William Beatty

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For other people named William Beatty, see William Beatty (disambiguation).

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Portrait of Sir Beatty wearing full uniform.

Sir William Beatty (1773 - 1842) was an Irish surgeon who served in the Royal Navy. Born in Derry, Ireland, he joined as a junior surgeon in 1791 at the age of 18. He is best known as the Ship's Surgeon on the HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar, at which he witnessed the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson, and for authoring an account of that battle - The Death of Lord Nelson.

The Victory had 815 crewmen during the day of the battle, 57 of whom would be killed and 109 wounded. Beatty was personally called upon to undertake the amputation of 9 arms and 2 legs, actions which saved many lives. However, when Nelson was himself wounded, Beatty did not administer treatment, claiming that he believed that the admiral was beyond treatment.

The admiral had expressed the wish to be buried in native soil, rather than simply being thrown in the sea like other mariners of the time. Beatty had to think up a way of preserving the admiral's body so that it wouldn't rot on the voyage back to Britain. Finally he decided to place Lord Nelson's corpse in a barrel of brandy to mummify it. Legend (though with no historical basis) states that a guard had to stand night and day by the brandy to keep the mariners off. But, one night, gases released from Nelsons corpse caused the lid of the barrel to fall off. The guard fled and when he returned only half of the brandy had been left by the thirsty British seamen.

Beatty was featured in 2005 documentary on Channel 4, Trafalgar Battle Surgeon which focused on his actions during that battle.