In this letter, after telling her that he had joined on September 28, but had not been able to communicate with the fleet till the 29th, he says, 'When I came to explain to them the _Nelson touch_ it was like an electric shock.

Some shed tears and all approved.

It was new--it was singular--it was simple.' What he meant exactly by the 'Nelson touch' has never been clearly explained, but he could not possibly have meant either concentration or the attack on the enemy's rear, for neither of these ideas was either new or singular.
On October 3 he writes to her again: 'The reception I met with on joining the fleet caused the sweetest sensation of my life....

As soon as these emotions were past I laid before them the plan I had previously arranged for attacking the enemy, and it was not only my pleasure to find it generally approved, but clearly perceived and understood.'[16] The next point to notice is the 'Order of Battle and Sailing' given by Nicolas.

It is without date, but almost certainly must have been drawn up before Nelson joined.