November 16th Rear Admiral John Pasco (Death)

 

                                                             'England expects that every man will do his duty

Penzance born, Rear – Admiral John Pasco (1774 – 1853) joined the Royal Navy at the age of ten and acted as the signal officer on HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar on which he had been posted since 1803. Nelson instructed Pasco to send the message, by semaphore flags, that England confides that every man will do his duty  

Pasco pointed out that ‘confides’ was not in the signal book and suggested replacing it with ‘expects’ as that was.  Otherwise, ‘confides’ would have to be spelt out letter by letter.  He recorded that Nelson immediately agreed to the change saying ‘That will do, Pasco, make it directly’ adding that ‘You must be quick, for I have one more message to make which is for close action’.    

The second message was ‘Engage the enemy more closely’ which was sent and the flags were left raised until destroyed in the battle.  In the battle Pasco suffered severe wounds to the right side of his body and his right arm and played no further part in the battle but at Nelson’s state funeral he was accorded the honour of escorting the Admiral’s coffin. 

Subsequently, Pasco commanded ships in North America and Australia before having commands in the Peninsular War before being given command of HMS Victory itself in 1846.  He remained in service until his death in Stonehouse (Plymouth) on this day in 1853.

 

 

 


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