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... and my dear Cohen,Thank you for your kind letter. Your respect and admiration for myself and the British nation are greatly appreciated. I have, of course, been dead for a little over two hundred years, so it is delightful to know that I still have a fan.It was with great pride that I was able to serve my country. As I signalled to my fleet before Trafalgar, England expects every man will do his duty. Duty and honour were always what mattered most to me. They asked me to cover my stars to disguise my rank from the enemy, that Villeneuve’s sharpshooters would not target me, but I refused. In honour I gained them, and in honour I would die with them. Even as I lay wounded after that great battle, feeling my vitality ebbing away, I used my final breaths to say, “Thank God I have done my duty.” My boy, without duty, we are like a ship without a course. Without honour, we are like the French.If I may offer a small piece of advice, based on my own experience, it is this: persist, have courage, and never give in. My life was beset with illness after illness; I suffered from terrible seasickness, but still spent my life at sea; I lost the sight in one eye at Calvi, then lost an arm at Santa Cruz, but I kept sailing. As the French fleet lined up off the Nile delta, I ordered an immediate attack to catch them by surprise and outmanoeuvre them. When the enemy outnumbered us at Trafalgar, I led the advance right into their flank. Life is full of setbacks, hardships and challenges, but we must stand up and face them! Find something you care about, dear boy, and therein find yourself a duty. Decide what you wish to achieve, then sail boldly forth!Yours,
Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson
Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson
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