Nelson & His World

A bit late, this info, as the programme starts in 10 mins:

Channel 4 - 8.00 pm 17 May - Trafalgar Battle Surgeon - a repeat, but interesting for those who haven't seen it.

I've watched this on Youtube, but wasn't that impressed. What does everyone else think of it?

Caitlin

Did Beatty have Nelson turned on his side to finish him off?
I have never heard of that before, have i missed something in those many books that details Nelson's death?

Dr A-M Hills, in her excellent book on Nelson's medical history, has given a detailed account of Nelson's death which queries some of the statements in Dr Beatty's famous account. Nelson was turned on his side, but at his own request:

'Nelson asked to be turned on his right side. This was done. Some years ago it was alleged that Beatty ordered Nelson to be turned on his right side and that this hastened his death. This was not the case. Nelson asked his steward Chevalier to turn him on his right side. It was, of course, the only way he could get a little alleviation from his pain. Turned on his left side, would have caused pressure on his fractured left shoulder and first two left ribs. Lying on his back was causing severe pain in the area of the transected spine and lodgement of the ball.'

Quote from 'Nelson: a medical casebook' by Dr A-M. E. Hills (Spellmount. Ltd 2006)

I thought the programme was a little uneven in quality. The chaos and horror of battle and wounds must have been sanitised somewhat, and the acting was a bit 'stagey' - the seamen were 'oo, ar, me hearties' caricatures for the most part. There was little attempt to show Nelson's fragmented conversations, yet it is clear from all the reports that everyone was desperate to hear and remember everything he said - not only because he was Nelson, but the concept of 'a good death' and the importance of last words were very much part of the culture of the time.

I'd completely forgotten, till I checked Dr Hill's account again, that Nelson was prescribed no pain killing opiates. She also makes it clear that Beatty was economical with the truth and that Nelson's death was infinitely more agonising than he recorded. It makes painful reading.

I was interested to note that the researchers for the programme had unearthed details of Beatty's court martial after an altercation with Captain Bligh. Is there an accessible record of this anywhere? The programme did create an image of Beatty as a devoted doctor, unsentimental, tough, confident of his skills and a bit 'cussed.'

Is anything more known about Lt Ramm, who died of his wounds? He was a close friend of Beatty's who tried everything he could to save him. He was thrown overboard, like the rest of the dead (except Nelson) and his body was given a Christian burial when it was washed up at Cadiz. Dr Hills makes no mention of this incident in her very detailed examination of the battle - though, of course, her focus was on Nelson.

Post Captain: if you haven't read Dr Hill's book do try it. It is excellent: detailed, authoritative and higly readable.

Just finished the book a couple of weeks ago, a very detailed read.
I found the programme stagey and the filmmakers obviously did not pay HMS Victory a visit, i could not get the feel that you get when your on the actual orlop where the Surgeon worked. Still what can you expect, i suppose they had a budget to work to, still prefer 'I Remember Nelson'
Tried to find out about the court martial, no joy in finding any details anywhere.

Yes saw this again and was a little disappointed. I think it could have been made a lot better by simply hiring a few more extras to make up the numbers on the gun decks (only 3 to a gun to load and run out)? and also to have more men lying injured or waiting for treatment, instead of the 4 they did have! It looked like the Victory was crewed by only 20 men. (Nelson was played by a first Gulf War veteran by the way).

Couldn't work out where it was filmed as I didn't recognise the ship. Went on to the film company's website and they said it was filmed on the Victory (which it clearly wasn't)! Had a look at the Trincomalee (frigate, 38 guns moored at Hartlepool)website and this is obviously where the filming took place.

I was also a little disappointed with how little dialogue Nelson was given. I also had never read about Beattie turning him on his side to end his life. Is it correct that he did this to end his suffering or was he simply trying to ease the pain? Surely if Nelson asked to be laid on his right side then this would have been his last words!

Good to hear from you, John!

I think the problem is that they have to do these things on a shoe string and have to aim for something that's impressionistic rather than authentic to the last detail. Anyone with any knowledge of the period can be irritated by something aimed at the general audience. I think I remember reading that the Gulf War veteran who played Nelson wasn't allowed to speak because he wasn't a professional actor! So he was reduced to coughing and looking agonised.

It sounds like one of those programmes to be taken with a large dose of salt and rather like those Discovery history programmes where the battle scenes are rather less than convincing!

I would think that Dr Hills assessment is the correct one and that Nelson wanted to be placed on his right side to alleviate the pain and perhaps his breathing, not for any other reason. In any case weren't some of his last words that he wished he could 'live just a little longer'? This doesn't tie up with a suicide wish, we're back to that again , which surely was against his beliefs and in any case would have destroyed any chance of his being a hero, which is what he wanted!

When I watched this on Youtube, I guessed that the actor was not 'allowed' to speak - no Equity card or something? I left my comments on there. Nelson was also fully clothed in the programme but I believe he was covered in a sheet of some sort, because his breeches were clearly cut off by Beatty. Some of the language did not seem right - I don't mean just the bad language (I'm sure there was plenty of this in actuality!) but I'm not sure s**tloads was used then. I have a very interesting book called The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (a modern re-issue) and it doesn't receive a mention in there. Perhaps I should look through it and make a list of all the naval expressions unless you all have this book (I suspect Anna has it already!)

Caitlin

I'd never actually come across a copy of the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, though I'd heard of it. Your mention of it made me look on line, and, as you say, reprints are widely available. I couldn't find a copy belonging to the period, though! Funny that - when I was looking for an 18th century copy of Harris's rahter risqué List of Covent Garden Ladies, I couldn't find one of those either!

See our discussion here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=587&hilit=covent+garden+ladies

As you say, language, particularly the spoken language, is very hard to recapture as there was such a marked difference between the spoken and written language. We catch glimpses of it in diaries, but even those were often edited to give a more 'literary' slant to utterances.

A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue By Francis Grose is available on line at Google books.

Thanks for the heads up on that, Alaric.

A paperback edition of a well-reviewed biography of William Beatty is now available at c. £18 from Amazon. The hardback was £64, so a great saving:

Nelson's Surgeon, William Beatty, Naval Medicine and the Battle of Trafalgar
by L. Brockliss, J. Cardwell & M. Moss (OUP 2008 ISBN 978-0-19-954135-5) First published in hardback 2005

Here's the Amazon blurb:

In the lead-up to the bicentenary of Trafalgar a number of important new studies have been published about the life of Nelson and his defeat of the Combined Fleet in 1805. Despite the significant role played by the health and fitness of the British crews in securing the victory, little has been written hitherto about the naval surgeon in the era of the long war against France. This book is intended to fill the gap. Sir William Beatty (1773-1842) was surgeon of the Victory at Trafalgar. An Ulsterman from Londonderry, he had joined the navy in 1791. Before being warranted to Nelson's flagship, Beatty had served upon ten other warships, and survived a yellow fever epidemic, court martial, and shipwreck to share in the capture of a Spanish treasure ship. After Trafalgar, he became Physician of the Channel Fleet, based at Plymouth, and eventually Physician to Greenwich Hospital, where he served until his retirement in 1838. As the book makes clear in drawing upon an extensive prosopographical database, Beatty's career until 1805 was representative of the experience of the approximately 2,000 naval surgeons who joined the navy in the course of the war. The first part of the biography provides a detailed and scholarly introduction to the professional education, training, and work of the naval surgeon. But after 1805 Beatty became a member of the service elite, and his career becomes interesting for other reasons. In the final decades of his life, Beatty was far more than a senior naval physician. As a Fellow of the Royal Society, director of the Clerical and Medical Insurance Company, and director of the London to Greenwich Railway, he was a prominent figure in London's business and scientific community, who used his growing wealth to build a large collection of books and manuscripts. His later life is testimony to the much wider contribution that some naval and army medical officers made to the development of the new Britain of the nineteenth century. In Beatty's case, too, the contribution was original. By publishing in 1807 his carefully crafted Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson, he was instrumental in forging the myth of the hero's last hours, which has become a part of the national consciousness and has helped to define for generations the concept of Britishness.

I've just read this biography - rather a slim volume for £18 in paperback but I suppose Amazon has to recoup the cost of discounting all the popular stuff they sell.

It is interesting as far as it goes. The book opens with an overview of naval medicine and surgery of the period: improved nutrition, hygiene and ventilation contributed greatly to the better health of seamen. The authors also commend Nelson's commitment to supporting doctors by ensuring food and shipboard conditions were the best he could manage. The details of Beatty's private life are very sparse so this is, in the authors' words, a professional biography. Even here, there is not that much to go on, except for Beatty's own account of Nelson's death which the authors note is not strictly accurate. (Other discrepancies and 'inexactitudes' are also discussed very fully in Dr Hills' book.) He was, it appears, a competent and humane doctor, dutiful and assiduous, but with none of the innovative vision of men like Trotter.

The court martial mentioned in the film is covered in some detail and quite farcical it was. The captain of the Pomona, Lord Augustus Fitzroy, son of the Duke of Grafton, accused Beatty of incompetence , quite unfairly, to which Beatty responded with a mocking bow. For this he was court martialled and the upshot was that the charges were found to be frivolous. (The account is held in The National Archives ADM1/5333) As a matter of interest, Captain Bligh of the Bounty was one of the twelve captains on the panel - an interesting point that they had 12 captains, the same number as on a jury in a civil court.

It is pleasing to note that some years later the pompous and overbearing Lord Augustus, clearly promoted beyond his intelligence and competence, was himself court martialled for 'disobedience of orders and misconduct' and removed from his command.

If anyone would like to borrow this book, please send me a PM and I'll put it in the post.

A few additional snippets from the Beatty biography, the sort of small details that I always find so interesting:

Beatty lost only two of the eleven amputees at Trafalgar - which indicates a high level of competence.

The rule about 'first come, first treated' with regard to the wounded was not always rigidly enforced. The severely wounded were generally given priority, though the less severely injured would wait their turn. The authors mention a medical manual by a surgeon, John Atkins, published in 1734, in which 'he advocated the careful organization of the cockpit before battle, and the rapid, efficient division of casualties into three groups based on immediate need, placing greatest emphasis on staunching haemorrhage.'

The authors mention that fleet to fleet battles, with the appalling carnage that resulted, were actually quite rare occurrences, and something which relatively few surgeons encountered, and which placed huge demands on the technical competence, cool nerves and self-possession of those who actually had to deal with the consequences of major actions. The difficult conditions in which they had to work are brought into sharp focus when we learn that Chevers, one of Beatty's assistants, tended the wounded by the light of two candles held close to his face. It was only afterwards that he saw that his eyebrows had been singed off!

Another detail I found interesting was that all casualties in Victory at Trafalgar resulted from enemy action. No one was injured as a result of an accident or error on the part of Victory's ship's company - a huge tribute to their competence and efficiency.