A few weeks ago I went into the National Portrait Gallery, just off Trafalgar Square and in the shadow of the great column that dominates that square, asked whether I could buy a print of Nelson’s portrait.

‘I don’t think we’ve got a portrait of Nelson Mandela in the gallery.’ came the reply.

‘It’s not Mr Mandela that I’m after’ I replied but Horatio Nelson.

‘Who?’

‘Vice Admiral Lord Nelson.’ I said, ‘the one on top of the column outside, he won the battle at Trafalgar, as in Trafalgar Square.’

‘Did he? Is it? Never knew that. Never heard of him.’

I could feel a certain level of unpriestly frustration rising within me so I quietly withdrew.

So who was Horatio Nelson and what does the Battle of Trafalgar, which we commemorate today, mean to us?

In one sense of course the story is easily told. As part of a long series of battles and skirmishes of the time Nelson brought the combined French and Spanish fleets to battle off Cape Trafalgar on the 21stOctober 1805. In a day long battle 33 Royal Navy ships fought and decisively defeated 41 French and Spanish ships. At a cost of 1,666 British dead and wounded, compared to 21 ships captured and 13,781 dead and wounded for the French and Spanish, Nelson brought to a halt Napoleon’s plans to invade Britain and secured the Royal Navy’s dominance of world’s sea lanes for the next 150 years.

During the battle Nelson was fatally wounded and by the evening of the battle, at the age of 47, one year younger than I am now, had died from his wounds. He was brought home on board his flagship, HMS Victory, given the largest funeral St Paul’s Cathedral has ever seen and interred in the crypt of our great cathedral in a sarcophagus originally made for Cardinal Wolsely.

HMS Victory remains a fully commissioned Royal Navy warship and is the flagship of the First Sea Lord. Every time a Royal Navy warship enters or leaves Portsmouth harbour the sailors line up on deck, face HMS Victory and salute. 213 years after his death Horatio Nelson remains a potent presence in the life of the modern Royal Navy.

Yet Nelson started out on life in ordinary circumstances.  The son and brother of Norfolk vicars he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He joined the navy at the age of twelve and placed himself at the mercy of chance illness, danger from the enemy and peril from the sea.

What were the gifts and talents that marked him out for greatness?  Undoubtedly they included courage. Nelson was brave in facing the enemy. He often placed himself in extreme danger at the head of his men, so that he ended up being seriously wounded on two occasions and narrowly escaped death many times over.

He was brave in all sorts of other ways too, just as each of us has to face up to and overcome our own limitations. He had to cope with the fact that he was nearly always seasick when he sailed – something I sympathise with very much as a keen sailor myself. He was often ill with malaria. Later, when he lost both the sight of one eye and his right arm, he still would not be put off from going to sea. He painstakingly learnt to write with his left hand and had a special fork with a knife blade along one edge designed so that he could eat one-handed. Nelson did not allow any of these setbacks to put him off his duty as an officer and his service to his country.

Nelson was no saint. His relationship with Lady Hamilton caused a scandal. He could challenge his superiors authority when he felt the need – famously putting his telescope to his blind eye on one occasion and saying he could not see a direct order he was being given. But he inspired a huge respect and affection among his officers and the men who served in the ships he commanded.

His famous signal on the morning of Trafalgar – England expects that every man will do his duty - signified not only his own devotion to duty but also how he expected everyone else from the lowest to the highest ranks to share that sense of duty with him

And Nelson was a man of faith. On the morning of the battle he wrote a famous prayer:

May the great God, whom I worship, grant to my country
And for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and
Glorious victory: and may no misconduct, in any one,
Tarnish it: and may humanity after victory be the predominant Feature in the British fleet.

For myself individually, I commit my life to Him who made me And may His blessing light upon my endeavours for serving my Country faithfully.

To Him I resign myself and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

This was not the prayer of a merely conventional believer but rather of one who really knew and trusted in God as a real presence and support in his life.  Throughout his life he wrote prayers and invoked God in his letters.

Nelson embodied virtues of courage, devotion to duty and service, of the ability to care for and to inspire others, trust and faith in God to watch over and protect us – virtues that made him into the great hero who secured the safety of this country for a century or more and set standards that the Royal Navy has taken as its own ever since – and for which we remember and honour him and those who served with him today.

Today some may feel uneasy about such words and sentiments. As an Honorary officer I am privileged to spend time with the sailors of the modern Royal Navy. It is possible to discern Nelson’s values among the young men and women who serve in our ships and submarines. Nowadays a volunteer force, as opposed to the press-ganged crews of Nelson’s time, but inspired by the same desire to serve. In a country where 90% of all goods traded in our country still flow into and out of our ports by way of the world’s sea lanes their work is as important today as it was then.

Today’s Gospel directly challenges us:

‘…whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’

On Trafalgar Day we might succumb to the temptation to think of our beautiful church as our ship, the wonderful voices of our choir as our heavy artillery, our guild members as a crack contingent of Royal Marines watching out for any trouble around the ship, our Rector as our captain, and cast ourselves in the role of the voluntary crew. We all have our parts to play in this great journey of faith that we share and which brings us together to share in the Eucharist today. As those sailors, of all the countries involved at the Battle of Trafalgar, gave their lives for their countries so the Gospel calls us to give our lives in the service of others and for Him who loves us so dearly.

Amen.