CLASSIC: How Admiral Horatio Nelson Ended Up Dead in a Barrel of Brandy
Ridiculous History
iHeartPodcasts
4.2 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 January 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Naval legend Admiral Nelson died on October 21st, 1805 shortly after being shot by a French sniper while standing on the deck his ship, Victory. Following the British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, the survivors of the conflict were left with a dilemma -- how could they preserve Nelson's body long enough for the corpse to receive an appropriate burial back home?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Fellow ridiculous historians, welcome back to our weekly classic episode. |
| 0:04.7 | Have you ever had a moment where you thought, if I don't change my ways, I'm going to end up dead in a barrel of brandy? |
| 0:12.1 | Totally. |
| 0:12.8 | Happens to me every day. |
| 0:15.6 | It's what makes me fly right, Ben, and live clean. |
| 0:18.9 | There we go, right? |
| 0:21.0 | We are big fans of larger than life historical figures, and this episode from 2019 |
| 0:28.4 | features none other than the naval legend, Admiral Horatio Nelson. |
| 0:34.0 | Not to be confused with Horatio Hornblower. |
| 0:36.6 | That's a different person. That's a different |
| 0:38.8 | person. Okay, right on. That is a fictional person, a British Royal Naval Captain during the Napoleonic Wars |
| 0:45.6 | from a series of novels from the 1930s by C.S. Forrester. I wonder if some of Admiral Nelson's |
| 0:54.0 | real-life maritime adventures informed that |
| 0:57.1 | character. What do you think? Yeah, I think it's entirely accurate. So, okay, this guy dies on |
| 1:02.7 | October 21st, 1805. He is shot while standing on the deck of his ship, and his crew is left with a dilemma, a real pickle. |
| 1:14.3 | How do they bring his body back to Barry at home? |
| 1:18.5 | Yeah, why don't we jump right in? |
| 1:20.8 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 1:23.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 1:26.9 | Ridiculous history is a production of IHeart Radio. Well, here we are again, friends and neighbors. |
| 1:57.1 | It is a Friday afternoon here in the studio. |
| 2:04.5 | We are off to adventures, historical and contemporary. And this weekend, we may be tapping the admiral, sampling a bit of Nelson's |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.