Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson is England’s most iconic naval hero. During the Napoleonic Wars, when he commanded the Mediterranean fleet, he was perceived to be almost single-handedly protecting England from invasion by the combined forces of France and Spain.

In 1805, his fleet fought a dazzling, innovative battle at Cape Trafalgar off Cadiz in Spain, and triumphed, putting an end to the threat of invasion. Nelson, however, died of gunshot wounds.

When news of the Admiral’s death reached British shores, the nation was struck with grief. The usual naval tradition of a sea burial was out of the question: Nelson was to have the honour of a funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. So in order to preserve his body for the weeks-long journey home through stormy seas on his ship The Victory, William Beatty, the ship’s surgeon, placed it in a cask of brandy and ethanol, the strongest alcoholic mix on board, and secured the container to the ship’s deck to prevent it from being washed overboard by tumultuous waves.

When the ship docked in Gibraltar, the cask was opened in order to place Nelson’s body in a lead coffin. Rumour has it that the liquid levels in the barrel were discovered to be much reduced. Sailors, it was suggested, had been drinking from - or ‘tapping’ - the flask using drinking straws made of raw macaroni.

Hence, tapping the Admiral.