The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson

Having entered the British Navy at the age of twelve, Horatio Lord Nelson achieved the rank of captain at the age of twenty. As captain, he was quickly recognized as a magnetic and controversial figure. He triumphed at Cape St. Vincent and the Nile, but failed at Tenefife and Boulogne. With the glories of Copenhagen and Trafalgar yet ahead of him, his ardent passion for Emma Hamilton, the wife of a British Ambassador, cast a heavy shadow over his career. Audacious in battle (he once ignored a superiors order to cease action at Copenhagen by putting his telescope to his blind eye and saying he could not see the signal) and winner of some of Britains greatest victories, Nelson possessed an extraordinary amount dash and courage, thus rendering him one of historys great romantic figures.