ALS signed “Nelson & Bronte,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.5 x 9.5, March 8, 1804. Letter to J. H[ookham] Friere, England’s Ambassador to the Court of Spain at Madrid, written aboard his ship Victory while off the Hieres Islands. In full: “Since I had the honor of writing to your Excellency last January of my belief that the Enemy were either put to sea or upon the eve of it, a small squadron of Frigates got along shore into Ville Franche and from there in the dark nights and gales of Northerly wind crossed over to Corsica and carried 1000 men with them, and from the number of troops collected and collecting in the South of France and northern parts of Italy, with the preparations of transports both at Genoa and Leghorn, to which added by accounts from Naples of February 14 that the French army had baked a months bread, makes it certain that an expedition must be intended. I have every reason to believe that the French fleet would have put to sea several times since I wrote your Excellency, but for the knowledge of our still keeping the Seas. Should the ships from Ferrol put to sea it would be most desirable for me to have the earliest information of it in order that I may take a station so as to prevent their Junction, for it naturally will be more advantageous for me to fight each separate than when they are united. Although that is my first determination, a victory cannot be expected yet I think that we can and shall prevent their going upon any expedition. A letter to Barcelona, Roses & Gibraltar with a desire for it being immediately forwarded would probably reach me before the French ships could get up the Mediterranean and it would also apprise to me that the Toulon ships would go to the Westward to form the Junction.
I understand that the quarantine is taken off our ships and that dead meat is allowed to be taken onboard for the daily consumption of the ships going into the Spanish ports. This is scarcely any favor for our ships cannot go and lay a month together in Spanish Ports to recruit their Companies and if they did which your Excellency may hold out to the Minster, how would they like it for the French would then say we came into their ports to recruit. But alas I fancy the Spaniards dare not do anything civil for us, much less grant us favors.
As I have no opportunity at present of writing to England, I shall be obliged to your Excellency to say here, I am, which will very much oblige your most Obedient Humble Servant.” Letter is archivally sleeved in acid-free Mylar. In fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, and light show-through from writing on opposing sides.
In this letter, Nelson realizes that the French are preparing to set sail and talks of attacking before they can combine forces. “It naturally will be more advantageous for me to fight each separate than when they are united...I think that we can and shall prevent their going upon any expedition,” the British admiral explains. Nelson was continuously striving to find ways to defeat the enemy. His main objective was ‘to keep the French fleet in check and if they put to sea to annihilate them.’ It was his fear that the French would slip away from the Mediterranean and join a larger naval concentration in the Atlantic, giving Napoleon control of the English Channel and paving the way for the invasion of England.
One of Nelson’s favored spots during the long watch in the Mediterranean was off the Hieres Islands; it was from this point he was able to watch any movements out of Toulon. This letter, written aboard his famous flagship the Victory off the Hieres Islands, describes his intelligence information, strategy, and planning at the time. Nelson’s correspondence with Frere, the British Ambassador to Spain, is less friendly. Frere was cautious, circumspect, and not given to definite pronouncements—qualities guaranteed to irritate Nelson. He wanted clear answers and unequivocal advice on whether, and if so when, Spain would enter the war. A year after dispatching this message, Nelson was mortally wounded on the decks of the Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar; he was carried below and died in the cabin from which this letter was undoubtedly written. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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