NELSON Vice Admiral, Viscount
£4,000
Auction: 1 February 2005 at 11:00 GMT
Description
A commemorative silver mounted turned hardwood circular box with a silver band around the centre and an engraved silver disc on the centre inscribed "This box is part of the mast of L'Orient, blown up at the Nile, from which the brave Nelson's coffin was made. Died 21st October, 1805." 6.5 x 2 cms.
Note: The climactic moment of Nelson's great victory of the Battle of the Nile was the explosion of the huge 120 gun French flagship L'Orient which silenced the battle and could be heard in Alexandria fifteen miles away (Pocock p. 166). "Back at home Sir Horatio Nelson KB was gazetted Baron Nelson of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe. He received the thanks of Parliament, a pension of £2,000, an award of £10,000 from the East India Company, and, most prized of all, a coffin made from L'Orient's mainmast, given as a wry cautionary tale by Captain Ben Hallowell of the Swiftsure." (Walker "The Nelson Portraits" in White The Nelson companion p. 41. Nelson took a perverse pleasure in displaying it in his cabin and was eventually buried in it. Other relics of L'Orient are recorded e.g. Lord Minto noted the presence of L'Orient's flagstaff displayed in Lady Hamilton's house. (Pocock p. 270)