Myth sunk as letter reveals Nelson never wore patch

The enduring image of Lord Nelson is of him proudly leading the British Navy to victory over the French at Trafalgar, a patch firmly over his right eye.

But that is merely a myth embroidered by later generations - Nelson never wore an eye patch.

Contemporary letters to be unveiled in London later this year show the great seaman-appeared to emphasise the injury to his eye, received after an attack at the battle of Calvi, to secure extra pension rights.

It was the Victorians who, 50 years after the admiral's death in 1805, began to show him wearing an eye patch.

The legend was consolidatedby Laurence Olivier's portrayal of Nelson in the 1941 hit about his affair with Emma Hamilton, That Hamilton Woman.

A previously unpublished letter from Nelson to a friend in which he discusses his injury will be put on display at the Nelson & Napoleon exhibition at the National Maritime Museum from 7 July to 13 November.

In it he writes of the Navy's deliberations as to whether to award him a pension for the loss of his eye.

Dr Colin White, of the National Maritime Museum who discovered the 1797 document, said: "It is clear from the letter that, because the eye was still intact, although useless, Nelson had to produce extra evidence that he had lost sight."