evidence that he ever intended a concentration on the van, though in
view of the memorandum of 1803 this is quite possible.

Finally, there is the statement of Clarke and McArthur that Nelson
before leaving England deposited a copy of his plan with Lord Barham,
the new first lord of the admiralty. This however is very
doubtful. The Barham papers have recently been placed at the disposal
of the Society, in the hands of Professor Laughton, and the only copy
of the memorandum he has been able to find is an incomplete one
containing several errors of transcription, and dated the Victory,
October 11, 1805. In the absence of further evidence therefore no
weight can be attached to the oft-repeated assertion that Nelson had
actually drawn up his memorandum before he left England.

Coming now to the time when he had joined the fleet off Cadiz, the
first light we have is the well-known letter of October 1 to Lady
Hamilton. In this letter, after telling her that he had joined on
September 28, but had not been able to communicate with the fleet till
the 29th, he says, 'When I came to explain to them the _Nelson
touch_ it was like an electric shock. Some shed tears and all
approved. It was new--it was singular--it was simple.' What he meant
exactly by the 'Nelson touch' has never been clearly explained, but he
could not possibly have meant either concentration or the attack on
the enemy's rear, for neither of these ideas was either new or
singular.

On October 3 he writes to her again: 'The reception I met with on
joining the fleet caused the sweetest sensation of my life.... As
soon as these emotions were past I laid before them the plan I had
previously arranged for attacking the enemy, and it was not only my
pleasure to find it generally approved, but clearly perceived and
understood.'[16]

The next point to notice is the 'Order of Battle and Sailing' given by
Nicolas. It is without date, but almost certainly must have been drawn
up before Nelson joined. It does not contain the Belleisle, which
Nelson knew on October 4 was to join him.[17] It also does include
the name of Sir Robert Calder and his flagship, and on September 30
Nelson had decided to send both him and his ship home.[18]

The order is for a fleet of forty sail, but the names of only
thirty-three are given, which were all Nelson really expected to get
in time. The remarkable feature of this order is that it contains no
trace of the triple organisation of the m