A complete disgrace
Posted by Nick Milne on October 21, 2009
I guess it’s only fitting that it should transpire thus: today, Oct. 21st, one of the greatest days of the year – and certainly my favourite of the month – finds me both monstrously busy and frustratingly sick. I don’t have time to do the things I want to do. I don’t have time to write the essay analyzing Nelson’s intricate character, his commingled glories and failings, his ferocious competence and devotion to his men. I don’t have time to describe the risky maneuvers that saw his squadron deployed to such devastating effect against the combined French/Spanish fleet 204 years ago. No time for the Combined Fleet’s departure from Cadiz, or for the two driving lines of the English. I don’t have time to hail the fortitude of HMS Victory’s crew, taking continuous fire at one point for 40 minutes straight from four ships with 364 guns between them – one of them the Santísima Trinidad, then the largest ship on the face of the Earth – or of the no less glorious exploits of ships with names now firmly ensconced in the annals of naval history. No time for Bucentare; no time for Redoutable. No time for Temeraire, or Belleisle, or Royal Sovereign, or Achille. No time for Cuthbert Collingwood. No time for Captain Hardy, or Dr. Scott, or the surgeon Beatty, or even Vice-Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve.
No time for Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. No time to remember his triumph and death.
No time to discuss the battle’ s dubious necessity or rationale. No time to discuss its consequences. No time to consider the unhappy clerical friend of Chesterton’s who maintained that the practical result of the Battle of Trafalgar was the make the world safe for aggressive, industrialized protestantism. No time for any of it.
England expects that every man will do his duty. I cannot do mine.
Brian Patrick Cork said
Nonetheless, I’ll take this time to thank you for reminding us to go do some research, and find our own paths to remember these fine men and their worthy exploits.
Cork
Horatio Nelson said
I condemn you for not writing about me properly. The insult is so great that I have returned from the dead to inform you of my displeasure.
-Horatio
Horatio's boyfriend Walter said
oooooh! Here we are again?
It’s all about Mr. big britches himself, that puffy Mr. Nelson, isn’t it!
-Walter (also dead, but not necessarily back)
Nick Milne said
It’s fitting that a comment such as the above should appear under a post with the title this one bears. Alas.
Brian Patrick Cork said
C’mon Nick. Shake it off.
Cork
Tom Tousignant said
Oh, bloody. Come back when you can, for I enjoy this blog exceedingly.
Brian Patrick Cork said
Yes, indeed, Mr. Milne!
Cork