# Admiral Nelson's Corpse Q **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854 "2019-05-12T12:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/1 "2019-05-12T12:45:32Z")
There’s a charming song called “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood.” Supposedly, after Lord Admiral Nelson was killed at Trafalgar, they put his dead body in the last remaining barrel of rum to preserve it. On the arduous journey back to England, some of the sailors took to putting long straws through a tiny hole in the top, to get a mouthful of the only rum left on the ship. By the time they pulled into port, the corpse was bone dry. “A drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm…” I have my doubts about the story, of course. For one thing, Trafalgar isn’t all that far from Portsmouth, 2-3 days tops unless they’re fighting headwinds, so this ghoulish drinking frenzy would have had to happen over a matter of hours, not weeks. I couldn’t find online how long it actually took them to bring Nelson’s body home. Do any history buffs have this info handy? Could any part of this story plausibly have happened? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/2 "2019-05-12T13:03:27Z")
It’s a fairly length story, but the [National Archives](http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nelson/gallery8/) lays out the dates. He went into the brandy cask on October 22nd and reached Gibraltar in it on the 28th. The body, having undergone various different encasements, then doesn’t reach London until December. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/3 "2019-05-12T13:05:50Z")
I’ve heard this story before, and I agree that it doesn’t seem plausible. The details of how the body was preserved are recounted [here](http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nelson/gallery8/), and long story short there was a lot of booze involved, but mostly it was brandy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/4 "2019-05-12T13:24:11Z")
Ah, okay! I’m comparing the sailing time to a transatlantic journey (6-8 weeks under good conditions) and this journey had long storms, a hurricane, and heavily damaged ships towing other heavily damaged ships, in addition to the French navy still trying to recover their captured ships en route. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/5 "2019-05-12T16:06:47Z")
A similar tale is told of one of my ancestors. I actually e-mailed the great folklore scholar Jan Brunvand about it many years ago, and he pointed me to his analysis of the legend in _The Choking Doberman_ (1984). He calls the legend “The Corpse in the Cask.” The story is told about many different people at many different times and places. In addition to Nelson, Brunvand notes the case of General Edward Pakenham, the British officer who was killed at the Battle of New Orleans (1815). According to this version of the story, the ship carrying his body was diverted to South Carolina, where the locals sampled the wine he was stored in. Is any version of the story true? Nobody knows for sure, but the fact that it’s told with about so many people with minor variations suggests to me that it’s a legend with no basis except in the imagination of the original teller. More information here: [Tapping the Admiral: Nelson, Trafalgar & the Corpse in the Cask – #FolkloreThursday](https://folklorethursday.com/folktales/tapping-the-admiral-nelson-trafalgar-the-corpse-in-the-cask/) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/6 "2019-05-12T22:12:55Z")
From Doctor Beattie’s statement:- > [@](#): > > On the day after the battle, as soon as circumstances permitted the > Surgeon to devote a portion of his attention to the care of Lord > NELSON’S honoured Remains, measures were adopted to preserve them as > effectually as the means then on board the Victory allowed. On the > Surgeon’s examining the nature of the wound, and the course of the > ball, a quantity of blood was evacuated from the left side of the > breast: none had escaped before. The ball was traced by a probe to the > spine, but its lodgement could not at that time be discovered. There was > no lead on board to make a coffin: a cask called a leaguer, which is of > the largest size on shipboard, was therefore chosen for the reception of > the Body; which, after the hair had been cut off, was stripped of the > clothes except the shirt, and put into it, and the Cask was then filled > with brandy.\* > > In the evening after this melancholy task was accomplished, the gale > came on with violence from the south-west, and continued that night and > the succeeding day without any abatement. During this boisterous > weather, Lord NELSON’S Body remained under the charge of a sentinel on > the middle deck. The cask was placed on its end, having a closed > aperture at its top and another below; the object of which was, that as > a frequent renewal of the spirit was thought necessary, the old could > thus be drawn off below and a fresh quantity introduced above, without > moving the cask, or occasioning the least agitation of the Body. On the > 24th there was a disengagement of air from the Body to such a degree, > that the sentinel became alarmed on seeing the head of the cask raised: > he therefore applied to the Officers, who were under the necessity of > having the cask spiled to give the air a discharge. After this, no > considerable collection of air took place. The spirit was drawn off > once, and the cask filled again, before the arrival of the Victory at > Gibraltar (on the 28th of October): where spirit of wine was procured; > and the cask, shewing a deficit produced by the Body’s absorbing a > considerable quantity of the brandy, was then filled up with it. > > … > > At length the Victory arrived at Spithead, after a tedious passage of > nearly five weeks from Gibraltar: and as no instructions respecting His > LORDSHIP’S Remains were received at Portsmouth while the ship remained > there, and orders being transmitted to Captain HARDY for her to proceed > to the Nore, the Surgeon represented to him the necessity of examining > the state of the Body; common report giving reason to believe that it > was intended to lie in state at Greenwich Hospital, and to be literally > exposed to the public. On the 11th of December therefore, the day on > which the Victory sailed from Spithead for the Nore, Lord NELSON’S Body > was taken from the cask in which it had been kept since the day after > his death. On inspecting it externally, it exhibited a state of perfect > preservation, without being in the smallest degree offensive. There > were, however, some appearances that induced the Surgeon to examine the > condition of the bowels; which were found to be much decayed, and likely > in a short time to communicate the process of putrefaction to the rest > of the Body: the parts already injured were therefore removed. It was at > this time that the fatal ball was discovered: it had passed through the > spine, and lodged in the muscles of the back, towards the right side, > and a little below the shoulder-blade. A very considerable portion of > the gold-lace, pad, and lining of the epaulette, with a piece of the > coat, was found attached to the ball: the lace of the epaulette was as > firmly so, as if it had been inserted into the metal while in a state of > fusion. > > \*_Brandy was recommended by the Surgeon in preference to rum, of which > spirit also there was plenty on board. This circumstance is here noticed, > because a very general but erroneous opinion was found to prevail on the > Victory’s arrival in England, that rum preserves the dead body from decay > much longer and more perfectly than any other spirit, and ought therefore > to have been used: but the fact is quite the reverse, for there are several > kinds of spirit much better for that purpose than rum; and as their > appropriateness in this respect arises from their degree of strength, on > which alone their antiseptic quality depends, brandy is superior. Spirit of > wine, however, is certainly by far the best, when it can be procured._ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/7 "2019-05-15T14:08:18Z")
Dr. Stephen Maturin, a naturalist as well as a surgeon in Patrick O’Brian’s terrific series of Napoleonic naval adventure novels, several times notes the usefulness of spirit of wine for preserving specimens, including in _The Fortune of War_, which I just finished. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-nelsons-corpse-q/833854/8 "2019-05-15T14:24:24Z")
When I first read the thread title, my first thought was “But Richard Basehart died a long time ago. What are they doing with his corpse?”