informed, he replied, "God bless you, Hardy." And Hardy then left him
--for ever.
Nelson now desired to be turned upon his right side, and said, "I wish
I had not left the deck; for I shall soon be gone." Death was, indeed,
rapidly approaching. He said to the chaplain, "Doctor, I have NOT been
a GREAT sinner;" and after a short pause, "Remember that I leave
Lady Hamilton and my daughter Horatia as a legacy to my country." His
articulation now became difficult; but he was distinctly heard to say,
"Thank God I have done my duty." These words he repeatedly pronounced;
and they were the last words which he uttered. He expired at thirty
minutes after four--three hours and a quarter after he had received his
wound.
Within a quarter of an hour after Nelson was wounded, above fifty of
the VICTORY's men fell by the enemy's musketry. They, however, on their
part, were not idle; and it was not long before there were only two
Frenchmen left alive in the mizzen-top of the REDOUTABLE. One of them
was the man who had given the fatal wound: he did not live to boast of
what he had done. An old quarter-master had seen him fire; and easily
recognised him, because he wore a glazed cocked hat and a white frock.
This quarter-master and two midshipmen, Mr. Collingwood and Mr. Pollard,
were the only persons left in the VICTORY's poop; the two midshipmen
kept firing at the top, and he supplied them with cartridges. One of the
Frenchmen, attempting to make his escape down the rigging, was shot by
Mr. Pollard, and fell on the poop. But the old quarter-master, as he
cried out, "That's he, that's he," and pointed at the other who was
coming forward to fire again, received a shot in his mouth, and fell
dead. Both the midshipmen then fired at the same time, and the fellow
dropped in the top. When they took possession of the prize, they went
into the mizzen-top, and found him dead, with one ball through his head,
and another through his breast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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