Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British Royal Navy officer. He took part in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in February 1797, the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 and the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars. He served as flag captain to Admiral Lord Nelson, and commanded HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. Nelson was shot as he paced the decks with Hardy, and as he lay dying, Nelson's famous remark of "Kiss me, Hardy" was directed at him. Hardy went on to become First Naval Lord in November 1830 and in that capacity refused to become a Member of Parliament and encouraged the introduction of steam warships.
Hardy in 1809, by Domenico Pellegrini
Hardy by Richard Evans
Blue plaque commemorating the former use of the Church Hall at Crewkerne as Crewkerne Grammar School where Hardy was a pupil
The Battle of Trafalgar by J. M. W. Turner (oil on canvas, 1822–1824) shows the last three letters of the famous signal, "England expects that every man will do his duty" flying from Victory.
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt from the 1st to the 3rd of August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had raged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the battle by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers.
The Destruction of L'Orient at the Battle of the Nile George Arnald, 1827, National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich, London, England
Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, Lemuel Francis Abbott, 1800, National Maritime Museum. Visible on his cocked hat is the aigrette presented by the Ottoman Sultan as a reward for the victory at the Nile
François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers artist unknown, Palace of Versailles
Battle of the Nile, Augt 1st 1798, Thomas Whitcombe, 1816, National Maritime Museum. The British fleet bears down on the French line.