Royal Navy admiral who destroyed the French fleet at the Nile
Commanding the British fleet as Rear-Admiral of the Blue at Aboukir Bay in August 1798, he destroyed the French fleet that had escorted Napoleon's army to Egypt: the French flagship Orient exploded, and of the 17 French ships engaged only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped.
British Royal Navy officer. Born in 1758 at the rectory of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, he entered the navy through his uncle Maurice Suckling's influence, served in the West Indies and the Mediterranean, lost the sight of one eye at Calvi in 1794 and his right arm at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1797, destroyed the French fleet at Aboukir Bay on 1–3 August 1798, stranding Napoleon's army in Egypt, defeated Denmark at Copenhagen in 1801, and was killed at Trafalgar in 1805.
Activities and affiliations
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United Kingdom state institutionsVice-AdmiralMain
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1794Lost the sight of one eye at Calvi
- 1797Lost his right arm at Santa Cruz de Tenerife
- 1798Destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
- 1801Defeated Denmark at Copenhagen
- 1805Killed at the Battle of Trafalgar
Related historical events
The 1799 counter-revolutionary repression at Naples
After the Neapolitan army's recapture of Rome collapsed under a French counter-attack in late 1798, Nelson organised the evacuation of the royal family and British nationals to Palermo, which began on 23 December. When the French entered Naples in January 1799 and the Parthenopaean Republic was proclaimed, he blockaded the city for several months while Cardinal Ruffo's counter-revolutionary levy, the Sanfedisti, marched to retake it; in late June Ruffo's force entered Naples. Ruffo had agreed a capitulation with the Jacobin forces allowing them safe conduct to France, but Nelson, arriving off Naples on 24 June, reversed it and, backed by King Ferdinand IV, demanded unconditional surrender. Nelson had the transports seized, and the former admiral Francesco Caracciolo was tried by royalist Neapolitan officers after his requests for trial by British officers and for defence witnesses were refused; sentenced to death, he was denied both shooting in place of hanging and the court's request for 24 hours to prepare, and was hanged aboard the Neapolitan frigate Minerva that afternoon. Nelson kept most of the Jacobins on the transports and handed hundreds over for trial and execution, refusing pleas for clemency from the Hamiltons and the queen; when the transports were finally allowed to sail to France, fewer than one-third of those aboard were still alive. Caracciolo's motives in taking command of the Republic's navy and leading it against royalist Neapolitan and British naval forces have remained a matter of speculation, but on either reading he broke with his king. Nelson's conduct in the suppression was his own: he ordered the seizure and the court-martial, and the repression unfolded alongside the armed counter-revolution of the Sanfedisti. In the same period, on 13 August 1799 Ferdinand IV rewarded him with the title Duke of Bronte in the peerage of the Kingdom of Sicily and the estate of the former abbey of Santa Maria di Maniace, while he intervened to secure the release of 24 slaves held in Portuguese galleys off Palermo. His role at Naples in 1799 is still described as controversial.