Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1876 — A Reminiscence of Trafalgar. [ARTICLE]

A Reminiscence of Trafalgar.

“Anchor, Hardy, anchor-kiss me, Hardy.” These were the last words of Horatio Viscount Nelson and Duke of Bronte, as he lay gasping for breath in the feebly-lit cock-pit of the Victory at Trafalgar, and in the arms of Captain, afterward Admiral, Sir Thomas Hardy, did the hero expire. The death is now announced of Miss Hardy, the eldest daughter of the distinguished naval officer who enjoyed the intimate friendship and confidence of his Illustrious chief, and who died Governor of Greenwich Hospital. Miss Hardy had Been for a lengthened period the occupantbf a suite of apartments at Hampton Cotut "Palace, conceded to her by the munificence of her Majesty the Queen. The passing away of Miss Hardy will recall the circumstances that her father kept for many years, as a memento, a locket mounted in crystal and silver encircling the bullet by which Nelson met his death, and which was curiously identified by there adhering to it » portion of the bullion of the epaulet through which the ball passed, forcing the strands of golden wire before it into the hero’s body. Other almost equally interesting relics of Nelson’s belongings are to be found in the uniform coat and waistcoat and the ribbon and order he wore at Trafalgar, and which, for some time past, have been exhibited in the Painted Hall, at Greenwich, where, so strong is the instinct of hero-worship, they are regarded with as much reverence as that which Frenchmen extend to the little cocked hat and the sword of Austerlitz in the crypt of the Invalides. The mention, however, of the bullet enshrined in silver crystal may reawaken the curious controversy regarding the hand by which Nelson actually fell. In a book called the “ Memoirs of a French Sergeant,” an English translation of which was published by Mr. Colburn some forty years since, the writer distinctly and imprudently claimed the “ honor” of having slain the scourge of the French navy. He was armed, he said, with a ship’s musket and fired at random, but was much oveijoyed when he saw the proud English Lord “ drop.” On the other hand, it has been stated,' with greater weight of evidence, that the fatal shot was fired by a Tyrolese rifleman stationed in the main-top of one of the enemy’s line-of-battle ships. Napoleon, it is well known, had drafted a number of sharp-shooters from the Italian Tyrol into his navy. They were all excellent marksmen, and there could scarcely have been a better target for their weapons than the red ribbon and glittering orders which Nelson, with fatal perversity, insisted on wearing over his full uniform on the day which was the cause of so much pride and so much sorrow to his countrymen, but which endowed his name with imperishable glory.— London Daily Telegraph.