Black history month
What The Hell Is A Black Sailor Doing On Nelson’s Column?
It’s very difficult to whitewash British history when it’s right there in the middle of Trafalgar Square.
Just a short hop and a step from Buckingham Palace is Trafalgar Square, still one of the most famous landmarks in the UK. We won a decisive victory over the combined naval fleets of the French and Spanish… around a week and 217 years ago. It was an important part of the catchily named ‘War of the Third Coalition’.
October 21st, 1805 for those who like precision.
It was a Monday for those of you who REALLY LIKE precision.
I won’t get into the military specifics about how we Brits won but, take it from me, it was an absolute pants-down naval spanking of the highest order.
We were outnumbered 33 ships to 27 and by the time Tuesday rolled around, we’d sunk 22 ships in the combined fleet and lost none of our own at all.
The spanking of the highest order was achieved by some dude called Horatio Nelson actively ignoring all the highest orders. He threw out the rulebook on naval engagements and propelled himself to legendary status amongst this seafaring tea-drinking nation.
