Letter also suggests Nelson was shot twice and not once as once thought. Admiral Lord Nelson’s famous last words may not have been “kiss me, Hardy,” according to a newly unearthed letter. Instead, the British naval hero is claimed to have declared, “Thanks be to God, I have but lived this day and now I die content,” after being fatally shot during his victory over the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805.
![[Admiral Nelson’s death has been commemorated in a monument on Trafalgar Square named after the battle]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/18/13/newFile-1.jpg)
The letter, set to be auctioned, challenges the long-held official account, which has Nelson uttering his famous line to Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, his flag captain. The letter will go under the hammer on Wednesday (18 December) at Bonhams, New York, and is said to have been written by petty officer, George Sievers, six days after Nelson’s killing.
![[Joseph Turner’s ‘Battle of Trafalgar’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2009/09/22/01/243647.jpg)
Sievers, a master-at-arms on HMS Belleisle, is reported to have fought in the battle, but he was not present at the death of the Admiral. The letter is expected to be sold for $2,000 (£1,600). The Battle of Trafalgar saw the Royal Navy defeat a joint Franco-Spanish fleet thus preventing it from taking control of the English Channel, which would have enabled the French dictator to launch a land invasion of Britain.
The letter, dated 27 October 1805, also claims that Lord Nelson was shot not once as originally thought, but twice. “Immediately on his wound being dressed he insisted again on being brought on deck when shortly afterward he rec’d [received] a shot through his body he survived however till the evening: long enough to be informed of the capture of the French Admiral and of the extent of the glorious victory he had obtained.
