The
French ship Redoubtable during her magnificent resistance at the Battle of
Trafalgar. It was a
musket shot from Redoubtable that mortally wounded Nelson.
War:
Napoleonic
Date:
21st October 1805
Place:
At Cape Trafalgar off the South Western coast of Spain, south of Cadiz.
Combatants:
The British Royal Navy against the Fleets of France and Spain.
Admirals:
Admiral Viscount Lord Nelson and Vice Admiral Collingwood against Admiral
Villeneuve of France and Admirals d’Aliva and Cisternas of Spain.
The
Beginning of the Battle of Trafalgar
Size of
the fleet: 32 British (25 ships of the line, 4 Frigates and smaller craft), 23
French and 15 Spanish (33 ships of the line, 7 Frigates and smaller craft).
4,000 troops including riflemen from the Tyrol were posted in small detachments
through the French and Spanish Fleets.
His
Majesty's Ship Victory
Winner:
Memorably, the Royal Navy.
British
Ships: Nelson's Division: HMS Victory (Flagship), Temeraire, Neptune,
Conqueror, Leviathan, Ajax, Orion, Agamemnon, Minotaur, Spartiate, Euryalus,
Britannia, Africa, Naiad, Phoebe, Entreprenante, Sirius and Pickle.
Collingwood's
Division: HMS Royal Sovereign (Flagship), Belleisle, Mars, Tonnant,
Bellerophon, Colossus, Achilles, Polyphemus, Revenge, Swiftsure, Defiance,
Thunderer, Prince of Wales, Dreadnought and Defence.
His
Majesty's Ship Britannia
French
Ships: Bucentaure (Flagship), Formidable (Flagship), Scipion, Intrepide,
Cornelie, Duguay Truin, Mont Blanc, Heros, Furet, Hortense, Neptune,
Redoubtable, Indomitable, Fougueux, Pluton, Aigle, Swiftsure, Argonaute,
Berwick, Hermione, Themis, Achille and Argus.
Spanish
Ships: Santa Anna (Flagship), Santissima Trinidad (Flagship), Neptuno, Rayo,
Santo Augustino, S. Francisco d’Assisi, S. Leandro, S. Juste, Monarca,
Algeciras, Bahama, Montanes, S. Juan Nepomucano, Argonauta and Prince de
Asturias.
Map of
the Battle of Trafalgar (Click on Images to Enlarge)
The
Battle of Trafalgar
Ships
and Armaments:
Sailing
warships of the 18th and 19th Century carried their main armaments in broadside
batteries along the sides. Ships were classified according to the number of
guns carried or the number of decks carrying batteries. Nelson’s main force
comprised 8 three decker battleships carrying more than 90 guns each. The
enormous Spanish ship Santissima Trinidad carried 120 guns and the Santa Anna
112 guns.
The size
of gun on the line of battle ships was up to 24 pounder, firing heavy iron
balls or chain and link shot designed to wreck rigging. Trafalgar was a close
fleet action. Ships manoeuvred up to the enemy and delivered broadsides at a
range of a few yards. To take full advantage of the close range guns were
“double shotted” with grape shot on top of ball. It is said that the crews in
some French ships were unable to face this appalling ordeal, closing their gun
ports and attempting to escape the fire.
HMS
Victory at Trafalgar
Ships
manoeuvred to deliver broadsides in the most destructive manner, the greatest
effect being achieved by firing into an enemy’s stern, so that the shot
travelled the length of the ship wreaking havoc and destruction. The first
broadside, loaded before action began, was always the most effective.
Admiral
Lord Nelson struck down on the deck of HMS Victory at Trafalgar
Collingwood’s
Royal Sovereign fired its first broadside at Trafalgar into the rear of the
Spanish ship Santa Anna causing massive damage.
Ships
carried a variety of smaller weapons on the top deck and in the rigging, from
swivel guns firing grape shot or canister (bags of musket balls) to hand held
muskets and pistols. With these weapons each crew sought to annihilate the
enemy officers and sailors on deck.
The
height of the Battle of Trafalgar
Wounds
in Eighteenth Century naval fighting were often terrible. Cannon balls ripped
off limbs or, striking wooden decks and bulwarks, drove splinter fragments
across the ship causing great injury. Falling masts and rigging inflicted crush
injuries. Sailors stationed aloft fell into the sea from collapsing masts and
rigging and were drowned. Heavy losses were caused when a ship finally
succumbed and sank or blew up.
Admiral
Lord Nelson
The discharge of guns at
close range easily set fire to an opposing vessel. Fires were difficult to
control in battle and several ships were destroyed in this way, notably the
French ship Achille.
The
ultimate aim in battle was to lock ships together and capture the enemy by
boarding. Savage hand to hand fighting took place at Trafalgar on several
ships. The crew of the French Redoubtable, living up to the name of their ship,
boarded Victory but were annihilated in the brutal struggle on Victory’s top
deck.
Ships’
crews of all nations were a tough bunch. The British with continual blockade
service against the French and Spanish were particularly well drilled. British
gun crews could fire three broadsides or more to every two fired by the French
and Spanish. The British officers were hard bitten and experienced.
A young
officer joining the Royal Navy in 1789, when the French Wars began, would have
served for 16 years of warfare by the time of Trafalgar.
British
captains were responsible for recruiting their ship’s crew. Men were taken wherever
they could be found, largely by means of the press gang. All nationalities
served on British ships including French and Spanish. Loyalty for a crew lay
primarily with their ship. Once the heat of battle subsided there was little
animosity against the enemy. Great efforts were made by British crews to rescue
the sailors of foundering French and Spanish ships at the end of the battle.
Life on
a warship, particularly the large ships of the line, was crowded and hard.
Discipline was enforced with extreme violence, small infractions punished with
public lashings. The food, far from good, deteriorated as ships spent time at
sea. Drinking water was in constant short supply and usually brackish. Shortage
of citrus fruit and fresh vegetables meant that scurvy easily and quickly set
in. The great weight of guns and equipment and the necessity to climb rigging
in adverse weather conditions frequently caused serious injury.
Above
all a life primarily carrying out blockade duty was monotonous in the extreme.
The prospect of a decisive battle against the French and Spanish put the
British Fleet in a state of high excitement.
Account:
In July
1805 Napoleon Bonaparte secretly left Milan and hurried to Boulogne, where his
Grande Armée waited in camp to cross the Channel and invade England. Napoleon
only needed Admiral Villeneuve to bring the French and Spanish Fleets from
South Western Spain into the Channel to enable the invasion to take place.
Nelson
as a Post Captain in 1781
The
First Sea Lord appointed Admiral Lord Nelson Commander in Chief of the British
Fleet assembling to attack the French and Spanish ships. Nelson selected His
Majesty’s Ship Victory as his flagship and sailed south towards Gibraltar. As
the British ships intended for the Fleet were made ready they sailed south to
join Nelson.
In
October 1805 Villeneuve was still in harbour in Cadiz. He received a stinging
rebuke from Napoleon accusing him of cowardice and Villeneuve steeled himself
to leave harbour and make for the Channel. He was encouraged in his resolve by
the belief that there was no strong British Fleet nearby and that Nelson was
still in England. Other than picket frigates watching the harbour Nelson kept
his main fleet well out to sea.
The gun
deck on H.M.S. Victory
On 19th October 1805 at 9am HMS Mars relayed the signal received from the frigates that the Franco-Spanish Fleet was leaving Cadiz in line of battle.
At dawn
on 21st October 1805, with a light wind from the West, Nelson signalled his
fleet to begin the attack. The British captains understood fully what was
required of them. Nelson had explained his tactics over the previous weeks
until every ship knew her role.
At
6.40am the British Fleet beat to quarters and the ships cleared for action:
cooking fires thrown overboard, the movable bulkwarks removed, the decks sanded
and ammunition carried to each gun. The gun crews took their positions.
The
French and Spanish Fleets were sailing in line ahead in an arc like formation.
The British Fleet attacked in two squadrons in line ahead; the Windward
Squadron led by Nelson and the Leeward (southern or right squadron) headed by
Collingwood in Royal Sovereign; the ships of the Fleet divided between the two
squadrons.
Nelson
aimed to cut the Franco-Spanish Fleet at a point one third along the line with
Collingwood attacking the rear section. In the light wind the van of the
Franco-Spanish Fleet would be unable to turn back and take part in the battle
until too late to help their comrades.
Scene
from the Battle of Trafalgar : Redoutable under attack and dismasted
Nelson seems to have been entirely confident of success. He told his Flag Captain, Hardy, he expected to take 20 of the enemy’s ships. He was also convinced of his impending death in the battle. Nelson told his friend Blackwood, the captain of the Euryalus, who came on board Victory, “God bless you, Blackwood. I shall never see you again.” He wore dress uniform with his decorations, a conspicuous figure on the deck of the Victory.
The
Height of Battle at Trafalgar
In his
long and eventful naval career Nelson had lost an arm and an eye. Perhaps, like
Wolfe at Quebec, he preferred to die at the moment of supreme victory rather
than live on in a disabled state.
The two
British squadrons, led by the Flagships, sailed towards the Franco-Spanish
line, Collingwood’s Royal Sovereign significantly ahead of Victory. Anxious
that the admiral should not be excessively exposed to enemy fire, the captain
of Temeraire attempted to overtake Victory, but was ordered back into line by
Nelson.
The
Battle of Trafalgar
The
first broadside was fired by the French ship Fougueux into Royal Sovereign as
Collingwood burst through the Franco-Spanish line. Royal Sovereign held her
fire until she sailed past the stern of the Spanish Flagship, Santa Anna. Royal
Sovereign raked Santa Anna with double shotted fire, a broadside that is said
to have disabled 400 of her crew and 14 guns.
Royal
Sovereign swung round onto Santa Anna’s beam and the two ships exchanged
broadsides. The ships following in the Franco-Spanish line joined in attacking
Collingwood: Fougueux, San Leandro, San Justo and Indomptable, until driven off
by the rest of the Leeward Squadron as they came up. Royal Sovereign forced
Santa Anna to surrender when both ships were little more than wrecks.
The Fighting Temeraire towed to
be broken up in 1837: sad remnant of one of Nelson's great ships.
Victory
led the Windward Squadron towards a point in the line between Redoubtable and
Bucentaure. The Franco-Spanish Fleet at this point was too crowded for there to
be a way through and the Victory simply rammed the Redoubtable, firing one
broadside into her and others into the French Flagship Bucentaure and the
Spanish Flagship Santissima Trinidad. The British ship Temeraire flanked
Redoubtable on the far side and a further French ship linked to Temeraire, all
firing broadsides at point blank range.
Trafalgar
The
following ships of Nelson’s squadron, as they came up, engaged the other ships
in the centre of the line. The leading Franco-Spanish squadron continued on its
course away from the battle until peremptorily ordered to return by Villeneuve.
During
the fight with Redoubtable the soldiers and sailors in the French rigging fired
at men exposed on the Victory’s decks. A musket shot hit Nelson, knocking him
to the deck and breaking his back. The admiral was carried below to the
midshipmen’s berth, where he constantly asked after the progress of the battle.
Eventually Hardy was able to tell him before he died that the Fleet had taken
15 of the enemy’s ships. Nelson knew he had won.
British
Royal Navy : Sailors and officers laying a gun before firing into the enemy
The
battle reached its climax in the hour after Nelson’s injury. Neptune, Leviathan
and Conqueror, as they came up, battered Villeneuve’s Flagship Bucentaure into
submission and took the surrender of the French admiral. Temeraire while
fighting the Redoubtable fired a crippling broadside into the Fougueux.
Leviathan engaged the San Augustino bringing down her masts and boarding her.
His
Majesty's Ship Neptune in action at the Battle of Trafalgar
In the
Leeward Squadron Belleisle was stricken into a wreck by Achille and the French
Neptune until relieved by the British Swiftsure. Achille was then battered by
broadsides until fires reached her magazine and she blew up.
His
Majesty's Ship Belleisle after the Battle of Trafalgar
All the
French and Spanish ships of that part of the line were destroyed, captured or
fled: of the 19 ships, 11 were captured or burnt while 8 fled to leeward. Many
of these ships fought hard. Argonauta and Bahama lost 400 of their crews each.
San Juan Nepomuceno lost 350. When she blew up Achille had lost all of her
officers other than a single midshipman. The resistance of the French ship
Redoutable was was quite in keeping with her name.
The
Franco-Spanish van commanded by Admiral Dumanoir passed the battle, firing
broadsides indiscriminately into comrade and enemy, and returned to Cadiz.
The
Death of Nelson at Trafalgar
Casualties:
British casualties were 1,587. The French and Spanish casualties were never
revealed but are thought to have been around 16,000.
British
sailors rescuing enemy crew from the sea
Follow-up:
Following the battle a storm blew up wrecking many of the ships damaged in the
action. Of those captured only 4 survived to be brought into Gibraltar.
The
consequences of the battle were far reaching. Napoleon’s plan to invade Britain
was thwarted. He broke up the camp at Boulogne and marched to Austria where he
won the great victory of Austerlitz against the Austrians and Russians.
Trafalgar
ensured that Britain’s dominance at sea remained unchallenged for the rest of
the 10 years of war against France and continued worldwide for a further 120
years.
Nelson
dying in the cockpit of HMS Victory
Admiral
Villeneuve was taken a prisoner to England. On his release he travelled back to
France but died violently on the journey to Paris.
Lord
Nelson’s body was brought to England and the admiral given a state funeral. His
body is entombed in St Paul’s cathedral in London.
Anecdotes
and traditions:
- As the British Fleet bore down on the Franco-Spanish line Nelson directed Lieutenant Pascoe, the signal officer of Victory, to send the signal to the Fleet “Nelson confides every man will do his duty.” Captain Hardy and Pascoe suggested this be changed to “England expects every man will do his duty”. Nelson agreed. As the signal ran up Victory’s halyard the Fleet burst into cheers. Nelson followed this with his standard battle signal “Engage the enemy more closely”.
- Nelson was a remarkable man. He combined a gentleness of character with an extreme ruthless aggression in action. This combined with his technical brilliance at sea made him an invincible enemy. Nelson’s tactic at Trafalgar was simple but devastatingly effective. Nelson was widely feared. If Villeneuve had known that the British admiral was present outside Cadiz harbour it seems unlikely that even the scathing messages from Napoleon would have enticed him to sea. An American captain sailing into Cadiz assured the French admiral that Nelson was still in London.
- Nelson default instruction to his officers was “No captain can do wrong if he puts his ship alongside the nearest enemy”.
- HMS Victory, Nelson’s Flagship, lies in Portsmouth Harbour preserved as it was at the time of the battle.
- In his final letter Nelson asked that the Nation look after his mistress, Lady Emma Hamilton, and their daughter, Horatia. Nelson’s brother was ennobled and his wife awarded a pension. Nothing was done for Lady Hamilton. She died in reduced circumstances in Calais in 1815.
- The naming of the warships: Many of the Spanish ships carried religious titles: Santa Anna, Santissima Trinidad, Santo Juan Nepomuceno. Classical labels were popular with the British and French: Mars, Ajax, Agamemnon, Minotaur (British); Scipion, Pluton, Hermione, Argus, Neptune (French). There were Swiftsures and Achilles in the British and French Fleets. The French had an Argonaute and the Spanish an Argonauta. Three British ships held French names: Belleisle, Tonnant and Bellerophon, marking that these ships or their predecessors had been captured from France. The French took names from heroic characteristics: Redoutable, Indomitable, Intrepide. Two British names reflected great size: Colossus, Leviathan.
- All three navies had a ship named after the classical god Neptune
- You can trace any member of the British Fleet by searching on this web site: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors/results.asp
The Battle of Trafalgar
Trafalgar
: The end of the battle
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