NELSON, Horatio, Viscount Nelson.

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Autograph letter signed to Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge and his wife, announcing his return to sea before Trafalgar. Nelson dashes off a farewell to his old commanding officer the day after news broke that the French fleet was on the move. The following day, 4 September, it was proposed that Nelson, as commander-in-chief, Mediterranean, should go out in the Victory. Within seven weeks the Franco-Spanish fleet was engaged at Trafalgar.Before departing, aside from pressing naval matters, "farewells and last-minute arrangements absorbed the rest of the time" (Knight, p. 499). On 14 September he departed Portsmouth on the Victory.Skeffington Lutwidge (1737-1814) was captain of the Carcass on which the teenage Nelson sailed to the Arctic in 1773: "desperate to join, [Nelson] circumvented an order that no boys be taken by persuading … Lutwidge to rate him coxswain" (Lambert, p. 6). In 1799 Nelson wrote in his "Sketch of My Life", published in the Naval Chronicle, that from his time on the Carcass, he and Lutwidge had "continued the strictest friendship" (cited in Knight, p. 652). Lutwidge and his wife were friends with Emma Hamilton, dining with her regularly.In full: "My Dear friends, I would not let Lady H's [Hamilton's] letter go forth without saying a word to assure you of my most affectionate regard & esteem. Perhaps I may see you in the Winter, but that depends upon others and not on your Most Obliged & Affectionate Nelson & Bronte".Address panel: "Merton, September third, 18

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