Lord Nelson

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On the 21st October 1805, England fought and won one of the most famous naval battles of all time; The Battle of Trafalgar, against the French and their Spanish allies. Muskets and cannons blazed throughout the exchange. Leading the charge was Lord Nelson, one of our greatest admirals, a man who gave his life in the course of the battle. Prior to becoming the commander of the British Fleet, Nelson was stationed in the Caribbean as the Senior Naval Officer of the Leeward Islands (the islands running from Saba south to Dominica). In this role he was far from the popular leader that he developed into in later years: his major responsibility was to prevent the local merchants from trading with the Americas, instead they had to send their produce to England to sell and trade.

While Nelson was based in Antigua he was stationed in English harbour, a British fortification and safe harbour, protected from hurricanes and attack. Ocean Star has spent the last 4 days docked in English Harbour at the restored Nelson’s Dockyard, making the most of the chance to explore the history of the area. I have also been enjoying the English heritage of the area and the associated British traditions, like afternoon tea at the Admiral’s inn.

I will be out of contact over the next week as we head to Green Island on the westward side of Antigua for a few days of diving. Then we are relocating once again to Barbuda, a small island north east of here. Next chance to communicate will be in St. Barths….

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Photos

The capstans at Nelson's dockyard!
The capstans were used to drag the boats out of the water to scrape all the barnacles and seaweed off the hulls, a process called careening!