In the mid 1980s my habit on Friday evenings after the news was to go to a friend’s house for a couple of drinks. My wife, Judy, worked in the same NTV building as I did, and she would drop me off and go for the Friday groceries. It was a weekend ritual. It worked for both our schedules.

On occasion I would be joined by my friend’s father who was ex-military and a member of the Royal Canadian
Legion. He had fought in the European theatre of the Second World War. He was in the artillery. One night I asked him when he arrived and sat to the table if he wanted a drink. He replied, “Son, tonight I could drink off dead Nelson.” I hadn’t heard that expression before but I correctly took it to mean my friend’s dad was very thirsty.

Where did the expression come from? He told me this wonderful story about the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. As we know Lord Horatio Nelson the Admiral of the British Fleet had been killed at the battle of Trafalgar in October of that year. His death came even as the British fleet defeated the combined French and Spanish fleet. The British Trafalgar hero was deeply mourned, and arrangements were made to bring his body back to London for what would be a hero’s burial.

The problem is that the battle of Trafalgar took place in the waters off the coast of Europe near the port of Cadiz. That was a long way from England. Nelson was killed by a musket ball and not a cannon ball, but he was dead all the same. The shot was fired from the mizzen-top of the French ship “Redoubtable”. Lord Nelson wasn’t killed instantly. He died about three hours later. He had continued to instruct the crew of Victory while he was carried below deck. His final words were “Thank God I have done my duty.”

Horatio Nelson was 47 years old.

After the British victory the plan to bring the admiral’s body back home was made. Remember, if you will, these were the days of sail before refrigeration, so the question posed was how to preserve Lord Nelson’s
corpse to be able to bring him home for burial? The answer was simple, and the science sound. Horatio
Nelson’s body was lowered into a cask of alcohol. It was French brandy. The brandy was part of the British fleet’s provisions.

It is said that some sailors were not above taking a drink from the cask that was bringing in Nelson back to England. That is where the phrase was born that if someone really wanted a drink then he was ready “to drink off dead Nelson.” Things stick in your mind. I have been to London many times. I lived there for a year or so. The monument that is Nelson’s Column stands and towers over Trafalgar Square. Whenever I see it the word” cask” and the phrase “ drink off dead Nelson “ flashes through my mind.        

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]