10 Famous Preserved Corpses

We need to remind ourselves at this point that a mummy is a catch-all term. A mummy is simply a body, or sometimes just body parts, that are preserved. Nelson (or to use his full title: Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, First Viscount Nelson, First Duke of Bronté) did spend an admirable (heh?) period of time as a preserved corpse.

During the Battle of Trafalgar Nelson was shot by a French sniper. The famed seaman would die three hours after his initial wound. With the battle of Trafalgar being a huge naval victory for the English and Nelson already considered a hero in the home island, his body was preserved to survive the trip back to Britain.

The preservation methods were crass, but effective: Nelson's corpse was kept in a cask of brandy, pickling the admiral and arresting the decomposition of the body. It wasn't exactly the best method, but in the circumstances it was the best the ship's surgeon William Beatty could manage.

Some historians have theorised that the act of sailors subtly siphoning drink from the cask gave rise to the idiom 'tapping the admiral'. Though it is highly unlikely that sailors would actively drink from a cask holding the body of a national hero, or indeed any corpse.