Turn a Blind Eye

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My thanks for their invaluable advice and research to:

Simon Bainbridge, Jonathan Caplan QC, Gillian Green, Alison Prince, Catherine Richards and Johnny van Haeften.

Special thanks to Detective Sergeant Michelle Roycroft (Ret.), and Chief Superintendent John Sutherland (Ret.).

During the battle of Copenhagen in 1801, the flagship commander signalled to Lord Nelson that

he should stop attacking the Danish fleet and retreat.

Nelson held a telescope to his blind eye and said, ‘I do not see the signal.’ Having disobeyed the order, Nelson continued to attack and won the battle.

This incident has come to be known as turning a blind eye.

19 MAY 1987

Detective Sergeant Warwick blinked first.

‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t resign,’ he said defiantly.

‘I can think of four,’ replied Commander Hawksby, taking him by surprise.

William could come up with one, two, possibly three, but not four, so he knew the Hawk had cornered him. But he remained confident he could break free. He took his letter of resignation from an inside pocket and placed it on the table in front of him. A provocative gesture, though he didn’t intend to hand it over until the commander had revealed his four reasons. What William didn’t know was that his father had called the Hawk earlier that morning to warn him that his son planned to resign, which had given the commander time to prepare for the encounter.

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