Nelson never wore an eye-⁠patch. He didn’t wear anything at all over his damaged right eye. Though he had an eye-⁠shade built into his hat to protect his good left eye from the sun. Nelson didn’t have a blind eye. His right one was badly damaged at the siege in 1794. A French cannon ball threw sand and debris into it, but it still looked normal  — so normal, in fact, he had difficulty convincing the Royal Navy he was eligible for a disability pension.

There is no contemporary portrait of Nelson wearing an eye-⁠patch, and despite what most people recall having seen, the prominent column shows him without an eye-⁠patch. It was only after his death that the eye-⁠patch was used to add pathos to portraits. He used the damaged eye to his advantage. At the battle of Copenhagen, he ignored the recall signal issued by his superior.