Website design By BotEap.com“Kiss me, Hardy” or “Kismet, Hardy”? Both versions are in common use, the first being clearly more universal. The easy answer is that, regardless of the variation, these were not his last words (that’s a trick question!).

Website design By BotEap.comIt is a common misconception that Nelson’s last words were “Kiss me, Hardy” to the captain of HMS Victory, Thomas Hardy. Nelson told Hardy this, but Hardy was not present for Nelson’s last words, as he was called on deck at the time. Contemporary sources report that his last words to Hardy were “God bless you, Hardy”, spoken after Hardy kissed him (which he did, so there is no doubt what Hardy thought he heard).

Website design By BotEap.comNelson’s last words (as recounted in 3 written accounts by those who were with Nelson when he died) were “Thank God I have done my duty”, which he is said to have repeated until he was unable to speak. Although this is recorded by Surgeon Beatty, he was not actually present when Nelson was unable to speak, he was called and returned just before Nelson died. The chaplain, Scott, and the flight attendant, Burke, appear to have been with Nelson throughout, with Scott supporting the “Thank God I’ve done my duty” as the last words.

Website design By BotEap.comOn a more human level, throughout Nelson’s three hours of pain, his continual refrain is reported to have been “Rub, rub… fan, fan… drink, drink” as instructions to those around him to the three things that gave him some comfort. There is a chance that those were his last words, in fact, but there was no chance that they had ever been recorded as such, certainly not by the chaplain.

Website design By BotEap.comThe misconception that Nelson actually said “Kismet Hardy” (kismet comes from the Arabic word ‘qismah’, meaning fate or luck) seems like a Victorian invention, as the first recorded use in the English language of “kismet” was 1849.

Website design By BotEap.comIt is probably no coincidence that the mid-Victorian era saw the rise of the great Public Schools educating the children who would fight for and rule the Empire. This was the same era that embraced the works of Thomas Bowdler (whose family versions of Shakespeare were first published in 1818), and no doubt Victorian masters would have thought “Kiss me, Hardy” unmanly and dangerous. to teach impressionable boys in boarding schools.

Website design By BotEap.comTeachers of the time would have tried to explain this by saying that Nelson might have known the word from his tours in the Mediterranean and that the others just didn’t understand it because no word other than “kiss me” made sense to them.

Website design By BotEap.comHowever, for such an explanation to work, we must ignore all sources that record Nelson’s religious observance, because by introducing the strange word ‘Kismet’ at that time, along with the statements “God bless you, Hardy” and “Thanks to God I have done my duty” is not really believable to the extent that if he meant to imply that he was destined to die, then he would have said something like it’s just another part of God’s grand design.

Website design By BotEap.comSo the answers are:

Website design By BotEap.comLast words to Hardy: “God bless you Hardy”

Website design By BotEap.comLast recorded words: “Thank God I have done my duty”