Admiral Nelson’s actual final words as he died after the Battle of Trafalgar finally ‘revealed’

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Admiral Lord Nelson’s famous last words may not have been “kiss me, Hardy,” according to a newly unearthed letter. open image in gallery Admiral Nelson’s death has been commemorated in a monument on Trafalgar Square named after the battle “Lord Nelson in the Victory engaged the French Admiral most closely, during the heat of the action his Lordship was wounded with a grapeshot in the side and was obliged to be carried below,” he wrote. Addressed to Sievers’ landlord, Thomas Tunnard, the two-page letter written from Gibraltar adds: “His last words were, ‘Thanks be to God, I have but lived this day and now I die content’.” open image in gallery Joseph Turner’s ‘Battle of Trafalgar’ The two-page letter adds: “I have the satisfaction to inform you of a most complete victory gained by our Fleet over the combined fleet of France and Spain on Monday the 21st of October. “I am happy to inform you that after three hours in this dreadful situation I had the satisfaction to see one three Decker and two seventy fours strike to the Belleisle and one Frigate we sunk and every soul on board perished in the Ocean.” Darren Sutherland, Bonhams senior specialist of fine books and manuscripts in New York, said: “This seaman’s account from aboard the Belleisle provides a fascinating look at the Battle of Trafalgar, as well as an important early description of the death of Nelson.