Nelson & His World

It is well known that Nelson wished to avoid burial at sea in the event of his death; and also that those who died in the course of a battle were unceremoniously thrown over the side of the ship, and those who died of disease were also deposited in the sea. Indeed, the Book of Common Prayer has a section called ‘Forms of prayer to be used at sea’ including a substitute for ‘we therefore commit his body to the ground….’ to be found in the funeral service:

‘We therefore commit his body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for the resurrection of the body, when the sea shall give up her dead….’

I was not aware, though, until I came across a book called ‘The Corpse’ by Christine Quigley (McFarland & Co, 2005) that the French and Spanish navies simply put the bodies in the ship’s hold until they returned home so that they could be buried in a cemetery. I suppose it is because the French and Spanish were largely Roman Catholics and I believe they have qualms about the destruction of corpses by cremation, sea burial etc. Transporting corpses in this way seems incredibly gruesome not to say horrifically insanitary.

Anna,

In the British navy in the heat of battle the bodies of the men, even officers, were often seemingly unceremoneously put overboard – or at least there would have been no opportunity for any formal ceremony. I can imagine though that those performing the task might have murmured some words or a quick prayer if they were able, since they were very often their own shipmates and friends, and of course they meant no disrespect in carrying out the task imposed on them. During periods when the ship was following an action, or in periods of calm, the situation was a little different but even then depended on circumstances. I think men were buried on land wherever possible, there is for example, the 'Trafalgar Cemetery' at Gibraltar and the burials on Nelson's Island in Aboukir Bay, for some of the British dead from the Nile. Even then, however, many were probably buried at sea due to the sheer numbers involved. At such times a proper ceremony would have been held by the ship's captain and the chaplain if one were carried and with all the rites duly observed. (A good impression of such a ceremony can be seen in 'Master and Commander' following the battle with the 'Acheron'.)

I'm not sure how many of the men would have been brought home for burial, if any, but certainly many of the officers would have been returned especially the more senior ones (their cots being designed to double as coffins) - their families were also naturally in more of a position to make trouble for the Admiralty should this not be the case! You can imagine, of course, that Nelson would certainly not have been 'thrown overboard' as he entertained and to which Hardy, and everyone else, would have vociferously objected.

The main reason why dead bodies were thrown overboard in the British navy was thus a practical one. The guns could not be operated efficiently, or at all, if there were bodies lying in the way of their recoil, not could those that were still attempting to fight and move about the ship, do so in an efficient way if they were so impeded. The same does not seem to have held sway in either the French or Spanish navies, although there may of course have been exceptions. As you say, this would appear to stem from their RC faith, which seems to have overidden the practical circumstances, and where I assume (I don't know for certain) it dictates that all those of the faith must be buried on land. Thus the many accounts from many British officers, often no more than young lieutenants, when boarding captured enemy ships and on seeing the many bodies lying heaped around the masts and along the ship's sides. The accounts also contain those officers distressed feelings on experiencing the squalor and smell that accompanied such sights, and to which they were not accustomed to seeing aboard a British man o' war.