« Kentucky Bourbon | Main | God a micro-manager? »

April 19, 2005

Honouring Nelson's dead.

The Royal Navy has a way of looking after its own - even 207 years after they died in battle. In a report in Yahoo News, a contingent from the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines recentlyt took part in a full military funeral service for the remains of a group of sailors, marines, and officers from Nelson's fleet who had been buried on an island in the entrance to Abuokir Bay.

The remains include the body of Commander James Russell, who served with Nelson, and about 30 others assumed to be either British sailors or soldiers, a woman, and some children. It is assumed that the woman's body may be that of an officer's wife, but it is possible that she had managed to hide her gender and signed on as a seaman to be near a husband or lover. The children's remains are most likely those of "powder monkeys", pre-teen boys from poor houses and orphanages whose job aboard ship was to carry the powder charges from the magazines to the guns.

The bodies were identified by the fact that they had been stitched into sail cloth "coffins" for burial, a peculiarly naval tradition.

The bodies were discovered by an archeologist who realised that they were in danger of being washed away. The Royal Navy took over when told of the discovery and has provided an honour guard and pall bearers to move the remains to a Commonwealth War Cemetary about 15 miles away. Here they have been re-interred with full military honours. Present at the ceremony was one of the descendents of the Commander.

One of the young Royal Marine pall bearers said "I would hope that someone would do this for me one day."

As long as there is a Royal Navy, there will be someone to do it. Provided, of course, the Whitehall parasites don't destroy the entire nation in the meantime!

Posted by The Gray Monk at April 19, 2005 09:46 AM