Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson

With

The Circumstances Preceding, Attending, and Subsequent to, that Event;

The Professional Report on his Lordship's Wound,

And Several Interesting Anecdotes .

By William Beatty, M.D.

Surgeon to the Victory in the Battle of Trafalgar, and now Physician to the Fleet under the Command

of the Earl of St. Vincent, K.B. &c. &c. &c.

 

The Surgeon of the late illustrious Lord NELSON feels himself called upon, from the responsible situation which he held on the eventful day of the 21st of October 1805, to lay before the British Nation the following Narrative. It contains an account of the most interesting incidents which occurred on board the Victory. (Lord NELSON's flag-ship) from the time of her sailing from England, in the month of September, till the day of battle inclusively; with a detail of the particulars of HIS LORDSHIP'S Death, the mode adopted for preserving his revered Remains during the subsequent long passage of the Victory to England, and the condition of the Body when it was deposited in Greenwich Hospital. This short statement of facts is deemed a small but necessary tribute of respect to the memory of the departed Hero, as well as a professional document which the Public had a right to expect from the man who had the melancholy honour of being his principal medical attendant on that occasion: and is presumed to be not unappropriately concluded by observations on the state of HIS LORDSHIP'S health for some time previous to his fall; with his habits of life, and other circumstances, strongly proving that few men had a greater prospect of attaining longevity, on which account his premature death is the more to be deplored by his Country.