CLASSIC: How Admiral Horatio Nelson Ended Up Dead in a Barrel of Brandy

Summary

Ridiculous History: "CLASSIC: How Admiral Horatio Nelson Ended Up Dead in a Barrel of Brandy"

Podcast: Ridiculous History
Hosts: Ben Bowlin & Noel Brown
Release Date: January 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this classic episode, Ben and Noel retell the wild and macabre tale of Admiral Horatio Nelson—the revered British naval hero—whose death on the battlefield led to one of the strangest posthumous journeys in history. Blending irreverent banter with historical detail, the hosts explore Nelson’s rise to fame, his legendary naval exploits, and the bizarre events following his death at Trafalgar, including the infamous preservation of his corpse in a barrel of brandy—and the drinking lore that followed.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction to Admiral Nelson and the Phrase "Tapping the Admiral"

• [04:17] Origins of the phrase "tapping the Admiral," meaning to drink directly from a liquor barrel through a straw—allegedly linked to Nelson’s posthumous journey.
  • "Tapping the Admiral is not poking a military official... it's a phrase from the Royal Navy. It's also called bleeding the monkey or sucking the monkey…" (Noel, 04:44)

2. Life and Career of Horatio Nelson

• [06:39] Brief biography: Born 1758, Norfolk, 6th of 11 kids. By age 20, commanded his own ship.
• [09:15] The Battle of St. Vincent (1797)—Nelson’s bold tactics, breaking protocol but saving the British from defeat:
  • “If they would have lost this particular battle, he would have gotten his wrist slapped, or dare I say, been put in the stockades.” (Noel, 09:29)
  • Instead, he was knighted.
• [10:51] Wounded by grapeshot, lost his right arm, and famously maintained command even while being operated on:
  • “After he had his right arm cut off, he kept issuing commands while he was on the surgery bed. And keep in mind, in the late 1700s, surgery is very, very dangerous.” (Ben, 11:36)
  • Nicknamed his stump "his finger." (Ben, 12:24)
• [13:22] Rises to rear admiral, defeats Napoleon’s navy at the Battle of the Nile (1798), helping cement British dominance at sea.

3. The Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson’s Death

• [18:50] The decisive 1805 battle: Nelson’s tactical innovation, facing French and Spanish fleets outnumbering the British (33 vs. 27 ships).
• [21:24] Nelson refuses to remove his insignia, making himself a target:
  • “It’s like you got a big old target painted on your back… if you were a sharpshooter on one of the enemy ships, that’s who you would shoot for” (Noel, 21:24)
• [22:46] The fatal shot: Musket ball through Nelson’s shoulder and into his spine.
  • "He gasps and famously says, 'They have finally succeeded. I am dead.'” (Ben, 22:46)
• [23:14] Surrounded by his men below decks, his last words recorded as:
  • “Thank God I have done my duty to gold and my country.” (Ben, 23:14)
• [24:32] “He was right there in the trenches with his men and he literally took one for the team.” (Noel, 24:32)

4. The Ridiculous Preservation: Dead in a Barrel of Brandy

• [25:10] Problem: How to get Nelson’s body back to Britain—over a two-month sea journey with no refrigeration.
• [25:37] Surgeon William Beatty’s solution: Place the body in a cask of brandy, add camphor and myrrh to help with preservation.
  • "They were able to shove him into this barrel of brandy and they added a few extra things to maybe make him smell nice, I guess, like camphor and... myrrh." (Noel, 26:04)
• [26:38] The imperfect process: Gases from decomposition caused the cask to “pop,” terrifying sailors who thought Nelson was returning as “a stinking drunk zombie admiral.” (Noel, 27:01)

5. The "Tapping the Admiral" Legend and Drinking Culture

• [30:37] Rumor: Sailors secretly tapped the cask, drank the brandy preserving Nelson’s body—thus, "tapping the admiral."
  • "Yes, literally tapping the Admiral. Putting little straws in the cask and just taking a little nip for the entire length of the journey." (Ben, 31:09)
• [31:54] Discussion on other spirits preserved with dead things, like snakes or worms; “corpse brandy” is a “weird flex.”
• [32:51] The legend grows in drinking culture: Navy rum gains the nickname “Nelson’s Blood,” pubs across England named "The Lord Nelson," and the phrase "tapping the admiral" enters folklore.

6. Myth vs. Fact: Was It Really Rum?

• [33:28] Widespread assumption that Nelson was preserved in Navy rum, but it was actually brandy (chosen for higher alcohol content).
• [39:30] Beatty himself responds in frustration in his book, clarifying that brandy was superior for preservation.
  • “Brandy is superior. Spirit of wine, however, is certainly by far the best… when it can be procured.” (Noel, quoting Beatty, 39:30)
• [40:31] Despite Beatty's protests, the rum myth prevails in public memory.

7. Aftermath and Legacy

• [32:23] Nelson’s death deeply mourned in Britain; King George III said "we have lost more than we have gained."
• [36:08] The musket ball that killed Nelson preserved as a relic.
• [36:42] Nelson’s elaborate funeral cost the modern equivalent of $1.2 million, reflecting his legendary status.
• [40:56] Auction mention: Nelson's "grog chest," containing personalized drinking accessories, sold in 2018.

8. Closing Reflections: Nelson's Flawed Humanity

• [42:07] Teasing a “dark legacy”: Later-discovered letters suggesting that Nelson was "not the best husband,” hinting at his complicated personal life.
• [42:39] Ben jokes about wanting to be shot into space rather than pickled in alcohol, maintaining the episode’s playful irreverence.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "After he had his right arm cut off, he kept issuing commands while he was on the surgery bed. And keep in mind, in the late 1700s, surgery is very, very dangerous."
  (Ben, 11:36)

• "He gasps and famously says, 'They have finally succeeded. I am dead.'"
  (Ben, 22:46)

• "They were able to shove him into this barrel of brandy and they added a few extra things to maybe make him smell nice, I guess, like camphor and... myrrh."
  (Noel, 26:04)

• "Tapping the Admiral is not poking a military official... it's a phrase from the Royal Navy. It's also called bleeding the monkey or sucking the monkey."
  (Noel, 04:44)

• "Brandy is superior. Spirit of wine, however, is certainly by far the best… when it can be procured."
  (Noel, quoting Beatty, 39:30)

• "He was right there in the trenches with his men and he literally took one for the team."
  (Noel, 24:32)

• "Putting little straws in the cask and just taking a little nip for the entire length of the journey."
  (Ben, 31:09)

• "Corpse brandy is a weird flex. I would call that a weird flex."
  (Ben, 32:03)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 04:17: The meaning behind "tapping the Admiral"
• 06:39 - 14:05: Nelson’s early life and rise in the Royal Navy
• 18:50 - 24:32: The Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson’s death
• 25:10 – 27:01: Preserving Nelson in brandy; the voyage home and macabre mishaps
• 30:37 – 32:03: Drinking from the Admiral’s barrel and the legend’s birth
• 33:28 – 40:31: Rum vs. brandy myth; Beatty’s attempts to set the record straight
• 36:08 – 36:42: Preserved musket ball and funeral
• 40:56: Auctioning of Nelson’s grog chest; rum and drinking lore
• 42:07 – 42:39: Nelson’s personal life and legacy

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Episode Tone and Style

Ben and Noel keep the episode light, playful, and irreverent—using plenty of puns, modern slang, and offbeat tangents—while still delivering detailed, engaging history. Their banter injects humor throughout, especially when discussing the more gruesome and ridiculous elements of Nelson’s fate and the formation of naval folklore.

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Takeaway

This episode underscores the absurd intersection of heroism, legend, and rumor in history. Admiral Nelson’s life and especially his undignified, alcohol-soaked afterlife, became the stuff of British naval myth—fueling phrases, pub names, and drinking traditions that persist centuries later. And, as Ben and Noel show, sometimes the most ridiculous rumors overshadow the strangest of facts.

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For more classic tales of weird history, tune in to Ridiculous History every week!

Transcript

[Ben]

Fellow ridiculous historians, welcome back to our weekly classic episode. Have you ever had a moment where you thought, if I don't change my ways, I'm going to end up dead in a barrel of brandy?

[Noel]

Totally. Happens to me every day. It's what makes me fly. Right, Ben? And live clean.

[Ben]

There we go. Right. We are big fans of larger than life historical figures and this episode from 2019 features none other than the naval legend Admiral Horatio Nelson.

[Noel]

Not to be confused with Horatio Hornblower.

[Ben]

That's.

[Noel]

That's a different person.

[Ben]

That's a different person. Okay, right on.

[Noel]

That is a fictional person. A British Royal naval captain during the Napoleonic wars from a series of novels from the 1930s by C.S. forrester.

[Ben]

I wonder if some of Admiral Nelson's real life maritime adventures informed that character. What do you think?

[Noel]

Yeah, I think it's entirely accurate.

[Ben]

So, okay, this Guy dies on October 21, 1805. He is shot while standing on the deck of his ship. And his crew is left with a dilemma. A real pickle. How do they bring his body back to bury it home?

[Noel]

Yeah, why don't we jump right in?

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Ridiculous history is a production of iheartradio.

[Noel]

Foreign.

[Ben]

Well, here we are again, friends and neighbors. It is a Friday afternoon here in the studio. We are off to adventures historical and contemporary. And this weekend we may be tapping the Admiral, sampling a bit of Nelson's blood.

[Noel]

Yeah, I'm definitely do that like immediately after we record this. And I don't mean getting vampiric.

[Ben]

Right.

[Noel]

Up in the pub.

[Ben]

Right. This is, this is a little bit different. Yeah. Tapping the Admiral is not poking a military official. Right, Right. It's also known, it's a phrase from the Royal Navy. It's also called the bleeding the monkey or sucking the monkey, which I think are both kind of weird.

[Noel]

Yeah, I did not come across those. Ben, which is your name and you're Noel. This is true.

[Ben]

And we're joined with our super producer, Casey Pegram. Casey and I have had a very, very, very scant amount of sleep. So if there are any inaccuracies or weirdness in today's episode, that's on me. And Noel, thank you in advance. I hope your back doesn't hurt after. After carrying us through this one.

[Noel]

Ben, you know I love it when you're a little punchy. Whether it be from emerging from crazy jet lag or dare I say, still in the throes of it, or being a little sleep deprived, I always find you a fun and punchy character.

[Ben]

Thanks, man. Thanks. I appreciate it. And likewise, of course, tapping the Admiral. What does that mean? What's that refer to?

[Noel]

It is when you drink liquor or any kind of fermented beverage directly from the cask using a straw.

[Ben]

Yes, that's it. And that's also what they're referring to when the members of the Royal Navy say bleeding the monkey or sucking the monkey, which still seems woefully inadequate in comparison to tapping the Admiral. That sounds classy. Even though drinking straight up liquor from a barrel through a straw is maybe not the classiest thing.

[Noel]

It seems, dare we say, slightly barbaric.

[Ben]

But that's life at sea, you know.

[Noel]

Oh my goodness. Boy, will you get a load of some life at sea. Some harrowing life at sea in this particular story. So why don't we start from the beginning?

[Ben]

Yes.

[Noel]

Introduce our main character, the admiral in question.

[Ben]

Yes. There is a specific admiral to whom the British Royal Navy is referring. And that's Admiral Horatio Nelson. And Admiral Horatio Nelson is a pretty larger than life figure, right?

[Noel]

Yeah, larger than life, legacy wise. But as in terms of his stature, I think he was under 6ft tall.

[Ben]

Yes, yes. He was not. He was not NBA status. Right. He eventually became the first Viscount Nelson and the first Duke of Bronte. He was born on the 29th of September in 1758 in Norfolk, England. He was the sixth of 11 children.

[Noel]

See, I feel like that matters, I really do. Some of the greatest men and women in history have been part of big families because they have to figure out how to like scrap and you know, carry their own weight, you know, among all of the competition. Whether they're vying for their parents affection or just like learning how to do stuff.

[Ben]

Right, right. Or they're in some cases fighting for food, which was not Nelson's situation, as far as we know.

[Noel]

No, we don't think so either. At the age of 20. By the age of 20 he already had command of his own ship, which was the Albemarle. And he became a very important figure during the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1792.

[Ben]

Yep, it's absolutely true. Now this guy had been. This guy hit the high seas by the age of 12.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

So by the age of 20, this was not his first maritime rodeo.

[Noel]

No, you're right. But still by 20, that's a pretty big responsibility. Like you said, he joined the merchant marines. And that was during the fight against the Americans during the War of Independence.

[Ben]

Yeah. And he even took part in a failed scientific expedition to the Arctic. He was living life. But you're bringing us toward a pivotal point in his life because it was during his twenties, during these French Revolutionary wars, that he began to exhibit a tactical talent A knack for command. He was considered remarkable and a genius. And in 1797, on Valentine's Day, which was yesterday. Right. He had his huge crowning achievement at the Battle of St. Vincent. How did that go down?

[Noel]

Yeah, he really exhibited some ability to think outside the box militarily when he decided that he would break line with the actual commander of the British fleet. Which sounds to me a little bit like disobeying orders.

[Ben]

Right. Insubordination.

[Noel]

And apparently, if they would have lost this particular battle, he would have gotten his wrist slapped, or dare I say, been put in the stockades.

[Ben]

He would have been booted out. He would have been court martialed.

[Noel]

That's right. But instead, it proved to be his crowning achievement, like you said, or at least one of his early claims to fame. So what ended up happening was he saved the British from defeat at the hands of the Spanish, who had them licked. In terms of number, in terms of sheer volume of troops. Would you call them troops when they're at sea? They're not really troops at sea are. They're more. They're sailors, I guess.

[Ben]

They're the enemy.

[Noel]

They're the enemy. That's all that matters. That's all that matters.

[Ben]

It's also weird how whenever you hear an historical account that refers to a group of actual human beings as just the French or the Spanish, it sounds like they're way more insidious than they actually are.

[Noel]

It's true. So instead of that court martial that he was just cruising for, he got knighted.

[Ben]

Yes, he did. He did. And he continued on this upward trajectory career wise. He did not have a perfect record and he did not escape unscathed. He was wounded in July of 1797.

[Noel]

In a grisly turn.

[Ben]

Yes, yes. The way that you'll hear it phrased, for instance, in a. A great article we read on HistoryCollection Co by Alexander Meddings, a whiff of grapeshot shredded. His arm.

[Noel]

Shredded.

[Ben]

And most of what was left of it had to be amputated to prevent infection from spreading. And grapeshot for anyone who doesn't. Did we talk about what this is?

[Noel]

I think we did. I mean, it's sort of the equivalent of like buckshot, but it's like steel balls like that spread out and just literally rip into everything. Eviscerate flesh and bone. Right?

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Number of small iron balls. Fire all together at once.

[Noel]

You'd shoot that from a cannon, not like a musket or something. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

[Ben]

And when they're assembled, they look like A cluster of grapes. Very, very nasty ammunition. So get this. I think this is cool. After he had his right arm cut off, he kept issuing commands while he was on the surgery bed. And keep in mind, in the late 1700s, surgery is very, very dangerous.

[Noel]

Yeah. And another important player in this story, in fact, his surgeon. Who will come into the picture when we get into the. Kind of the main focus of the story. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So like you said, he had the arm amputated, he survived, which was incredibly rare in any kind of amputation.

[Ben]

And he got into standup pretty much as a result of this.

[Noel]

Yeah, he made some good banter on the surgery bed and also had a nice little pet name for what was left of his. Of his arm.

[Ben]

Yes, he called it his finger.

[Noel]

That is adorable.

[Ben]

It's weird. It's definitely military humor.

[Noel]

And it's also nautical humor.

[Ben]

And it's also nautical humor. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think that if he had not pursued military fame, you know, maybe he could have gotten into the standup circuit. Yeah.

[Noel]

You know, got a little bit of a running start into that field because I don't think it really picked up steam until like the, you know, the Catskills kind of era. Right.

[Ben]

Well, there were jesters.

[Noel]

That's true, that's true.

[Ben]

But this is.

[Noel]

He was doing more bits, though. He was doing like one liners.

[Ben]

Yeah. This is way before vaudeville. And if you would like to learn more about vaudeville and you haven't checked it out yet, do listen to our two part episode on the history of standup with our pal, Wayne Federman.

[Noel]

Yeah. And please don't hold it against us that for the first whole half of the first episode, my mic is not on.

[Ben]

We saved it. It got saved.

[Noel]

It did get saved. It's just. It's not our. It isn't. It's not our best.

[Ben]

It's not representative.

[Noel]

No, it's definitely not. But it's such a good episode that we had to push it out there. Really recommend you giving that one a listen.

[Ben]

So despite the sad, tragic misstep of not going immediately into comedy, Nelson did try to make something of his life. He, in 1798, just a year later, he held the rank of rear admiral. He scuppered Napoleon's navy.

[Noel]

I'm sorry, Scuppered.

[Ben]

He scuppered. Which is deliberately sinking a ship. Kind of like scuttling.

[Noel]

But isn't scuttling where you deliberately sink your own ship? Is there a differentiation? I know there's a lot of very specific, like Foundering or to founder is when a ship is filling with water and sinking. So he scuppered, they foundered, he scuppered.

[Ben]

They foundered and ultimately the ships were scuttled.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

Yes, we got there and oh my gosh. Oh. If you're in the Navy, please feel free to write to us about this. We want to learn. But these are great words.

[Noel]

They really are.

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[Ben]

So this victory of his stranded the French in Egypt. This was the first step in establishing the British Empire's dominance of the seas. And this also made Nelson, by the way, a friggin hero. He was straight seahorse teeth as far as the rest of the country was concerned.

[Noel]

Yeah. Because I mean, he put himself in harm's way. He was there like out there putting himself in harm's way with the troops side by side. Not like commanding from some bunker or something like that. Like he was right there and then he survived. So like I said, because of the fact that you typically would die in agony from some horrible infection, this probably instilled people with this sense of him as being some kind of indestructible Superman. I'm just editorializing here, but that's what it seems like to me.

[Ben]

Sure, man. Yeah, he was the Muhammad Ali of the seas. You know what I mean? People thought that he could do no wrong. People thought he was a national hero and he pretty much was. So let's fast forward through his career and let's go to the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. And this is when things take a turn for the worse.

[Noel]

Yeah, because you can't outrun the reaper forever. Especially when you're like in a live fire zone with terrifying stuff like grapeshot flying everywhere. So the Battle of Trafalgar was between the French and the Spanish. And when I say between, I mean the English were like between them. They were in the mix there. Right. And it was a huge naval victory for the British because it completely, if they owned the seas before they had complete dominance and obliterated Napoleon's desire and any future hope that he had of controlling these waterways. The English Channel. Right. And there would be no Napoleonic invasion of Britain after the Battle of Trafalgar.

[Ben]

Right, Right. And the Spanish are still in the mix. As we said, they outnumber the British with 33 ships to Britain's 27. But Nelson was going to use his tactical prowess to outsmart the Spanish, essentially. So instead of putting his ships in a line, just making them all sail together in a line, he ordered them to form two perpendicular columns that cut through the enemy's line, because they had just a straight line at two crucial points in the center. And here's where he got. He started styling on it, as we would say, in the early 2000s. Wait, quick slang check. Casey, do you remember when people would say styling on it? Absolutely. Was that in the early 2000s?

[Noel]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Maybe even earlier. I don't know. That one seems like it's been around for a long time. No sense of time. Okay, Yeah, I don't either. It could be from, you know, six months ago. I have no idea. Maybe it was from the early 1800s. Maybe he said, I'm gonna style on him. I'm just thinking of the subtitle from Barry Lyndon. By what means? Redmond Barry acquired the style and title of Barry Lyndon. So he was styling. And that was way back in, like, the 18th century. So that reminds me of people being able to be styled as something like his Royal Highness and so on. So maybe there is a precedent to that. Oh, Kayce. On the case.

[Noel]

Indeed.

[Ben]

Indeed. So this is what he does that we could count as styling on people. He's on the deck. Nelson is on the deck of the ship. And he does not remove his insignia, his indicators of office. And when you don't remove your indicators of office and you're standing on a.

[Noel]

Ship deck, it's like you got a big old target painted on your back. A metal shaped target or an array of tiny metal shaped targets that if you were a sharpshooter on one of the enemy ships, that's who you would shoot for. Because it's like, you know, it would drop. It would drive the troops into disarray and chaos. It would create chaos. Right. Because that's the person who's calling the plays. You put an end to that dude, and then everyone else just kind of goes running and they don't know what to do. There's no order.

[Ben]

So it's ballsy. It's chutzpah.

[Noel]

It's like, hey, come at Me, the Spanish.

[Ben]

Right? That's exactly right. So he knew this was a possibility, but he stayed on deck with a guy named Captain Hardy. And he was, he was trying to instill bravery in his men. He was yelling at them, you know, don't worry about all the blood around you. Fight. Fight with me. Fight for Britain. And around 1pm in that afternoon, the battle started. Around noon, around 1pm that afternoon, this Captain Hardy guy looks around and he sees that Admiral Nelson has indeed been fired upon. A musket ball has passed through his shoulder and lodged in his spine. And this is when the Admiral gasps and famously says, they have finally succeeded. I am dead.

[Noel]

I am dead.

[Ben]

I am dead.

[Noel]

I am dead.

[Ben]

Before being carried below decks back to the surgeon's quarters. Yeah.

[Noel]

And the surgeon was a brilliant man, as discussed before, by the name of William Beatty, who. They had him ferried below deck and realized that. But all hope was, was pretty much lost. He. I don't know, was he, did he die, Was he dead on arrival when they, when they found him, when he got to him, or did he think he died a little bit below deck?

[Ben]

He died a little bit below deck. His last words being, thank God I have done my duty to gold and my country.

[Noel]

What a guy.

[Ben]

Yeah. So he died, you know, with no regrets regarding his actions because he felt that, from what we can surmise, he felt that the same rules that he applied to the people under his command applied to him as well. So if I'm gonna send you to die, then I'm dancing with the reaper myself.

[Noel]

And that's so rare. Like, if we think about. We're talking, get back to Kubrick, you know, what Casey was talking about. The movie Paths of Glory is all about these commanders making these life or death choices from their posh villas and with no real sense of what's going on on the ground. So in these days. When was that, Casey? When was it was Paths of the World.

[Ben]

That's World War I. That's World War I. Yeah. And they're making the decisions basically to give themselves, you know, earn rank in the military.

[Noel]

Earn rank.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Noel]

And that's, I don't know, like, I'm not. Not to throw any military leaders under the bus. That's. That's certainly not how all of them are. But that's sometimes the impression that I get of some of the high level commanders. And this guy was not that way at all. He was right there in the trenches with his men and he literally took one for the team.

[Ben]

He did indeed. And so There ends the life of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson. He dies on 21st October 1805, aged 47 at the Battle of Trafalgar. And really not to be all bait and switchy, this is where the ridiculous part of today's episode begins. Because the late Admiral's men, who by the way, adored this guy, were trying to figure out how they could take him back to Britain for the burial that they felt he deserved.

[Noel]

You gotta remember, I mean they were far from home and sea travel is not quick. I mean they were like a two month journey or something like that back to Britain.

[Ben]

Yeah, two months journey away. The fleet was almost crippled because of the damage they had taken during the conflict. And then that's when this surgeon, Irish Will William Beatty, that's when he has his own light bulb moment.

[Noel]

He really does. One thing they do have that acts as a damn fine preservative is alcohol. What they had were some barrels of brandy. And so Beedi had the idea that they could stick this diminutive man, who was thankfully not a very, very tall man, they were able to shove him into this barrel of brandy and they added a few extra things to maybe make him smell nice, I guess, like camphor and what else, Ben?

[Ben]

Myrrh. Myrrh, you know, like frankincense and of course, of course.

[Noel]

And then they sealed them up in there to prepare for the long journey home.

[Ben]

Yep. And it was a slow crawl because of the terrible shape of the ships and it wasn't a perfect solution. This surgeon had a brilliant, innovative solution, but it was not perfect because as the body decayed over the course of the two month voyage, he caused a buildup of pressure within the vat and.

[Noel]

Then from like gases and stuff being emitted from the body.

[Ben]

Corpse farts. Yeah, that's right. And it caused the lid of the barrel to pop. That scared the hell out of some people. In one case, there's a report that a sailor who was sitting near the barrel thought that Nelson had risen.

[Noel]

Yeah, surely. Stinking drunk.

[Ben]

Right, right, right.

[Noel]

Stinking drunk zombie admiral walking the decks of this ramshackled ship. That's a pretty, pretty spooky image right there. Yeah.

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[Ben]

And here's where we find a strange legend about this journey. So they do eventually reach Gibraltar, right? And the surgeon says, okay, we're going to transfer this guy to an actual coffin. After this point, rumors started circling. Scuttlebutt, hearsay. And the rumors said that the sailors aboard his ship, the HMS Victory, had been drinking from this barrel of brandy.

[Noel]

Wait, tapping the admiral?

[Ben]

Yes, literally tapping the Admiral. Putting little straws in the cask and just taking a little nip for the entire length of the journey. And this meant that, again, according to the rumors, that by the time they arrived at Gibraltar, they had drank the entire barrel of brandy.

[Noel]

Now, Ben, surely that would have caused some upset stomachs, right?

[Ben]

One would imagine.

[Noel]

I mean, that just does not seem very sanitary at all.

[Ben]

Well, you have to wonder. There are so many different spirits that are distilled with other dead bodies in them. Like. Like spirits with snakes in the bottle. Or rats.

[Noel]

That's true.

[Ben]

Or mice, I guess. Tequila worms.

[Noel]

Wow.

[Ben]

I think a worm is less egregious.

[Noel]

I think that's true. But that's true.

[Ben]

I don't. I. You know, we're. We're not brilliant Irish surgeons yet, so we can't speak to the safety of drinking corpse brandy. But we can say it's a weird flex. I would call that a weird flex.

[Noel]

Big time.

[Ben]

So what happens next?

[Noel]

Well, they get his body back. Reports circulate in the British press that Admiral Nelson has died. And it is a national tragedy because, yeah, not only did his men love him, he was, like you said, a national hero, war hero. And just considered to be the bravest of the brave. And many tears were shed in including the tears of the reigning monarch at the time.

[Ben]

Yeah. And just like we had discussed in an earlier episode with Christopher Haciotes about George Washington, almost immediately after news of Nelson's death is official, people begin building his legend. You know what I mean? Because of the way his body was initially transported, his legend spreads into the world of drinking culture. Navy rum becomes known as Nelson's blood, even though they put him in brandy. And did you see that was one of the differences, too? That was like a significant difference.

[Noel]

I did. So once the victory actually gets back to Britain, as I said earlier, the news of Horatio's demise was pretty much out there. And one of the first ships to get there was called the HMS Pickle, which is really adorable. It's an adorable name for a ship. I like it very much. So, yeah. Then George iii in the throes of sadness, was quoted in saying that they had lost more than they had gained. And by the way, on that ship, I think they had 102 casualties. The British did overall at Trafalgar and then 96 people survived. Back to William Beatty's credit, he amputated the arms or the limbs of 11 men and nine of them survived. So his acumen as a surgeon was unimpeachable.

[Ben]

Which is, by the way, that is a fantastic ratio for this time. Almost unbelievably so. Yeah, it's true. The Pickle. The Pickle reached Britain before Nelson's pickled body did. I do want to point out for any popular musicians in the audience today that the Pickle's name was originally the HMS Sting. So if you are a musician who happens to go by the name Sting, you're listening to our show and you're thinking, what's my new brand name? You know, what's my new change?

[Noel]

Pickle.

[Ben]

Pickle. Not Pickles.

[Noel]

No, just Pickle.

[Ben]

Just Pickles.

[Noel]

That's really cute. I'm into that. That's a great rock star name because it's bold, because it's so cute sounding.

[Ben]

And you get the flavor. It promotes synesthesia when you say it.

[Noel]

You know, it's funny. What happens if you have a cut on your finger and you spill pickle juice on it? What does it do? Stings.

[Ben]

It stings.

[Noel]

They're connected.

[Ben]

Oh man, all the pieces are coming together. That's a really good point. So, so there was a little bit of a tangent there, but it's advice to you if you're listening Sting. And as you said, Noel, George III is beside himself. He is lachrymose. And when the body finally arrives, William Beatty, the faithful surgeon, performs an autopsy, takes that musket ball out of the guy's body, he's been transferred to a second lead lined coffin and then he's finally moved to a wooden casket. And on January 9, 1806, at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, his funeral is held.

[Noel]

And fun fact, the musket ball in question is actually mounted in like a hinged locket kind of situation with a piece of golden rope that I believe was from one of the Admiral Nelson's uniforms, but I'm not quite sure If I see that here, and it's part of the Royal Collection Trust, so I'm not sure, I'm not seeing if you can actually get a look at it or if it's in any kind of museum, but it definitely exists. But yeah, our crestfallen monarch, you know, says we will spare no expense for the funeral of this great man.

[Ben]

Right? Boy George 3 makes the call. And this funeral ends up costing around, in modern terms, US$1.2 million. But they would say that's money well spent. And now we have a little bit of liquor science here. We talked about Navy Rum, which had its own reputation, but then we also mentioned that Nelson's body was kept in brandy and ethanol, technically, which at the time was called Spirit of Wine. That all goes down to the surgeon, William, because Irish Will, I've just decided to call him Irish Will. I know a guy that I call Irish Will. He is Irish, by the way, and he's fine with the name.

[Noel]

Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. I'm okay with this nickname. Okay, great.

[Ben]

So Irish Will, the surgeon, he knows that if he wants the body to have the best chance of surviving this grueling two month journey, he should try to use the liquor on board that has the strongest alcohol proof, the highest alcohol content. Right? But if that didn't work, it was politically safer for him to use Navy Rum because get this folks, at this time, it was commonly known not just by members of the Navy, but by members of the regular public that the best way to preserve a body at sea was in Navy Rum.

[Noel]

They didn't use Navy rum though, right?

[Ben]

No, they used brandy.

[Noel]

Ah, okay. But so did they not have any? They had both. But he figured that the higher alcohol content, one would do the job better.

[Ben]

Yeah, the brandy and ethanol. And also imagine we have to empathize with him a little bit. Imagine what a huge responsibility it is if that guy's body had been lost at sea, or if he, as the surgeon, had done something that was seen as disrespectful, or if he had been seen as kind of dropping the ball on this.

[Noel]

Got it.

[Ben]

It would have been very, very bad for his reputation and his career. So he was motivated to do his level best. And people asked him at times, why didn't you use rum instead of brandy? And numerous reports of the time said that he did use rumors, because of course he did. Everyone assumed, you know, that's what you use. And that's how Navy Rum came to be called Nelson's Blood. That's how people came to Call drinking liquor from a cask tapping the Admiral. Oh, and I guess for a side note, we do have a quote where Beatty, in what, 1807, finally gets sick of everybody needling him about this brandy versus rum thing.

[Noel]

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 and strength, on which alone their antiseptic quality depends, brandy is superior. Spirit of wine, however, is certainly by far the best when it can be procured.

[Ben]

And that is a very well read quote. Kudos, Noel, from Beatty's book. Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson.

[Noel]

Just ended up being like his claim to fame anyway. He wrote a whole book about it. He, you know, this was like something that he gained some notoriety for for a good reason. I mean, he was Johnny on the spot with pickle in the body. He was so good at his job as a surgeon. I think he's the real star of.

[Ben]

The show here, amputating lim left and right. But ultimately, Beatty lost his fight for accuracy because people loved this rum idea so much that they just went with it. And that's why despite Nelson never being pickled in rum, people started calling this stuff Nelson's Blood. And that's why to this day, there's still pubs across England called the Lord Nelson.

[Noel]

That's right. I believe I've heard of a few of those. Here's a little tidbit to end the show with. On January 17th in 2018, Sotheby's sold something called a grog chest. A very small, velvet lined plush chest that contained. It was like his liquor kit. Basically. It had glasses, flasks, and, you know, containers that were used to hold grog, which would have been a particular type of alcoholic beverage that sailors are known for drinking. There's a lot of tiki drinks that are called grogs.

[Ben]

Oh, man. And speaking of tiki drinks, speaking of grog in general, it might be time for the three of us to call it a day. Thank you so much for journeying with us through the life and death of Lord Horatio Nelson. We also want to mention on an unrelated note, there's an excellent article in SMITHSONIAN called Lord Nelson Hero and Cad by Michael Ryan. We didn't have time for it today.

[Noel]

Why was He a cad.

[Ben]

He's a cad, man. There was A. In 2004, people discovered letters that darkened his honor.

[Noel]

You're just gonna cliffhang us with that, man? We've been building this guy up as some kind of giant among men, and now all of a sudden, he gonna impeach his pristine reputation posthumously. That's hurtful, man.

[Ben]

Tapping the Admiral.

[Noel]

That is hurtful, dude. All right, we'll have to leave. The dark legacy of Admiral Horatio Nelson.

[Ben]

He's just not the best husband.

[Noel]

That's fair. Well, okay, that's. You know, often great men aren't.

[Ben]

That's true.

[Noel]

That's true. Not. Not giving him a pass. But this has been a fun one and interesting story for sure. And, I don't know. You want to be pickled in brandy.

[Ben]

When you go, no, man, I'm a shot in the space kind of guy.

[Noel]

Shot in the space. He was very expensive, Ben.

[Ben]

I'm really waiting for the price to break, so I've been taking care of myself. Okay. Till that part.

[Noel]

That's fair.

[Ben]

So we want to say thanks to our super producer, Casey Pegram. Thanks, of course, to Gabe, our research associate.

[Noel]

Thanks to Alex Williams, who composed our theme. Thanks to you, Benjamin Bolan, my sleepy, sleepy co host and dear friend. I'm looking forward to tapping the Admiral with you shortly.

[Ben]

And thanks to you, Noel Gemin Brown. I look forward to that as well. This ends today's episode, but not our show. Please tune in next time when we explore the strange tale of. Of heavy water and operation. Well, Operation Freshman. But also Operation Gun Runner.

[Noel]

That's right.

[Ben]

What are we talking about?

[Noel]

I'll tell you next time. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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