Quote for the Day

“Let me alone: I have yet my legs and one arm. Tell the surgeon to make haste and his instruments. I know I must lose my right arm, so the sooner it's off the better.”

- Horatio Nelson (1758 – 1805)

after being wounded during the attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)

Horatio Nelson was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. He was noted for his inspirational leadership, superb grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics, all of which resulted in a number of decisive naval victories, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars (1797–1815). He was significantly wounded several times in combat, losing the sight of his right eye during the campaign in Corsica in 1793 and later the amputation of his right arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Atlantic’s Canary Islands off northwest Africa in 1797. He was shot and killed during his final pivotal victory at the naval Battle of Trafalgar against the combined Napoleonic French and Royal Spanish fleets off the southwest coast of Spain in 1805.