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Vice-Admiral '''Horatio Nelson''' was a [[British]] naval commander during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] with [[France]].  He played a key role in the victories at the battles of the Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), and the crucial [[Battle of Trafalgar]] (1805), where at his greatest triumph he was mortally wounded aboard his flagship [[HMS Victory]].  He was also known for the scandal concerning his famous love affair with Lady [[Emma Hamilton]].

Vice-Admiral '''Horatio Nelson''' was the greatest admiral in British history, and victor in the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] which destroyed the French and Spanish fleets in 1805. A top  [[British]] naval commander during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] with [[France]], he key roles in the victories at the battles of the Nile (1798) and Copenhagen (1801).  He was also known for the scandal concerning his famous love affair with Lady [[Emma Hamilton]].

==Early years==

==Early years==

Horatio Nelson was the sixth of eleven children born to Edmund and Catherine Nelson. Edmund was the rector of the parish of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England.  Although of good manners and scholarly, the Nelsons were poor.  Preferment for an education was difficult, but it was hoped that a distant relation, Lord Walpole, could provide the means.  However, Catherine’s brother, at the time a captain in the Royal Navy, made the decisive act and agreed to take the boy, then aged twelve, to sea after his mother’s death (Durant, pg. 518).

Horatio Nelson was the sixth of eleven children born to Edmund and Catherine Nelson. His father was a poor Anglican minister but his mother was the sister of the Duke of Oxford, a very wealthy aristicrat who controlled the Royal Navy. When the mother died, the duke took the boy, aged twelve, to sea.  

He was a slight boy, not physically strong, and often sick, but at every opportunity he would seize the initiative and learn all he could.  He had to learn how ships operate, and as a midshipman, how to lead men.  But there were also times for adventure, such as his first voyage to the West Indies and a scientific expedition to the Arctic in 1773, where, on the ice, he stood up to an advancing polar bear; only a shot from a ship’s gun prevented the bear from killing him and drove it away.  He was reprimanded for leaving the ship without authorization (Durant, pg. 518).

He was a slight boy, not physically strong, and often sick, but at every opportunity he would seize the initiative and learn all he could.  He had to learn how ships operate, and as a midshipman, how to lead men.  But there were also times for adventure, such as his first voyage to the West Indies and a scientific expedition to the Arctic in 1773, where, on the ice, he stood up to an advancing polar bear; the crew drove it away and Nelson was reprimanded for leaving the ship without authorization.

By 1777, Nelson was a lieutenant, and had sailed for the [[West Indies]] to conduct operations against the Americans during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolution]].  By age 20, he was promoted to captain, the youngest officer to hold that rank in the Royal Navy, and was given command of a frigate, taking part in operations against the [[Spain|Spanish]] in what is now [[Nicaragua]].  Although the attack on San Juan was successful, it proved to be costly in the weeks afterward, as nearly the entire British force succumbed to [[yellow fever]].

By 1777, Nelson was a lieutenant, and had sailed for the [[West Indies]] to conduct operations against the Americans during the [[American Revolutionary War|American Revolution]].   

By age 20, he was promoted to captain, the youngest officer to hold that rank in the Royal Navy, and was given command of a frigate, taking part in operations against the Spanish in what is now [[Nicaragua]].  Although the attack on San Juan was successful, it proved to be costly in the weeks afterward, as nearly the entire British force succumbed to [[yellow fever]].

In 1783 he was back in England, and given the command of another frigate the following year.  Sailing again for the West Indies, he strictly enforced the Navigation Act, with the unfortunate result of making enemies of British authorities and merchant ship owners stationed in the Caribbean islands who had profited with the American trade that the Act had forbidden.  Vulnerable due to the experience there, as well as the lonliness of command, he made a port call on the island of Nevis in March, 1785, and met the widow Francis Nisbet and her young son Josiah.  He courted her for two years, and they married in March, 1787 on Nevis.

In 1783 he was back in England, and given the command of another frigate the following year.  Sailing again for the West Indies, he strictly enforced the Navigation Act, with the unfortunate result of making enemies of British authorities and merchant ship owners stationed in the Caribbean islands who had profited with the American trade that the Act had forbidden.  Vulnerable due to the experience there, as well as the lonliness of command, he made a port call on the island of Nevis in March, 1785, and met the widow Francis Nisbet and her young son Josiah.  He courted her for two years, and they married in March, 1787 on Nevis.

==References==

==References==

*Howarth, David, and Howarth, Stephen. ''Lord Nelson: The Immortal Memory'', Viking Penguin, Inc. New York (1988)

*Howarth, David, and Howarth, Stephen. ''Lord Nelson: The Immortal Memory'', Viking Penguin, Inc. New York (1988)

*Warner, Oliver. ''Trafalgar'', The MacMillan Company, New York (1959)

*Warner, Oliver. ''Trafalgar'', The MacMillan Company, New York (1959)