Horatio Nelson was in the thick of the Battle of Copenhagen on April 2nd, 1801, when Admiral Parker signalled retreat. Robert Southey assured his readers that Parker half expected Nelson to ignore the signal; indeed at first Nelson did not even see it, as he was too busy (and happy) dodging pieces of ship as Danish fire rained down.

When Nelson at last learnt of the signal calling on him to retreat, he was incredulous. Then, remembering that he was blind in one eye, he put his telescope to his eye-patch and declared triumphantly that he could not see Parker’s message. Nelson then pressed ahead into battle, flying his own signal to attack, and went on to win.

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