Siege of San Fiorenzo
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The siege of San Fiorenzo was a British military operation, supported by Corsican partisans early in the French Revolutionary Wars against the French-held town of San Fiorenzo on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. The Corsican people had risen up against the French Republican garrison in 1793 after an attempt to arrest the Corsican leader Pasquale Paoli during the Reign of Terror. The French had then been driven into three fortified towns on the northern coast; San Fiorenzo, Calvi, and Bastia and Paoli appealed to the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, commanded by Lord Hood, for assistance against the French garrison.
San Fiorenzo. anonymous, c.1790s. NMM.
Sketch of the "Mortella Tower". "C.F.D., 1794, NMM
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest naval commanders in history. His victory on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar led to British naval supremacy for over another century and beyond.
The site of the rectory in Burnham Thorpe where Nelson was born in 1758
Captain Horatio Nelson, painted by John Francis Rigaud in 1781, with Fort San Juan—the scene of his most notable achievement up to that point—in the background. The painting itself was begun and nearly finished prior to the battle, when Nelson held the rank of lieutenant; when Nelson returned, the artist added the new captain's gold-braided sleeves.
Nelson's Column – Death of Nelson at Trafalgar panel, with George Ryan standing on the left-hand edge, holding a rifle