In English history books, Admiral Lord Nelson is revered for a long list of splendid naval victories. In the popular mind, however, he is better remembered for the idiosyncrasy of his dying words, and for one celebrated act of disobedience.
He died, as we know, at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Near the end of that encounter, just as things were going well, a stray musket shot caused the Admiral to exclaim to his colleague, Hardy: "They have done for me at last!" Then, he famously intoned "Kiss me, Hardy", and expired.
His disobedience, however, occurred at the Battle of Copenhagen, which took place 198 years ago today, on April 2nd, 1801. It was a skirmish whose outcome was to a significant extent dictated, not just by Nelson, but the weather.
Around that time, the Tsar of Russia had induced the northern powers, including Denmark, to co-operate in enforcing an embargo excluding British vessels from the Baltic ports. This was inconvenient, since most of Britain's grain was imported from the Baltic, and it was therefore decided that the Baltic must be opened up again. The first step was to destroy the Danish fleet that was based in Copenhagen, and the ideal opportunity for an attack would be just after the winter ice had melted in the Kattegat, but before the disappearance of the rest of the Baltic ice allowed the Russian fleet to help the Danes.
That winter of 1800-1801 was one of the mildest for a generation, so the operation took place earlier than originally planned. The British fleet, with Admiral Parker in command and Horatio Nelson as its number two, arrived off Denmark late in March. For a successful and surprise attack on the Danish fleet arrayed in defensive positions along the Zealand coast near Copenhagen, the British needed north-westerly winds to bring them quickly down the Danish Sound, followed immediately by a brisk south-easterly to sweep them up to Copenhagen - and this sequence was precisely what occurred in the first two days of April, 1801.
At first the Danes put up a brave resistance - so much so that Parker ordered a retreat. But "Damn me if I do!" said Nelson. Some years previously, at the siege of Calvi, a shot had hit a wall of sandbags, driving sand and stones into the future Admiral's face, causing him to lose the sight of his right eye. He put this infirmity to good use at Copenhagen by applying the telescope to his blind eye to view the remainder of the admiral's signal for retreat - and of course, the rest is history.