TRAFALGAR. firing at such of the British Ships as were still bearing down, but became too seriously occupied with close antagonists, to bestow much attention upon distant ones. "We regret our inability to particularize as usual, the loss sustained by the Ships of the Franco-Spanish Fleet. Of the many that were captured, not one has her loss stated in the British official account; and neither the French nor the Spaniards, except in the case of the Redoutable and of one or two Spanish Ships, have published any returns. It is therefore impossible for us to do more than point to the effects of the British shot upon the majority of the French and Spanish Ships, deducible from the state of their masts and rigging already so fully described; leaving it to be inferred, that the antagonist of a British Ship seldom has her masts shot away, until her hull has been greatly shattered, and a large proportion of her crew killed or disabled." The Logs of the different Ships mention many other Signals on the 21st of October; and as the signification is not always given, it may be useful to insert here the purport of the numbers mentioned: No. 8 The Signal made herewith is to be carried into execution at the close of day. 13 Prepare for battle. 15 Engage the Enemy. 16 Engage more closely. 42 Form the larboard line of bearing. 50 Keep the larboard line of bearing though on the starboard tack. 58 Take possession of a Ship that has struck. No. 76 Bear up and sail large. 82 Alter course to port one point. 88 Ships in the Van make more sail. 101 Come to the wind in succession on 108 Close near the Admiral. 62 Each Squadron is to anchor sepa- 238 Stay by Ships in distress. rately. 63 Anchor as soon as convenient. 72 Form the order of sailing in two columns. 269 Take your station astern of the Ship denoted. 307 Make all sail with safety to the masts. It is remarkable that there should have been three Neptunes, one Spanish, one French, and the third British, two Swiftsures, and two Achilles, in the Battle. The French Swiftsure was formerly an English Ship, as was also the Berwick. The Minotaur and Spartiate were opponents at the Battle of the Nile, when the Captain Sir Edward Berry, of the Agamemnon, latter struck to the former. was Captain of the Vanguard at the Nile; and Captain Capel, of the Phoebe, brought home Lord Nelson's dispatches after that Battle. PUBLIC DISPATCHES AND OTHER LETTERS FROM VICE-ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD, THE HON. CAPTAIN BLACKWOOD, THE MARQUIS DE SOLANO, GOVERNOR OF CADIZ, AND VICE-ADMIRAL ALAVA, RESPECTING THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. Sir, TO WILLIAM MARSDEN, ESQ. ADMIRALTY. Euryalus, off Cape Trafalgar, October 22nd, 1805. The ever to be lamented death of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, who, in the late conflict with the Enemy, fell in the hour of victory, leaves to me the duty of informing my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that on the 19th instant it was communicated to the Commander in Chief from the Ships watching the motions of the Enemy in Cadiz, that the Combined Fleet had put to sea. As they sailed with light winds westerly, his Lordship concluded their destination was the Mediterranean, and immediately made all sail for the Streights' entrance with the British squadron, consisting of twenty-seven Ships, three of them sixty-fours, where his Lordship was informed by Capt. Blackwood, (whose vigilance in watching, and giving notice of the enemy's movements, has been highly meritorious,) that they had not yet passed the Streights. On Monday the 21st instant, at daylight, when Cape Trafalgar bore E. by S. about seven leagues, the Enemy was discovered six or seven miles to the eastward, the wind about west, and very light; the Commander in Chief immediately made the signal for the fleet to bear up in two columns, as they are formed in order of sailing; a mode of attack his Lordship had previously directed, to avoid the inconvenience and delay in forming a line of battle in the usual manner. The Enemy's line consisted of thirty-three Ships (of which eighteen were French and fifteen Spanish), commanded in chief by Admiral Villeneuve; the Spaniards, under the direction of Gravina, wore, with their heads to the northward, and formed their line of battle with great closeness and correctness; but as the mode of attack was unusual, so the structure of their line was new-it formed a crescent convexing to leeward--so that, in leading down to their centre, I had both their van and rear abaft the beam. Before the fire opened, every alternate Ship was about a cable's length to windward of her second a-head and a-stern, forming a kind of double line, and appeared, when on their beam, to leave a very little interval between them; and this without crowding their Ships. Admiral Villeneuve was in the Bucentaure in the centre, and the Prince of Asturias bore Gravina's flag in the rear; but the French and Spanish Ships were mixed without any apparent regard to order of National squadron. As the mode of our attack had been previously determined on, and communicated to the Flag-officers and Captains, few signals were necessary, and none were made except to direct close order as the lines bore down. The Commander in Chief in the Victory led the weather column; and the Royal Sovereign, which bore my flag, the lee. The Action began at twelve o'clock, by the leading Ships of the columns breaking through the Enemy's line, the Commander in Chief about the tenth Ship from the van, the Second in Command about the twelfth from the rear, leaving the van of the Enemy unoccupied; the succeeding Ships breaking through in all parts, a-stern of their leaders, and engaging the Enemy at the muzzles of their guns, the conflict was severe. The Enemy's Ships were fought with a gallantry highly honourable to their Officers, but the attack on them was irresistible; and it pleased the Almighty Disposer of all events to grant His Majesty's arms a complete and glorious victory. About three P. M. many of the Enemy's Ships having struck their colours, their line gave way; Admiral Gravina, with ten Ships, joining their Frigates to leeward, stood towards Cadiz. The five headmost Ships in their van tacked, and standing to the southward to windward of the British line, were engaged, and the sternmost of them taken; the others went off, leaving to His Majesty's squadron nineteen Ships of the line, (of which two are first-rates, the Santissima Trinidad and the Santa Anna,) with three Flag Officers; viz. Admiral Villeneuve, the Commander in Chief; Don Ignatio Maria d'Alava, Vice-Admiral; and the Spanish RearAdmiral, Don Baltazar Hidalgo Cisneros. After such a victory it may appear unnecessary to enter into encomiums on the particular parts taken by the several Commanders; the conclusion says more on the subject than I have language to express; the spirit which animated all was the same: when all exert themselves zealously in their country's service, all deserve that their high merits should stand recorded; and never was high merit more conspicuous than in the battle I have described. The Achille (a French 74), after having surrendered, by some mismanagement of the Frenchmen took fire, and blew up; two hundred of her men were saved by the Tenders. A circumstance occurred during the Action, which so strongly marks the invincible spirit of British seamen, when engaging the enemies of their country, that I cannot resist the pleasure I have in making it known to their Lordships. The Temeraire was boarded by accident, or design, by a French Ship on one side, and a Spaniard on the other the contest was vigorous; but in the end the Combined ensigns were torn from the poop, and the British hoisted in their places. Such a Battle could not be fought without sustaining a great loss of men. I have not only to lament, in common with the British Navy and the British Nation, in the fall of the Commander-in-Chief, the loss of a hero whose name will be immortal, and his memory ever dear to his Country; but my heart is rent with the most poignant grief for the death of a friend, to whom, by many years' intimacy, and a perfect knowledge of the virtues of his mind, which inspired ideas superior to the common race of men, I was bound by the strongest ties of affection ;-a grief to which even the glorious occasion in which he fell, does not bring the consolation which perhaps it ought his Lordship received a musket ball in his left breast about the middle of the Action, and sent an Officer to me immediately with his last farewell, and soon after expired. I have also to lament the loss of those excellent Officers, Captains Duff of the Mars and Cooke of the Bellerophon: I have yet heard of none others. I fear the numbers that have fallen will be found very great when the returns come to me; but it having blown a gale of wind ever since the Action, I have not yet had it in my power to collect any reports from the Ships. The Royal Sovereign having lost her masts, except the tottering foremast, I called the Euryalus to me, while the Action continued, which Ship lying within hail, made my signals, a service Captain Blackwood performed with great attention. After the Action I shifted my flag to her, that I might more easily communicate my orders to, and collect the Ships, and towed the Royal Sovereign out to seaward. The whole fleet were now in a very perilous situation; many dismasted; all shattered; in thirteen fathoms water, off the shoals of Trafalgar; and when I made the signal to prepare to anchor, few of the Ships had an anchor to let go, their cables being shot; but the same good Providence which aided us through such a day preserved us in the night, by the wind shifting a few points, and drifting the Ships off the land, except four of the captured dismasted Ships, which are now at anchor off Trafalgar, and I hope will ride safe until those gales are over. Having thus detailed the proceedings of the fleet on this occasion, I beg to congratulate their Lordships on a victory which, I hope, will add a ray to the glory of His Majesty's crown, and be attended with public benefit to our country. I am, &c., C. COLLINGWOOD. THE ORDER IN WHICH THE SHIPS OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON ATTACKED THE COMBINED FLEETS ON THE 21ST OF OCTOBER, 1805. TO THE RIGHT HON. REAR-ADMIRAL THE EARL OF NORTHESK, AND THE RESPECTIVE CAPTAINS AND COMMANDERS. [From the London Gazette of the 6th of November, 1805.] Euryalus, October 22nd, 1805. The ever-to-be-lamented death of Lord Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte, the Commander in Chief, who fell in the Action of the 21st, in the arms of Victory, covered with glory, whose memory will be ever dear to the British Navy, and the British Nation; whose zeal for the honour of his King, and for the interests of his Country, will be ever held up as a shining example for a British Seaman,leaves to me a duty to return my thanks to the Right Hon. RearAdmiral, the Captains, Officers, Seamen, and detachments of Royal Marines serving on board His Majesty's Squadron now under my command, for their conduct on that day; but where can I find language to express my sentiments of the valour and skill which were displayed by the Officers, the Seamen, and Marines in the Battle with the Enemy, where every individual appeared an Hero, on whom the glory of his Country depended. The attack was irresistible, and the issue of it adds to the page of Naval Annals a brilliant instance of what Britons can do, when their King and their Country need their service. To the Right Honourable Rear-Admiral the Earl of Northesk, to the Captains, Officers, and Seamen, and to the Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Privates of the Royal Marines, I beg to give my sincere and hearty thanks for their highly meritorious conduct, both in the Action, and in their zeal and activity in bringing the captured Ships out from the perilous situation in which they were after their surrender, among the shoals of Trafalgar, in boisterous weather. And I desire that the respective Captains will be pleased to |