Two centuries after Trafalgar, 70 vessels celebrate ‘ Britannia’s God of War’

Nelson revered in re-enactment of funeral procession

LONDON •

Under grey skies, with choppy winds, 70 water craft of all kinds processed up the Thames from Greenwich yesterday to commemorate the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar 200 years ago.

It was the largest such waterborne display in living memory, with everything from royal cutters to a canoe, all decked in ceremonial colours.

There were more boats on display here, including 40 rowed by sailors in period costume, than were in Nelson’s entire fleet at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, off the Atlantic coast of southwest Spain.

The flotilla recreated the funeral procession that carried the hero to his eventual resting place in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The re-enactment followed the original route taken on Jan. 8, 1806, from Greenwich in southeast London to Westminster in central London.

The wooden ship Jubilant, a replica of a traditional shallop, acted as the funeral barge at the head of the procession. Powered by eight rowers, it carried a modern version of the missive sent back to Britain with news of the victory at Trafalgar.

Nelson’s victory over the French Emperor Napoleon marked the beginning of 100 years of British naval dominance, and the hero became, in the words of the poet Lord Byron and in the wider public imagination, “Britannia’s God of War.”

His body, preserved in a keg of brandy, was carried back to Britain on board his flagship the Victory and lay in state at Greenwich before the state funeral.

Although a ceremonial document took the place of the body yesterday, it was no less a moment of national pride.

There was even a Union Jack flying behind a canoe as it bobbed past the London Eye, loaded with a shopping cart and a bucket, and paddled by two men who looked something short of seaworthy, if not completely reckless.

“ It’s Nelson! It’s Nelson! If Nelson was on that boat, he would stand like this,” said eight-yearold Benjamin, standing 10 metres above on the Jubilee Bridge, crossing his arms in a gangly display of mock dignity.

“Nelson wouldn’t be travelling in that Canadian kayak thing,” laughed his mother, who is home-schooling Benjamin and has made Nelson a frequent subject of study.

“He’s got one arm and one eye,” the boy went on. His friend Rebecca, five, was quick with, “Napoleon!” when asked who Nelson fought.

In Canada, where gods of war are harder to come by, one might have difficulty getting children, even precocious home-schooled ones, to recite the basic facts about any great military leader of Canadian history.

But in Britain, Nelson is more than just a military leader. In the words of a historian commenting on BBC coverage of the flotilla, Trafalgar was “when we became British,” and Nelson, the hero, “has become, in the classical sense, a god.”

He still inspires passion and awe, and a quick scan of the schedule at London’s big auction houses offers some insight into his iconic reputation.

In the next month, for instance, bidders will vie for Nelson’s watch, a great many of his letters, the armchair from his cabin, his cutlery, and a fragment of the Victory’s flag that was torn apart by the six sailors who carried the coffin into St. Paul’s.

But nothing has the collectors buzzing like lot 57 in Sotheby’s catalogue. Embroidered with an “N” and vaguely sweat-stained, Nelson’s undershirt is expected to fetch more than $ 1- million when it comes up for auction on Oct. 5.