corvettes. Avec ces seuls bâtimens, le brave Cosmao se porta à la rencontre des ennemis, et leur fit abandonner deux des vaisseaux Espagnols qu'ils remorquaient; quelques vaisseaux Français saisirent cette occasion pour se reprendre. Malheureusement, presque tous ces vaisseaux se jetèrent à la côte près de l'entrée du port de Cadix et furent brisés; un des vaisseaux Espagnols qui avaient appareillé avec le Capitaine Cosmao, se sépara de sa division et fut pris, dit-on, sans se défendre: c'était le Rayo, l'un des deux vaisseaux de l'avant-garde, qui, le jour du combat, avaient pris des premiers la fuite; il fit ensuite naufrage près de San-Lucar. Il résulte de ces diverses circonstances que les Anglais ne purent emmener à Gibraltar qu'un vaisseau Français et trois Espagnols, qu'ils n'y firent même arriver qu'avec des peines incroyables." SPANISH ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLE OF TRANSLATION OF A DISPATCH TO THE PRINCE OF THE PEACE FROM DON ANTONIO DE ESCANO, REAR-ADMIRAL OF THE COMBINED FLEET'. "Cadiz, October 22nd, 1805. [From the Madrid Gazette of November the 5th, 1806.] "Most Excellent Sir, "The unfortunate condition in which Admiral Gravina at present lies, in consequence of his left arm having been shattered by a grapeshot at the close of the late Action, totally incapacitates him from giving your Excellency an account of the sanguinary Engagement of the 21st instant-and although the satisfaction of shedding my own blood in the service of His Majesty has not been denied me, having myself received a similar wound in the leg, yet being less seriously hurt than the worthy and gallant Admiral, to whom His Majesty, in well-founded confidence, has entrusted the command of his Fleet, I am under the painful, but unavoidable necessity of discharging this duty by informing your Excellency that the most strenuous efforts and utter recklessness of life on our part have failed to avert a calamity which would, indeed, be most deplorable, but for the firmest conviction, that everything that could be done, was done, and that, therefore, our honour is intact. "I am aware that by a former dispatch of the 18th instant, Admiral Gravina informed your Excellency, that Admiral Villeneuve had notified to him his determination to sail the next day, inquiring, at the same time, if the Spanish Fleet was in sailing order. Your Excellency also knows that the Admiral's answer was, 1 The translation of this and of the other Spanish documents has been made by John Davenport, Esq. These Papers, with several others sath gented ma manuscript, relating to the Battle of Trafalgar, are bound together in the tran MS. 382, in the British Museum. that his Squadron would promptly and cheerfully act in concert with the French, pursuant to the repeated orders of your Excellency. This being understood, the French Admiral repaired on board his Ship, and immediately made the signal to weigh anchor, and to collect all the smaller craft; signals which were forthwith repeated on board this Ship, the Principe de Asturias, and which were followed by the greatest exertions to call in the look-out Vessels, and to get on board the gunners and seamen who, for various causes, were on shore. "On the morning of the 19th, some of the Spanish and French set sail in obedience to the signal made by Admiral Villeneuve ; in consequence, however, of the wind shifting to the S.E., we could not all succeed in so doing until the 20th, when the wind got round again to the E.S.E. Scarcely was the Combined Fleet clear of the harbour's mouth, when the wind came to S.S.E. with so much violence and with such threatening appearances, that one of the first signals made by the Bucentaur, the Flag-ship of Admiral Villeneuve, was to sail with double-reefed topsails. This change of the wind necessarily caused a considerable dispersion of the Fleet until two o'clock in the afternoon, when, fortunately the wind veered to the S.E., and the horizon being clear and unobscured, signal was made for the forming of five Columns, and afterwards for a junction. An advanced Frigate signalled eighteen Sail of the Enemy in sight, in consequence of which information we cleared for Action, and sailed in fighting order. At three, we all tacked and stood for the Straits, still preserving the same disposition of five Columns in which we had been before the last evolution. After having so done, we descried four of the Enemy's Frigates, to which, by order of Admiral Villeneuve we gave chase; signal being made, at the same time, from our Ship, for the Achille, Algesiras and San Juan, as attached to the Squadron of observation, to reinforce those sent in support, with orders to rejoin the main body of the Fleet before night-fall. At half-past six o'clock a French vessel informed us that they had made out eighteen Enemy's vessels, all in Line of Battle, and shortly afterwards we began to perceive, at no great distance, gleams of light, that could proceed only from the Enemy's Frigates, which were stationed midway between the two Fleets. At nine o'clock, the English Squadron made signals by the firing of guns, and from the interval which elapsed between the flash and the report, they must have been about two miles from us. We informed the French Admiral by signal-lanterns, that it was expedient to lose no time in forming the Line of Battle upon the leeward Ships, upon which an order to that effect was immediately given by the Commander-in-Chief; and, in this position we beheld the dawn of the 21st, with the Enemy in sight, consisting of twenty-eight Ships, eight of which were three-deckers, to windward of us, and in Line of Battle upon the opposite tack. "At three o'clock in the morning, the Enemy stood towards us in different columns, bearing down upon our Centre and Rear, on which account Admiral Villeneuve ordered the Fleet to tack, the result of which movement was, that the Squadron of observation, under the command of Admiral Gravina, remained in the Rear. The Admiral then signalled that the leading Ship of each Column should haul her wind, as also that all the others should follow in her wake, which obliged the Fleet to work to windward, for the purpose of forming into line. Admiral Gravina gave his Squadron the necessary orders for the due execution of these manoeuvres with the celerity and promptitude which the urgency of the case required; and, upon the Enemy's nearing, directed that the distance between each Ship should be lessened, and the line improved. "It wanted eight minutes to noon when an English three-decker broke through the centre of our line, being seconded in this manoeuvre by the Vessels which followed in its wake. The other leading Ships of the Enemy's columns did the same; one of them passed down our Rear, a third laid herself between the Achille and the St. Ildefonso, and from this moment the Action was nothing but so many sanguinary single combats within pistol-shot: the greater part of them being between the whole of the Enemy's Fleet and the half of ours, several boardings necessarily took place. I do not possess the data necessary for giving your Highness a detailed and particular account of these single fights, nor can I speak with certainty of the movements of the Van, which, I am informed, tacked at the commencement of the Battle, in order to support those who were attacked. I can, however, confidently assure you that every Ship, French as well as Spanish, which fought in my sight, performed its duty to the utmost, and that this Ship, after a terrific contest of four hours with three or four of the Enemy's Vessels, its rigging destroyed, its sails shot through and through, its masts and topmasts riddled with balls, and in every respect in a most deplorable condition, was most seasonably relieved by the San Justo, a Spanish, and the Neptune, a French Ship, which junction drove off the Enemy, and enabled the Rayo, the Montañes, the Asis, and the San Leandro, all of which had suffered severely, to unite with the other French Ships, that were in just as bad a plight. As soon as this Vessel found itself free from the Enemy, it directed the Ships which had joined company to assist such Vessels as were in need of their aid; and at night-fall, the cannonade having ceased on both sides, the Thémis frigate was ordered to tow us towards Cadiz Bay, into which, however, we could not enter that night, in consequence of a severe gale from the S.S.E. accompanied by a heavy rain, which obliged us to ride at anchor, at half-past one o'clock, in the Placer de Rota, with the other Ships above mentioned; and the wind still continuing to freshen, we lost our main and mizen masts, notwithstanding all our efforts to save them: a misfortune which likewise befell the San Leandro, also at anchor near us. "It is with the greatest satisfaction that I fulfil the pleasing duty of making known to your Excellency the noble and generous enthusiasm which actuated all the officers and men belonging to my Ship, as well as the zeal with which they performed their respective duties; their cool, gallant, and intrepid bearing was, indeed, beyond all praise. Our loss amounts to 41 killed, amongst whom is the second Lieutenant, Don Luis Perez del Camino, and 107 wounded, vina immediately signalled that no time was to be lost in forming the Line of Battle, and this signal having been repeated by the French Admiral, the two windward columns fell to leeward, in close order, upon the remaining column, the result being an ill-formed line, which was, however, somewhat improved on the dawn of the 21st. As soon as it was light, the Enemy's Fleet was discovered to windward, coming towards us in full sail, and forming into Line upon the opposite tack. At half-past six o'clock, in consequence of the French Admiral's signal, the whole Combined Fleet tacked, and remained, with little canvas, upon the same tack as the Enemy, who about nine o'clock came down in full sail, and deployed into two columns. The English Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Nelson, heading the one in his Ship the Victory, a three-decker, and followed by three others of equal force, and as many as thirteen smaller ones, bore down in the direction for breaking our Line between the bow of the French Admiral's Ship, the Bucentaur, and the stern of the Santissima Trinidad, bearing the Flag of Admiral Cisñeros: the second Column of the Enemy was led by Vice-Admiral Collingwood, who, in his Ship the Royal Sovereign, and supported by the rest of the English Fleet, endeavoured, in like manner, to break our Line where the Santa Ana, the Flag-ship of Admiral Alava, was stationed. The signal was now made by Admiral Villeneuve to open fire, which was immediately done by the Ships of our Rear, at a quarter to two, and by all our line in succession. The Enemy, however, still persisted in their object, but that of Nelson having been frustrated by a manoeuvre of the Trinidad, which grappled itself closely to the bow of the Bucentaur, as well as by the hot fire kept up by both Vessels, that Admiral passed between the stern of the latter and the bow of the Redoutable, which Vessel he attacked so furiously as he passed her, that she became a complete wreck. Collingwood made good his passage by the Santa Ana, after a severe combat, in which both Vessels were dismasted. From the ViceAdmiral's column was detached a smaller one to break the line where our Ship, the Principe de Asturias, bearing the flag of Admiral Gravina, was stationed. The Enemy were, however, repulsed. Nelson having succeeded in getting to leeward of the Bucentaur and the Trinidad, with which he was engaged, was now supported by the two other three-deckers that followed him; these having first fought to windward of the Trinidad, passed also to leeward, and laid themselves alongside, within pistol-shot. The other Ships of both the Enemy's columns kept deploying upon the Combined Fleet, whose line was broken by the dismasting of some Vessels, the flight and the shipwreck of others; so that the Action was no longer a general one, but a succession of single fights. It is out of my power to furnish you with the details of these combats, it having been impossible to perceive what was going on, through the dense clouds of smoke which enveloped the Vessels, and most of those who might have made known the particulars having perished. The fighting continued until half-past four in the afternoon, when both the hostile Fleets having been disabled, and the sea covered with wrecks and corpses, were thus compelled to desist from further contest, all being |