BY DOUG FORD
TWO hundred and twenty years ago this week one of the most momentous sea battles in Britain’s history took place just off the coast of southern Spain.
50,000 men, 60 ships-of-the-line and at least 12 frigates clashed in what has become known as the Battle of Trafalgar. The Royal Navy secured such a complete victory over its main continental rivals that its success not only ended the threat of a French invasion but ensured that Britain would enjoy maritime supremacy for over a century, enabling the growth of the British Empire and allowing them to instigate the ending of the transatlantic slave trade.
At about 6am on the morning of Monday 21 October 1805, the lookouts on board the leading ships of the Royal Navy fleet lead by Lord Nelson spotted the lights of the combined French-Spanish fleet about six or seven miles to the east off Cape Trafalgar.
On paper the enemy had the advantage; Nelson with his 27 ships of the line manned by 18,000 men carried 2,148 cannon to bear on his enemy. The combined enemy fleet manned by 30,000 men had 2,632 cannon carried by 18 French and 15 Spanish ships of the line.
Nelson always knew that he would be outnumbered and outgunned and so before he set sail for Spain he had gathered his captains together in the Greenwich Tavern overlooking the Thames and set out his battle plan to negate the enemy’s advantage. He repeated this briefing when his fleet joined Cuthbert Collingwood’s fleet who were blockading the Spanish port of Cadiz.
Inset
In 1805 the Royal Navy had 473 ships at sea in commission and a further 61 vessels in harbour being fitted out. Of these 83 were active ships of the line spread around the globe to control the world’s ocean.
The commissioned officers and masters, belonging to the Royal Navy, numbered:
- 50 Admirals
- 36 Vice Admirals
- 63 Rear Admirals (+ 22 superannuated)
- 639 Post Captains (+ 25 superannuated)
- 422 Commanders or sloop captains (+ 45 superannuated)
- 2,472 Lieutenants
- 556 Masters
In addition there were approximately 90,000 seamen and 30,000 marines.
So about 25% of Britain’s Royal Navy was present at Trafalgar
Rather than sail alongside each other in two lines firing their cannon, Nelson’s plan was to form up in two columns and sail into the enemy line cutting it into three sections before turning down wind to batter the enemy ships. The front third would be isolated from the battle and would take time to turn back into the wind and make their way back to engage with the British. The downside of this plan was that the ships leading the two British columns would be exposed to enemy broadsides before they could effectively return fire.
At 6.40 am Nelson gave the order “prepare for Battle” and the British ships slowly drew up into two columns with Nelson in the Victory leading one and Collingwood in the Royal Sovereign leading the other. The light winds meant progress was very slow. It was only at 11:48 that Nelson ordered Lieutenant Pasco to make his famous signal ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’. Two minutes later the French commander, Admiral de Villeneuve, sent the signal ‘engage the enemy’ and the Fougueux fired the first broadside into Collingwood’s flagship, Royal Sovereign.
The battle had begun.
At 12.15 pm Nelson made his final signal, ‘Engage the enemy more closely’ and as the Victory passed under the stern of the Bucentaure, a 68-pounder carronade, loaded with round-shot and a keg of 500 musket balls, was fired through the French ship’s stern window, raking her from end to end inflicting heavy casualties. The Victory then crashed into the Redoubtable creating the gap in the line that the rest of his column could sail through and exploit.
All along the line, the British ships with their superior rate of fire were blasting the enemy ships while marines on both sides were in the fighting tops shooting and throwing grenades down onto the enemy decks below them. At 1:15 pm, a French musket ball struck Nelson in the top of the shoulder, passed through his lung and smashed into his spine. A fatal wound but it still took over three hours before he died, by which time Captain Hardy had reported to him that the battle was won. ‘Thank God I have done my duty’, were his last words, and he died at 4.30 pm.
As news of Nelson’s death spread among the fleet, the joy of victory turned to sorrow. Today, it is difficult to appreciate just how great a national hero Nelson was but to lose him at the moment of his greatest victory was a bitter blow. As Collingwood wrote in his official report to the Admiralty:
“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, 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.”
As Collingwood wrote ’a great loss of men’ but for the British better training, better gunnery and better tactics meant that they lost no ships, only suffered 449 men killed and 1,242 wounded (of whom 110 died of their wounds). The enemy, however, lost 4,408 men killed and 2,545 wounded, and had about 10,000 men taken prisoner. Of the 33 French and Spanish ships of the line that were at Trafalgar, only ten got away.
Inset
Although the Battle of Trafalgar took place on 21 October 1805, it is not unusual to find contemporary documents giving the date 20 October 1805. This is because traditionally the Royal Navy began the new day with the noonday sightings. The order to change the new day starting at midnight was only issued ten days before the battle, and as a result some captains had not received the directive.
While the nation mourned the death of Horatio Nelson, the deaths of the other 558 seamen affected families all around the British Isles. Of the 36 Jerseymen and 28 Guernseymen who served at Trafalgar that day only one was killed – 19-year-old Samuel Le Gresley, a landsman on board HMS Temeraire.
His father was Samuel Le Gresley, a farmer from Grantez, St Ouen, and his mother was Jane Manly. He was one of the 191 Landsmen (the lowest rate of sailor) on board the 98-gun ship of the line under Captain Elias Harvey. The Temeraire followed Nelson’s flag ship HMS Victory into the French line and suffered 47 fatalities and 76 men wounded when she came alongside the French Redoubtable – only the lead ships in each column, Victory and the Royal Sovereign, suffered greater casualties on the day.
As was the custom, Samuel was buried at sea following the battle. His father received his Prize Money of £1 17s 8d and Parliamentary Award of £4 2s 6d.
