10 Market Street - Spilsby | Open from 11am to Midnight Closed Monday & Tuesday | 01790 752258
History
Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was Britain’s most renown Naval Commander.
In life, a celebratory, in death a hero.
On October 21st 1805, Nelson was mortally wounded by a French sniper, during the Battle of Trafalgar. Despite this tragic event, his fleet successfully won the battle and managed to thwart the threat of French invasion.
The usual manner to deal with sailor deaths was buriel at sea. However, occasionally an important corpse would be conserved in a barrel of rum to preserve the body en route home. This was the case with Horatio Nelson.
Nelson's surgeon, William Beatty, was a man of unusual competence in his profession for the time. His patients had a higher than normal chance of surviving his treatment and he had an interest in science.
He decided to preserve Nelson in a barrel of Brandy, changing the liquid to Spirit of Wine (Ethanol) in Gibraltar.
He reasoned that as these were the strongest spirits, available on board, they would make the best preservative. This went against general consensus at the time and Beatty spent many a moment defending that decision in years to come.
Such was the belief in Rum that many a story chose to ignore the use of brandy and …..no... despite popular legend, his crew did not "tap the Admiral" during the journey home on his ship, the Victory.
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Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was Britain’s most renown Naval Commander.
In life, a celebratory, in death a hero.
On October 21st 1805, Nelson was mortally wounded by a French sniper, during the Battle of Trafalgar. Despite this tragic event, his fleet successfully won the battle and managed to thwart the threat of French invasion.
The usual manner to deal with sailor deaths was buriel at sea. However, occasionally an important corpse would be conserved in a barrel of rum to preserve the body en route home. This was the case with Horatio Nelson.
Nelson's surgeon, William Beatty, was a man of unusual competence in his profession for the time. His patients had a higher than normal chance of surviving his treatment and he had an interest in science.
He decided to preserve Nelson in a barrel of Brandy, changing the liquid to Spirit of Wine (Ethanol) in Gibraltar.
He reasoned that as these were the strongest spirits, available on board, they would make the best preservative. This went against general consensus at the time and Beatty spent many a moment defending that decision in years to come.
Such was the belief in Rum that many a story chose to ignore the use of brandy and …..no... despite popular legend, his crew did not "tap the Admiral" during the journey home on his ship, the Victory.
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Calling all local historians
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If there are any budding historians that have knowledge of the:-
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Specific age of the building
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Old prints of the pub
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Knowledge regarding the navel links between Spilsby and Lord Nelson
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Information on the old Spilsby fire station which is now being utilised as an out building for storage
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We would love to hear from you.
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In honour of his untimely death, many inns and public houses chose to change their names as a tribute to this great hero.
Why this 300 plus year old inn in Spilsby Lincolnshire chose to be named the Nelson Butt is, for the moment, lost in the mists of time.
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We do know that whilst there are numerous Lord or Admiral Nelson pubs around the country, to our knowledge we are the only - Nelson Butt – around unless you can tell us otherwise.
We also know a butt is a barrel size that could hold 108 imperial gallons and maybe...just maybe..
a 5 foot 4 inch Admiral of the Navy?
Lincolnshire Echo
09/09/1932
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