Kiss me Hardy.
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According to the accounts, Nelson said: "Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy, take care of poor Lady Hamilton." He paused then said very faintly, "Kiss me, Hardy." This, Hardy did, on the cheek. Nelson then said, "Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty." Hardy rose to his feet, paused silently, then knelt again and kissed Nelson on the forehead. Hardy may well have been "unsettled" about Nelson's dying words, but he understood the importance of making a personal gesture in circumstances that were certain to be recorded for posterity. Every sailor in the fleet knew that when the inevitable battle between two large and powerful fleets eventually took place it would be a moment in history and to those who knew that Nelson was dying it was doubly important that every detail should be reported.
No-one questioned this incident until late in the nineteenth century when it seems likely that the notion of a great naval commander asking a captain to kiss him was something that polite Victorian society could not accept. But, Nelson was attended, closely, by Alexander Scott, his Chaplain, and William Beatty, the surgeon, was also present at this moment. It is likely that the noise from the lower gundeck beneath which Nelson lay was very loud but even if those present couldn't hear what Nelson had said they could certainly see what Hardy did, not once but twice. And that is precisely what the witnesses recorded.
Nelson did ask Hardy to kiss him.
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...in case you are wondering.
Still, I would have kissed him if I was Hardy. Pretty much anyone in Britain at the time would have.
