Dear Liz The Squeak.

It was, I believe, brandy in the cask that Nelson was supposedly put, to bring his body home for a proper funeral. The story goes that some of his crew got wind of this and bore a hole in the barrel to get at the brandy. With the result, it was just Admiral Nelson in the barrel by the time it arrived home.

Refer to the shanty, "A Drop Of Nelson's Blood."