21 - The Admiral–s Files

Summary

In 1795 Nelson, then still a captain, wrote to his mentor William Locker: i‘The Mediterranean command has ever so much business compared to any other that a man of business ought to be here.’1 Eight years later, he was to demonstrate what he meant by his own example while in command when he proved himself as adept with the pen and filing system as with the sword.

All the tasks we have noted so far created a large amount of paper – most of which passed through Nelson's hands. The administration of the fleet was in the capable hands of George Murray, the Captain of the Fleet, and Nelson was also assisted by two secretaries: John Scott who looked after his public correspondence and fleet orders, and the Victory's chaplain Rev Alexander Scott, who handled his foreign correspondence and also from time to time undertook intelligence operations ashore (see pp. 371–2). But even with their help Nelson still spent long hours at his desk. Work usually started immediately after breakfast at about seven o'clock and continued until dinner was served at three. Reconstructing Nelson's output, from the various letter and order books that have survived, it would appear that, in a typical day, he would dictate some two dozen general orders, which were then copied out by the clerks for him to sign. He would also write an average of ten personal letters in his own hand.

In this section further material from the pressed copy books has been combined with more official correspondence from the order and letter books in the National Archive to show the extraordinarily wide range of matters with which Nelson dealt.

That range can be seen in the compass of a single letter – to Sir Richard Bickerton (377) – in which, as was his custom, Nelson shares his current preoccupations openly with his second in command. In the space of some 600 words, he deals with: the movements of the fleet's transports; the situation of Sardinia; Captain Keats's diplomatic mission to the Dey of Algiers; the organisation of various convoys; the latest intelligence about the French fleet in Toulon and the work required on various ships – including freeing the Niger from rats!

The constant, routine, administrative work required to keep the fleet, and its men, in good order can be traced in detail in other letters in the selection offered here.