Pusser's Rum Ceramics: "Trafalgar Bicentenary" Ship's Decanter
Ship's decanters had their beginnings in the early naval sailing ships of the Royal Navy, and it would have been an exception to have found a captain's cabin without one - from the smallest to the largest vessel. This Trafalgar Bicentenary Decanter has been designed especially to commemorate Nelson and his great victory at Trafalgar. A limited edition of 36,000 units has been produced for distribution throughout the world. Each decanter is numbered on its bottom. The rum in this decanter has been aged for 15 years. It is the finest there is. Savour and enjoy it.
THE ADMIRAL LORD NELSON CAMEO
At the beginning of the 19th century, England was in a difficult position. Parts of the North American colonies had gained their independence from the Crown. Spain was the undisputed ruler of the oceans and a strict enemy to England. English ships were often taken by the Spanish fleet and there was no defence against this. Europe had been conquered by Napoleon's French army and Britain was threatened by invasion. The British fleet was weak in number and suffered from uncreative leadership. There was one British naval officer who was different - Horatio Nelson! Admiral Nelson was an outstanding and strongly nonconformist leader. He did not follow the old and traditional patterns, but instead created his own solutions in the battles and engagements that he fought and later led. In fact, at times his path to success was in direct defiance of the orders given him. He did not follow orders that he found useless or not according to his own concept, and because of his leadership and tactical genius, he was victorious in every major engagement he fought and was therefore never brought to task for his disobedience. He was constantly developing and evolving new tactics that became known as the "Nelson touch" as in the famous and vital Battle of Trafalgar, the largest sea battle ever fought between ships-of-the-line. He was popular and well-respected, and those he led worshipped him in contrast to the usual relationship between English military leaders and their men at that time. He was always personally in the thick of the fight. He appealed to the pride and patriotism of his sailors. This connection to his men, apart from winning the most important sea battle at the time and one of the greatest in the annals of naval warfare, made him a hero to not only his men and the Royal Navy, but to the common people of England where the Battle of Trafalgar, 200 years later, is still celebrated. Trafalgar was a turning point in world history. The English fleet led by Nelson performed a miracle in defeating the combined French and Spanish fleets, thus destroying Spain's dominance of the world's oceans. Now Britain "ruled the waves" as the famous anthem goes. Britain had finally curtailed the Spanish predominance of the oceans and the end of French dominance of the European continent would soon follow. This victory opened the path to the construction of the British Empire, as no other European power could now prevent Britain's imperialism. Her Walls of Oak, as the wooden hulled ships of the Royal Navy were called, dominated the seas and gave cover to Britain's expansion, while Great Britain lay protected and secure behind them. If Nelson had not prevailed at Trafalgar, the British Empire could not have happened, and the world today would be a very different place.
THE H.M.S. VICTORY CAMEO
A First-Rate ship of the line with 104 guns and a crew of over 800 men, the VICTORY was one of the largest and most powerful warships of her time. She took six years to build, the first timbers of her keel being laid in 1759. She was launched in 1765 at Chatham Dockyard, and saw active duty until 1812 so her career covered a span of 47 years, a period seldom matched by any modern warship. The fact that she was able to serve so long is testimony to the great skill and the craftsmanship of the eighteenth century shipwrights who constructed her from approximately 6,000 trees. Her hull, constructed from oak timbers, is 15-inches thick up to the waterline. Today, VICTORY is the world's oldest commissioned warship, having been in commission for over 200 years. She serves the dual role of flagship to the royal Navy's Second Sea Lord, and is also a living museum to the Georgian navy at her dry dock in Portsmouth, England where she is open to the public.
VICTORY'S COAT OF ARMS CAMEO
THE PUSSER'S¨ BRAND LABEL & NELSON'S BLOOD
The PUSSER'S label rests on a bed of oak leaf clusters with acorns, symbolic of the Walls of Oak as those ships of Great Britain's sailing navy were affectionately called. It was those walls that permitted Britain to develop her industrial base and trade cartels, colonies and empire around the world without fear of interference because of her unchallenged dominance of the world's sea lanes. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth I to the throne of Great Britain, effectively uniting England and Scotland. Until this time, the English Coat of Arms had used a shield supported by two lions, whereas the Scottish had used the unicorn. Both the lion and the unicorn had long been regarded as king of the beasts, the unicorn ruling through harmony and the lion ruling through might. King James replaced the lion on the right with a unicorn to symbolize the reconciliation between Scotland and England. The flag on the left is the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, flown on board their warships and shore establishments. The flag on the right is the Cross of St. George that was one of the national emblems of England as early as 1277. Nelson was mortally wounded at Trafalgar. Legend has it that after the battle, his body was placed in a large cask of PUSSER'S RUM to preserve it for the long voyage back to England. Upon arrival, the cask was opened and Nelson's preserved body removed. But the rum was almost gone. It was said that the jack tars (sailors) had drilled a small hole at the base of the cask through which they drained most of the rum, thereby drinking of Nelson's Blood. Since then, the term has become synonymous with PUSSER'S RUM, and is still in wide use today, especially with those having connections to the Royal Navy.
BATTLE OF THE NILE 1798
The Battle of the Nile on August 1st and 2nd, 1798, was one of the most decisive naval battles to ever have been fought. In one night it altered the course of world history, denying Napoleon his Eastern Empire, and crippling him at sea. For its victors, the British under Admiral Nelson, it was also a textbook example of daring inventiveness, unconventional warfare, and the power of individual initiative. It was Nelson's first battle as an independent fleet commander. The battle commenced in the late afternoon on August 1st against a French fleet that was anchored in Aboukir Bay near Alexandria, Egypt. The French Admiral, Francois Paul Brueys, had anchored his fleet in a long crescent in the shallow sandy bay. His fleet consisted of three 80-gun frigates and nine 74-gun line-of-battle ships. In the centre of the line lay the 120-gun, l'Orient, Napoleon's flagship and one of the largest fighting vessels of its time. To the west was an island surrounded by a large shoal where a French battery was located. Thus the French fleet was virtually impregnable. Its ships were protected by shore batteries and unmarked shoals. Moreover, the British possessed only one out-of-date chart of the bay, while the French had new and reliable ones. And because of the late hour, if there was to be an engagement, it would have to be undertaken largely in the dark of night, a task that would have been even difficult in the daylight hours in so small a bay with such large ships. Nevertheless, Nelson chose to fight, and so the battle was joined. Nelson's thirteen 74-gun ships and one 50-gun vessel were in theory outnumbered by the French's' 120-gun flagship, l'Orient, three 80 gun ships and nine 74's plus four frigates. The entire battle was fought in an area barely one mile long by 200 yards wide, under the night sky of Egypt with more than 2,000 guns firing at point blank range. About 10 o'clock in the evening, the French flagship, l'Orient exploded with a blinding, shattering flash that was seen and heard in towns as far away as 15 miles, a tremendous distance for the arms of those days to have been felt before the invention of modern weapons. When the battle ended the next morning, French ships in the rear cut their cables and headed for open sea, though one ran aground and was set on fire by its own men. The other two were the only French ships to escape. Not a single British vessel was lost, and only 218 British were killed. The French losses were estimated at around 5225 men killed. Napoleon's army in Egypt was now cut off and forced to surrender by a British force in 1801. France's enemies were much encouraged by the great victory, and the victor himself became Baron Nelson of the Nile.The painting The Battle of the Nile, by Philip James De Loutherbourg, depicts the famous explosion of l'Orient.
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN 1801
The battle was due to multiple failures in diplomacy in the latter half of 1800 and the beginning of 1801. An armed neutrality of the Scandinavian countries and Russia, in combination with Napoleon's domination of the European continent was perceived by Great Britain as a grave threat to her security. Thus early in 1801, the British assembled a fleet at Yarmouth with the goal of intimidating the Danes. After the British fleet arrived off Copenhagen, the Danes refused to negotiate. They had prepared for the attack, and placed a line of defensive blocking ships along the western side of the harbour. The Copenhagen anchorage was treacherous and well defended. With 12 ships of the shallowest draft, Nelson picked his way through the shoals and commenced action. For over four hours, the battle was a close run affair with three British vessels stuck on sandbars. At one point three hours into the battle, Admiral Parker, the senior admiral in command and standing by out to sea with the balance of the fleet, signalled Nelson to disengage. Upon being advised of the signal, Nelson is said to have put his telescope to his blind eye that he'd lost in an earlier battle while remarking, ÒWhat signal? I see no signalÓ. Eventually, following extensive shelling of the harbour and nearby buildings, Nelson offered surrender terms to which the Danes agreed. Once again, the Nelson touch had revealed itself. The Pocock painting of the Battle of Copenhagen illustrates, amongst other things, the lack of room to manoeuvre during the fighting.
THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR 1805
The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on October 21st, 1805 off Cape Trafalgar, near Cadiz, Spain. The two most powerful fleets in the world engaged to decide who would master the waves, Britannia or Bonaparte with his Spanish allies. Shortly before engaging the enemy, Nelson hoisted his now famous flag signal to the British Fleet: "ENGLAND EXPECTS THAT EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY". From the quarterdeck of his mighty British flagship, HMS Victory, England's most gifted Admiral commanded a fleet of twenty-seven warships. Although outnumbered, by executing some brilliant new tactics, he smashed through the line of battle of the thirty-three French and Spanish vessels under Vice Admiral Villeneuve, dividing them into three segments. Nelson led from Victory with his friend and flag captain, Captain Hardy. With more than 100 guns and eight hundred crew, HMS Victory bore down on the French Flagship, Redoubtable Ð as Nelson hoisted another signal ÒENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELYÓ! Cannon fire, grapeshot, musket balls and deadly splinters of oak destroyed all in their path. Victory's wheel was smashed to pieces, while Nelson with his ship's officers calmly paced up and down in clear view of the enemy. John Scott (Nelson's secretary), was sliced in two by a cannon ball. His blood soaked the sandy deck and his body parts were thrown over the side. Hardy's silver buckle was torn from his left shoe. "This is too warm work Hardy, to last long" Nelson exclaimed. The attack is pressed home as the British breached their enemy's line of battle. The ships are raked with gunfire at close quarters, masts and rigging fall, Victory and Redoubtable, the two opposing flagships, are so close that their rigging entangles side by side as they exchange point blank gunfire. Hardy turns to see Nelson fall to the deck on the exact spot where Scott was killed. The gold bullion is torn from Nelson's epaulette; he has been shot through the left shoulder. His spine is broken and he knows he will not survive the fight as he is carried below. The battle continued in the dying wind, and as the masts and sails of both fleets were shot away, the ships drifted slowly about each other looking for targets through the clouds of smoke. Slowly, the British ships gained the upper hand as one by one the ships of the Combined Fleet of France and Spain struck their colours or sailed away from the battle. Captain Hardy reported to Nelson that the battle was won. ÒThank God, I have done my dutyÓ, were his last words. He died at 4:30pm. He died with the knowledge that he had won a great victory. Nineteen of the enemy had been sunk or captured; not a single British ship was lost. Nelson's body was placed in a large cask of spirits, allegedly PUSSER'S RUM, to preserve it for the long voyage back to England. Upon arrival, legend has it that when the cask was opened, the rum was almost gone. The jack tars (sailors) had drunk it, and thereby Nelson's Blood, which became another name for PUSSER'S RUM as it is still alluded to today, most commonly by the Royal Navy and those who served in it. France and Spain never recovered from their disastrous defeat by Nelson. But the greatest battle in British naval history was won at a high price with the lost limbs and lives of naval officers, sailors, marines, and England's brightest son, the audacious Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson only in his 47th year. The painting on the back of the decanter by W. L. Wylie depicts the battle as it was precisely at 2:30 pm in the afternoon of October 21st. The painting is displayed at the Royal Naval Museum at H.M. Naval Base, Portsmouth.
THE STOPPER & FLAG DECOR
The stopper design includes the killick's anchor in the centre and flags around the stopper's circumference. The special shape of the killick's anchor is the symbolic anchor of the seaman as designated by the Admiralty. It is a very old design for which the etymology is not known. Its unique design has long been associated with the jack tars of the Royal Navy.
The flag signal is the famous signal that set the seal to Nelson's fame. Just before engaging the enemy at the Battle of Trafalgar, he flew this signal from his flagship VICTORY: "England expects that every man will do his duty".
THE ROPE BASE BUMPER
The rope around the base of the decanter is VICTORY ROPE. It was made at Chatham Dockyard, England, at the same ropery, on the same machinery and in the same building as was the rope for HMS VICTORY.
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