"Admiral Nelson's body -- port or brandy" Topic

Does anyone know if Admiral Nelson's body was transported back in port or brandy cask? I'm looking for a thank you gift for someone.

Thank you in advance for any helpful information.

Oh. I thought this was a Poll Suggestion.

Winston, so you totally missed "Admiral Nelson's body" and skimmed directly to "port or brandy"?

Okay, Winston. So what would you like to preserve your body in? Port or brandy? Vivat rex Winston!

A quick google search seems to indicate a cask of brandy was used, and caused a bit of eyebrow raising as rum was the preferred spirit for preservation at the time.

Take this with a grain of salt, it was just a quick google search on "Admiral Nelson's Body"

As the good Doctor observed, brandy is for heroes.

Dave, I googled before posting. I wanted a confirmation so I came here.

Winston, I'm sorry, but I don't understand your above reference. Care to explain?

Google "Brandy is for heroes".

Hic! kish meh Hardy!

Then try "Nelson's Blood".

youtu.be/xwPFDwYSxls

They're referring to grog. What's up with that?

I've heard brandy- and that the keg was tapped by the crew on the way home. May just be an urban legend.

I don't know about "urban",but possibly legendary. Of course, sailors had a legendary thirst for alcohol. . .

I get conflicting results. There's this:

link

Wiki can't make up its mind. Several sites say rum. Here's a little more detail :

link

I would have thought rum, as every Royal Navy warship carried a plentiful supply for the daily grog ration (grog is just watered down rum); also, rum would have been a lot cheaper than brandy. However, maybe someone thought brandy would be more fitting for Britain's (late) foremost admiral. I doubt whether port would have worked as a preservative, since it is just a strong wine, so the alcohol content would probably not be high enough.

TMP Reader2--you must have a rather strange gift in mind!

But there is a brand of rum called "Nelson's Blood", if it's any help.

link

All right, here. As Doctor Johnson said, "Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.".

But then,he didn't care much for ships,as I recall.

Wow! Thank you everyone for all the replies. I will be doing some major googling for the next few days. Much appreciated!

"I've heard brandy- and that the keg was tapped by the crew on the way home. May just be an urban legend." (Shagnasty)

Gross!!! I do hope it's a legend.

"TMP Reader2--you must have a rather strange gift in mind!" (Hafen von Schlockenber)

My father-in-law likes Patrick O'Brian; is a history lover, and a big Aubrey-Maturin fan so I'm just planning for the next family get-together.

Thanks again everyone for the replies.

Thanks Winston for the quote.

So brandy for you then.

"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned."

Legendary or not, it's the origin of "Nelson's Blood".

Unless it was a toast. . .

Sigh.

Yeah,Winston, that's the one.

As the good Doctor observed, brandy is for heroes.

"I know you Hook!"

It was actually captured French Éau de Vie, which is inferior industrially produced distilled wine, as issued on French men o war…brandy only by the loosest of connections – probably embalming was the best use for it!

And THAT, boys and girls, is why we pay that huge stipend for experts on TMP.

Thanks Navy Fower Wun Seven. Interesting information.

Winston, I haven't been called a girl since … I can't remember how many decades ago … memory fading … :)

Add to that – the size of the barrel ,port(on board the ships) was in much smaller barrel(nowadays called a quarter cask -about 80 litres ) the rum would be in large casks ranging from 300 to 700 litres (depending on which supplier )

The supplier would have kept the port in a larger barrel caller a pipe(500 litres) .

Also remember there is the chance that it wasn't either of those but a spare barrel(salt pork perhaps ) emptied and then filled with rum .

Rum will preserve ,port will not and will turn the body an interesting shade of purple .

Navy FWS- not to doubt you ,but I would be interested in reading the evidence for that suggestion.

While "researching", meaning a two minute Google search, Eau de vie, I ran across references to arrack. Being a Flashman fan, I followed the links.
In some countries, arrack is a "cottage industry" i. e. moonshine. You can get it in the Philippines as a blue liquor, bubblegum flavored. Here you go Horatio!

My primitive French suggests that Eau de vie is "water of life". So is Uisge Beatha, the Gaelic for whisky.
Another option?

Moonshine… I'm told, is the stuff that grows hair on your chest. Yikes!

Grtbrt, thanks for the cask capacity numbers. Just had a morbid thought of cask size and Admiral Nelson's. So you think rum rather than port or brady?

According to the article I linked above("Tapping the Admiral"),first brandy,then changed at Gibraltar to "spirits of wine",which is an old term for aqua vitae,which is, I suppose,the same as eau de vie.

link

Sir William Beatty (Admiral Nelson's surgeon) may have written a book titled "Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson".

Must do more research… retirement has its benefits.

Hafen von Schlockenberg, very plausible.

Whatever it was, I ain't drinkin' it!

This is in the footnotes to the book written by Sir William Beatty
"Brandy was recommended by the Surgeon in preference to rum, of which spirit also there was plenty on board. This circumstance is here noticed, because a very general but erroneous opinion was found to prevail on the Victory's arrival in England, that rum preserves the dead body from decay much longer and more perfectly than any other spirit, and ought therefore to have been used: but the fact is quite the reverse, for there are several kinds of spirit much better for that purpose than rum; and as their appropriateness in this respect arises from their degree of strength, on which alone their antiseptic quality depends, brandy is superior."

The cask size was a leaguer and they had to refill the brandy a few times and that is likely were the legend of the drinking came from . All in all an interesting read .

"Does anyone know if Admiral Nelson's body was transported back in port or brandy cask?"

There has been a dilly of a rumor floating around for years that it was actually a pickle barrel…