and for home.

1:05:24And ahead of him, there is just one more voyage and one more battle, the Day of Destiny at Trafalgar. And although Nelson could hardly have known it, he has just two months and two days to live. And Dominic, we will be telling the story of those two months and two days, the story of Nelson's last two months, the greatest drama possibly in all naval history. I would say in all British history next week. If you just can't wait, well, if you're a member of the Restless History Club, you don't have to wait. And if you'd like to be a member of the Restless History Club, you can go and sign up at therestlesshistory.com.

1:06:12And if you do that, then tomorrow you will get an additional super the soar away bonus in the form of Mary Beard talking to me about Julius Caesar. But either way, we will be back with the final two episodes of this epic series coming up, The Battle of Trafalgar. Goodbye. Bye-bye.

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