Nelson insisted on fresh beef for his sailors, letter reveals

LORD NELSON’S men on board the Victory were fed fresh beef in the war against Napoleon, a letter sold at auction for more than £3,000 reveals.

The hero of the Battle of Trafalgar ordered one of his captains to sail to Sardinia during the blockade of the French fleet at Toulon in order to collect 60 live bullocks.

The cattle were then brought aboard the Victory and slaughtered by the ship’s butcher to prepare food for the men, as Nelson preferred this to salted meat which would last longer in a blockade or siege.

The letter, dated June 18 1804, was addressed to Captain Southern of HMS Excellent and was dictated to John Scott, Nelson’s trusted secretary.

The two-page document detailed how vital water supplies should be brought from the Mediterranean island.

It was sold by London-based Forum Auctions for a final figure of £3,380. Rupert Powell, specialist at the auction house, said: “This letter is significant as it shows the close link between the secretary Scott and Nelson, and it was written on the Victory. Nelson would have dictated to Scott, which is how orders were given at the time.

“Nelson, like Winston Churchill, is one of the great British heroes and of huge interest to collectors.

“These orders demonstrate why Nelson was so well regarded in terms of looking after his men, who surely would not have gone hungry.”

Andrew Baines, deputy executive director of museum operations at the National Museum of the Royal Navy and an expert on Nelson, said: “If [the] water transport had been captured by the French, it would have placed great stress on Nelson’s ability to continue the blockade – in the worst case, he would have been forced to leave station with the fleet to get fresh supplies of water.”