The Battle of Trafalgar
October 21, 2005
This famous sea-battle pitted the British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson against the combined French and Spanish fleet on October 21, 1805, marking the beginning of the end for the Age of Sail and giving Britain unchallenged mastery of the seas for the next 100 years.
Author Mark Adkin, in the introduction to his massive The Trafalgar Companion, says this about the Battle of Trafalgar:
The scale and importance of Trafalgar is demonstrated by the figures involved. It was a struggle between giants in terms of firepower. 33 French and Spanish ships-of-the-line (the Combined Fleet) faced 27 British. These 60 ships, all massive floating gun platforms, could produce a huge theoretical weight of shot. The Combined Fleet’s 2,636 long guns could fire a combined broadside of 27.5 tons of iron, while the British ships carried 2,026 guns that could deliver 19.5 tons. There were some 4,662 guns (mostly heavy) at Trafalgar, in comparison to 537 (mostly light) at Waterloo. Although not all ships participated to the same extent at Trafalgar, it was a close-quarter fight with ships often slugging it out at less than 50 yards, sometimes with their sides grinding together so that guns could not be run out before firing. At these ranges it was difficult to miss. The battle raged for four hours. At the end many ships on both sides were dismasted and crippled, numerous holds flooded and hundreds of dead bodies were thrown over the side. Hundreds more men lay in agony on blood-stained decks. Dozens of casks of amputated limbs were emptied overboard. A French ship exploded, and at the end the British had captured 17 enemy vessels - a huge haul and an extraordinary achievement.
Trafalgar the battle cannot be separated from Nelson the man, who was, and is, one of Britains greatest heros, equalled in modern times only by Sir Winston Churchill. Nelson died on the deck of his flagship Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar from a musket ball fired from the mizzentop platform of the French ship Redoutable. He had been wounded several times before during his naval career, and by the time of Trafalgar had lost an arm and an eye. He was a little man at only 5 feet 6 inches, but was a fearless leader and his men worshipped him.
Although flawed in his character, he was a religious man. He wrote this prayer about a month before he died in battle:
May the Great God whom I adore grant me to fullfil [sic] the expectations of my Country, and if it is His good pleasure that I shall return my thanks will never cease being offered up to the Throne of His Mercy; if it His good providence to cut short my days on earth, I bow with the greatest submission, relying that He will protect those so dear to me that I may leave behind. His will be done. Amen. Amen. Amen.
As the big battle began, Nelson hoisted this famous signal to be repeated from ship to ship, “England Expects that Every Man Will Do His Duty.”
The statue of Nelson in Trafalgar Square has been a famous London landmark for many years, along with several thousand pigeons. They made a dreadful mess, and in 2000 the Mayor of London hired a hunting hawk to be brought to the square every day. The pigeon population is now down to 200. Nelson suffered as much as the rest of the square from pigeon detritus, so perhaps he too welcomed the hawk’s arrival.
Today marks the 200th anniversary of this famous battle.
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