England Expects…
$170.00 – $680.00
From Geoff Hunt’s spectacular series of prints depicting some of Admiral Nelson’s most famous commands. H.M.S. Victory makes Nelson’s signal, 21st October 1805. In this definitive image, H.M.S. Victory leads the Windward Squadron as the first part of the signal flies at the mizzen. The Franco-Spanish line is seen ahead, with the Spanish flagship Santisima Trinidad on the left, her distinctive orange-yellow paintwork clearly discernible…. At about 11:45 Nelson instructs his signal officer, Lieutenant John Pasco, to signal to the fleet…
His Lordship came to me on the poop, and after ordering certain signals to be made, about a quarter to noon, he said, ‘Mr. Pasco, I wish to say to the fleet, ENGLAND CONFIDES THAT EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY’ and he added ‘You must be quick, for I have one more to make which is for close action.’ I replied, ‘If your Lordship will permit me to substitute the confides for expects the signal will soon be completed, because the word expects is in the vocabulary, and confides must be spelt,’ His Lordship replied, in haste, and with seeming satisfaction, ‘That will do, Pasco, make it directly.’