Admiral Lord Nelson's last signal:
That is all!
UPDATE: The Commander writes...
In spite of suffering possible over-indulgence of the Warre’s ’83 at our celebration of the 208th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar last night, one still manages to commend your flag rather than railway semaphore signal in the current Railway Eye.
These would translate, correctly using the Popham code book issued to Nelson’s fleet at Cadiz in 1805 as Flag 1 and Flag 6, making signal 16 decoding numeric – alpha as the letter Q, which confused oneself initially.
However ‘Signal 16’ – “Engage the Enemy more closely” is probably more likely to appeal to your readership, but beware consulting the Flags of the World website, which incorrectly quotes the flags using the 1799 Code, which was withdrawn after its capture by the French.
Those of us of a more bi-lingual capability will appreciate Admiral Villeneuve’s last signal to Admiral Nelson on the eve of the Battle; to save the mental exertion of our lesser-endowed friends I shall relate the English translation thus:
“To The Water, It Is The Hour!”
Pip, Pip, Pip, Peeeeep!
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