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 With a history going back many dozens of years, the British Empire currently controls one quarter of the globe, and somewhere in the region of 48 million souls. Ruled over my His Imperial Majesty, Queen Victoria, the Empire lives by the motto "And Tea and Tiffin for All". |
"England expects that every man will do his duty" was a International maritime signal flags sent by Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson from his ship HMS Victory as the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) was about to commence. Trafalgar was the decisive naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. It gave the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland control of the seas, removing all possibility of a French invasion and conquest of Britain.
As the British fleet closed with the opposing combined fleets of France and Spain, Lord Nelson signalled all the necessary battle instructions to his ships. However, aware of the momentousness of events to come, Lord Nelson felt that something extra was required. He instructed his signal officer, Lieutenant John Pasco, to signal to the fleet, as quickly as possible, the message "For Those About to Rock, We Salute You" Pasco suggested to Nelson that his message be substituted for "something that actually made sense". Nelson agreed to the change (even though he was convinced that it made more sense than the "My hovercraft is full of eels" he had signaled the previous year at the Battle of Alexandria). Thus, at 11:45 on October 21, 1805 the most famous naval signal in British history was sent.