Nelson ordered sailor’s execution for threatening to split officer’s head

Lord Nelson ordered that a mutinous sailor be put to death for threatening to “split” an officer’s head.

A book of naval commands from Nelson in 1799, which has been described as “like reading his emails”, has emerged for sale for £18,000.

The document reveals how Nelson ordered the execution of William White, late boatswain’s mate of HMS Bellerophon.

A court martial entry was followed by Nelson’s own memorandum directing White be killed the next morning.

White was tried “for having in the evening of the 21st of August last, then being confin’d in irons, behaving in a mutinous manner”.

The notebook then records that he seized an officer by the collar, threatened that he would “split his head” and used other “mutinous” language.

The court found that White had fallen under the 22nd Article of War covering striking, offering violence to, or quarrelling with a superior officer in the execution of his office.

It sentenced him “to suffer Death by being Hang’d by the neck at the Yard Arm of such ship as the Commander in Chief for the Time being shall think fit”.

Nelson’s own implementing memorandum is equally stark: “Whereas Wm White late Boatswain’s Mate of H.M. Ship Bellerophon hath been condemned by the sentence of a Court Martial to suffer Death...”

The execution came at a time when Nelson was in a love triangle with an ambassador and his wife while stationed in the Bay of Naples.

Nelson lived with his mistress Lady Emma Hamilton and her husband Sir William Hamilton in Merton, south London, after falling in love during the Napoleonic Wars in Naples, where Sir William was the British envoy.

The notebook belonged to Capt Henry D’Esterre Darby of HMS Bellerophon – the ship that Napoleon would eventually surrender to after the Battle of Waterloo – and contains direct copies of 46 orders from Nelson.

These orders would have been copied down and taken to different captains across Nelson’s fleet by runners.

The manuscript, described as a “remarkable piece of history”, features 40 previously unseen commands from Nelson in 1799 – including an order to execute a mutinous British sailor.

Described as being “unfiltered and urgent”, the commands offer a different glimpse of Nelson from the image typically seen in official correspondence.

The commands paint a “vivid” image of him as a “war-time commander” who was principally “concerned with authority” while at war.

Guy Nathan, 40, a rare-books specialist who founded Arch Books, said: “It was a very controversial period for him. It was in the middle of his ménage à trois. On one hand you have him becoming a national hero and on the other hand you have him sleeping with an ambassador’s wife.

“It’s such an amazing document. Obviously it’s a pretty extraordinary 1799 command document for the Bellerophon.

“It’s like reading his emails. They’re unfiltered, urgent, not official, and you see that concern for morale and leadership.

“It’s not the same image of Nelson we’ve seen from official correspondence. Of course this is during the Terror, in the wake of the French revolution, when people were very, very worried about revolution and insurgence.”

Among these is an order for the men in the fleet to enjoy half a pint of wine each to toast King George III’s health on the anniversary of Britain’s victory at the Battle of the Nile, showing his “concern for morale and leadership”.

The notebook remained in a private collection until the owner died and is now being made partially public for the first time.

It is being sold by Arch Books for £18,000 and will probably fall into the hands of a trust rather than another individual.

Arch Books said: “The manuscript is of exceptional rarity and importance.

“Beyond the execution order, the book is rich in the day-to-day mechanics of command: intelligence-gathering on the Brest fleet, casualty reports from fighting ashore in Italy, orders concerning prisoners under irons, restrictions on letters and communication, shore control, victualling, and close supervision of vessels and men.

“Physically, the notebook remains exactly what it ought to be – a working shipboard document, made for use rather than display.

“It has been expertly conserved, while preserving its character as a surviving document of active service.

“An extraordinary manuscript of Nelson’s command: execution, intelligence, punishment, censorship, celebration and the daily pressure of history, all preserved in the pocket book of the captain of the Bellerophon.”