Nelson’s hand-drawn plan for victory at Trafalgar found in scrapbook

A SKETCH hand-drawn by Admiral Lord Nelson showing his plan for victory at Trafalgar has been discovered tucked inside the pages of a scrapbook after nearly 200 years.

The map was found by Martyn Downer, a historian who is an expert on Nelson, in a book dating from the 1830s which was recently sold at auction. It shows his plan for splitting the Royal Navy fleet into three divisions to break and destroy the enemy French and Spanish lines coming out of Cadiz harbour.

Lines representing wind direction also appear on the attack plan, showing Nelson’s intention to attack across the wind to take advantage of increased speed.

The drawing, which has been donated to the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, was found alongside an address leaf bearing Nelson’s signature and is dated Sept 5 1805.

Mr Downer said: “This fragment of pencil sketch is simultaneously a very intimate and vivid artefact, giving us an exceptional insight into Nelson’s thinking and planning ahead of the battle.

“Its survival is quite remarkable, having been hidden away between the pages of a young lady’s scrapbook for the best part of 200 years.”

Prof Dominic Tweddle, the museum’s director general, said: “This is an astounding discovery, it shows that Nelson had thought deeply about how he would defeat the combined French and Spanish fleets long before he ever set foot on HMS Victory.

“We are immensely excited to add this find to our rich collections.”

The plan will go on display for one day on Monday to mark the 214th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar before being placed on permanent exhibition from next spring in the museum’s refurbished Victory Gallery.

The discovery comes a year after Nelson’s marriage record was found rotting in a bookshelf on the Caribbean island of Nevis.

The 190-page document, which marks the naval hero’s marriage in 1787 to Fanny Nisbet, was discovered in the possession of Canon Dr Alson Percival, who was reluctant to allow it to be taken away for conservation. It took British experts a year to persuade Caribbean authorities that the record, which had badly deteriorated, needed urgent work. Dusty logs discovered in the attic of a house in Leicestershire in 2015 provided similar insight into Nelson’s famous victory at Trafalgar.

A log by William Hargood, the captain of HMS Belleisle, gave his own account of the battle which he described as taking place amid “strong gales” and heavy fire.