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@southey1813nelson

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@southey1813nelson

Southey, Robert. The Life of Nelson. 2 vols. London: John Murray, 50 Albemarle Street, 1813.

Summary

The hagiographic founding biography of Horatio Nelson. Southey wrote it as a manual for the young sailor and said he would write the eulogy of the naval hero. First edition in two volumes, printed for John Murray, bookseller to the Admiralty and to the Board of Longitude. The year 1813 is read on the title page of the 1813 John Murray London edition (Internet Archive lifenelson05soutgoog and cihm_48232). Gutenberg #947 is a later readable text of the same work; its metadata does not state 1813. Contested anecdotes in this book stay contested.

Credibility Assessment

  • Type: Secondary — early biography, not an eyewitness narrative
  • Author expertise: Robert Southey (1774–1843). Dedicated the work to John Wilson Croker, Secretary of the Admiralty. Not a seaman
  • Peer reviewed: No (1813 commercial biography)
  • Known biases or limitations: Southey states he is writing eulogy. Boyhood set-pieces (fear at the brook, the polar bear, “I will be a hero”) are hagiographic and remain contested. This card does not license those myths as fact. No ISBN or page count is stated on the title page that was read

Key Claims and Page References

  • Title page, vol. 1 — THE LIFE OF NELSON. BY ROBERT SOUTHEY. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, BOOKSELLER TO THE ADMIRALTY AND TO THE BOARD OF LONGITUDE, 50, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1813.
  • Opening, before Chapter I — eulogy-manual purpose
  • p. 4 — Raisonnable, of 64 guns; Horatio twelve
  • p. 9 — merchant voyage under John Rathbone; Raisonnable commissioned for the Falkland Islands dispute
  • p. 11 — coxswain under Capt. Lutwidge; Racehorse and Carcass
  • p. 25 — examination 8 April 1777; Suckling at the head of the board
  • p. 38 — Hinchinbrook complement two hundred; not more than ten survived
  • pp. 40–41 — Albemarle at Elsinore; count the guns
  • p. 12 — Irving wet-mop still; 34–40 gallons a day
  • p. 22 — Seahorse, 20 guns; rated midshipman on Surridge’s recommendation
  • pp. 26–27 — Lowestoffe boat went in on deck and out again
  • p. 28 — Glasgow of 20 guns on fire in Montego Bay
  • p. 35 — manchineel spring
  • pp. 41–42 — Deal boatmen, fifteen guineas
  • p. 73 — Boreas: not a single officer or man died in three years
  • pp. 53–54 — Latona pendant struck; returned to the dock-yard
  • p. 59 — orders given to enforce the navigation act
  • pp. 64–65 — £40,000 damages; eight weeks in duresse
  • p. 85 — appointed 30 January to the Agamemnon, of 64 guns
  • p. 111 — landed 4 April under Villettes and Nelson
  • p. 238 — Orient main-mast coffin; Hallowell / Swiftsure
  • pp. 7–8 — North Walsham school; Chatham stage; wandered in the cold
  • p. 9 — Triumph, 74, Thames guard-ship after Falklands paid-off
  • p. 10 — cutter and decked long-boat; Chatham to the Tower; Swin Channel to the North Foreland
  • pp. 34–35 — St. Bartolomeo, 9 April; boarded the battery barefoot; Despard
  • pp. 52–53 — Boreas mast-head race; school-room; quadrant at noon
  • pp. 55–56 — French frigate; Nevis Road; St. Eustatia; Martinico
  • pp. 62–63, 65 — four American vessels; island colours; condemned
  • p. 66 — memorial; crown defence; Register Act framed
  • pp. 73–74 — Nore slop and receiving ship, June–November
  • p. 90 — 345 men at quarters; three-hour running fight
  • pp. 8–9 — paced the deck unnoticed; first days of wretchedness
  • p. 25 — acting lieutenant in the Worcester, 64; Gibraltar convoy
  • p. 26 — next-day commission; second lieutenant of the Lowestoffe
  • p. 39 — Janus, of 44 guns; carried ashore in his cot
  • p. 43 — four French sail of the line; St. George’s Bank shoals
  • pp. 29–30 — d’Estaing 125 sail; Fort Charles at Port Royal; 7,000 mustered
  • pp. 42–43 — Albemarle fishing schooner; Boston Bay pilot; scurvy mid-August
  • pp. 47–48 — Puerto Cabello; Count de Deux Ponts; launch released
  • p. 39 — Lion; Cornwallis; Bath
  • pp. 22–23 — eighteen months in India; Dolphin; Capt. Pigot
  • p. 15 — Carcass boat; wounded walrus; Racehorse boat saved
  • p. 38 — eighteen hundred sent; not more than 380 returned
  • pp. 71–72 — Antigua merchants; four-island frauds; vouchers no check
  • p. 118 — lion sun / dog-days; of 2000 men above half sick
  • p. 120 — 150 in their beds; of them he lost fifty
  • p. 209 — Vanguard refitted in four days
  • pp. 226–227 — six colours; half-pistol-shot of Spartiate
  • vol. 2 p. 141 — Good Friday; nine hundred and fifty-three

Verbatim Quotes

(verbatim quotes live here only — never paste verbatim text into atomic notes)

“In attempting such a work, I shall write the eulogy of our great naval Hero; for the best eulogy of Nelson is the faithful history of his actions: the best history, that which shall relate them most perspicuously.” — opening, vol. 1 (1813)

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