Nelson funeral flotilla restaged on River Thames

Cannon fire and applause rang out along the River Thames yesterday as a flotilla of small boats restaged the funeral procession of British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson 200 years ago.

Mirroring the events of January 8, 1806, thousands of people lined the river banks and crowded on to bridges as the straggling flotilla of up to 40 boats, many manned by crews in period costume, headed from Greenwich to Westminster. The ceremony was one of a series of celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, one of the most celebrated victories in British naval history.

As the flotilla passed under London's landmark Tower Bridge, World War II battle cruiser HMS Belfast, permanently moored nearby, boomed out a thunderous salute.

The boats fired cannons in reply as they passed in front of St Paul's Cathedral where Nelson is buried.

Admiral Nelson, 47, was shot through the spine and killed by a sniper on the deck of his flagship HMS Victory at the height of the battle on October 21, 1805 in which the outnumbered English fleet destroyed the massed Spanish and French navies.

The battle off the Spanish coast marked the beginning of the end for Napoleon Bonaparte's conquest of Europe and gave Britain command of the seas for a century.

The celebrations in Britain which greeted the news of the victory were tempered by grief that Admiral Nelson, one of the country's most popular men, had been killed.

A national hero despite flouting convention by having an affair with the married Emma Hamilton, Nelson was given a state funeral - an unprecedented event for a commoner.

His body was shipped home in a cask of brandy to preserve it, and 30,000 people came to pay their respects as he lay in state at Greenwich from January 4-7, 1806.

He was then taken up the Thames with great pomp to the Admiralty in Whitehall where he lay overnight before being transferred to a ship-shaped funeral carriage and escorted by an equally impressive cortege to St Paul's Cathedral for burial.