Oct. adm. wood to the shore with her. At this time several of the british 1805. ships were more or less dismasted, and very few in a condition to carry sail; and, out of the 27 in the fleet, 14 were tolerably damaged in hull. Of the Vice17 prizes, eight were wholly, and the remainder par- con tially, dismasted. Some of these ships, too, were lingnearly in a sinking state, and none were without shifts shattered hulls. To add to the perilous condition his flag of the british fleet and prizes, the ships were then Euryain 13 fathoms' water, with the shoals of Trafalgar lus. but a few miles to-leeward. Fortunately the wind, which was at west-south-west, and therefore dead on the shore, blew moderately; but there was a very uneasy swell, highly distressing to the ships, particularly to the dismasted ones. At 9 P. M., which was about four hours too late, the vice-admiral made the signal for the fleet to prepare to anchor. chor. It is stated, that few of the ships had an anchor to let go, their cables having been cut by shot. Towards midnight the wind veered to south-southwest, and freshened considerably. Taking imme. Same diate advantage of this favourable change, the vice- wear. admiral made the signal for the ships to wear with their heads to the westward. Four of the dismasted prizes, in proof that their cables would hold, had previously anchored off Cape Trafalgar. The remaining ships wore, as directed, and drifted to-seaward. Signal to an to ral fleet, On the 22d, at 8 A. M., the Euryalus cast off the AdmiRoyal-Sovereign, and signalled the Neptune to take thanks the latter in tow. In the course of the forenoon the the vice-admiral issued a general order of thanks to the &c. officers and men of the fleet for their valour and skill in the action; and he also ordered a day to be appointed for returning thanks to God, for the success which had attended the british arms. During the whole of this day, the 22d, the wind blew fresh from the southward, with repeated squalls; but, through Prizes the skill and activity of british seamen, the whole 13 prizes, that remained under way, were got hold all in tow Sink 1805. of, and towed towards the appointed rendezvous in Oct. the west, round the Neptune and Royal-Sovereign. At 5 P. M. the Redoutable, in tow by the Swiftsure, ing of being actually sinking, hoisted a signal of distress. table. The latter ship immediately sent her boats, and brought off part of the prize-crew, and about 120 Frenchmen, which were as many as the boats would contain. At 10 h. 30 m. P. м. the Redoutable being with her stern entirely under water, the Swiftsure cut herself clear. At about midnight the wind shifted to north-west, and still blew a gale. At 3 h. 30 m. A. M. on the 23d, attracted by the cries of the people, the Swiftsure, who had wore to the southward, again sent her boats, and, from three rafts which the french crew, amidst a dreadful night of wind, rain, and lightning, had constructed from the spars of their sunken ship, saved 50 more of the sufferers; making a total of about 170, including 70 out of the 222 described as wounded.* Captain Lucas had been previously removed to the Téméraire. The remaining survivors of the Redoutable's late officers and crew, and 13 of the Téméraire's, and five of the Swiftsure's men, perished in her. Loss of Fou Other casualties were the consequence of this gueux. night's gale. The Fougueux, having on board, besides a great portion of her late crew, 30 men belonging to the Téméraire, drifted on the rocks between Torre-Bermeja and the river Sancti-Petri, and was totally wrecked, with the loss of all on board, except about 25 persons. Critical When the Algésiras parted from the Tonnant,+ state of the situation of lieutenant Bennett and his small siras. party was critical in the extreme. The ship had lost Algé all three masts nearly by the board. Her hull had this time, including 40 or 50 wounded, were about 1805. 600 Frenchmen; and the whole of these were to be Oct. kept in subjection by 50 British. The prisoners were sent below, and the gratings secured over them. It was then found that not a man could be spared from guarding the hatchways, to rig jurymasts and endeavour to work the ship off a lee-shore; nor was there any chance of being taken in tow, the few british ships near at hand being almost in as dismasted a state as the prize. session French In this state was passed the whole of the blowing Reposnight of the 21st; and the morning of the 22d found of her the Algésiras separated from the british fleet, and by the drifting bodily towards the rocky shore to the northward of Cape Trafalgar. On the evening of that day, being three miles only to-windward of the spot where the Fougueux was then beating to pieces, lieutenant Bennett ordered the hatches to be taken off, to afford to the french crew an opportunity of saving the lives of the 650 beings whose existence was now at stake. The french crew rushed on deck, and, after confining lieutenant Bennett and his party in the after-cabin, began to rig jurymasts. Three topgallantmasts were soon stepped, and some small sails set upon them. With the aid of these, the Algésiras bent her head to the northward, and presently brought the port of Cadiz about two points on her lee bow. The ship, however, still continued in so unmanageable a state, owing to the strength of the wind, and the frequent blowing away of the sails, that she barely trailed along the shore clear of the rocks. At length the At length the Algésiras reached Cadiz; and, to the credit of those whose prisoners they then were, lieutenant Bennett and his 49 companions were allowed to return to their friends outside in one of the two french frigates which, by vice-admiral Collingwood's permission gratuitously conveyed to the governor of Andalusia, the marquess of Solano, went with a flag of truce to receive, upon the usual conditions of not serving again till exchanged, the Bucen taure. 1805. wounded Spaniards found on board the captured Oct. ships. In return for this courtesy, the spanish governor offered the use of the Cadiz hospitals for the british wounded, and pledged the honour of Spain that they should be carefully attended. Loss of The Bucentaure, another hull, having on board lieutenant Richard Spear and a party of men from the Conqueror, by whom, amidst the severity of the gale, a vain attempt had been made to take her in tow, drifted towards the shore, and was compelled for safety to anchor near the castle of San-Sebastian. On the following day, the 22d, the Bucentaure was wrecked on the Puerques; her crew were all, or the greater part, saved, in ding the British. These were taken out of the wreck by the boats of one of the french frigates; and, notwithstanding found that the Gibraltar Chronicle, of November 9, in this ed year, contains a long paragraph, filled with abuse of against the "dastardly French," the "infamous and cowFrench ardly crew of the frigate," for alleged ill-treatment Un charge the Squa com Cos mao. of the British taken out of the Bucentaure, the latter, by their own acknowledgment, were treated with humanity and kindness. Unfortunately, the coauthors of the "Life of Nelson," with reckless haste, have copied into their pages* the atrocious falsehood; and, to give additional currency to a statement so accordant with their repeatedly expressed sentiments towards the French, messieurs Clarke and M'Arthur have omitted to add, that they took the paragraph from the columns of a newspaper. The north-westerly wind, that blew on the morning dron of of the 23d, being fair for quitting his anchorage at modore the bay or entrance of the outer harbour of Cadiz, captain Cosmao-Kerjulien, the senior french officer in the port, weighed and made sail, with the Pluton, inefficient as she was, Indomptable, Neptune, Rayo, and San-Francisco-de-Asis, the five frigates, and the two brigs, hoping to be able to recapture some of the remaining prize-hulls, then driving about the * Clarke and M'Arthur, vol. ii. p. 456. Oct. coast. It is doubtful if any of the remaining six 1805. french and spanish ships in Cadiz, unless it was the Héros and Montanez, were in a state to put to sea. At all events the Principe-de-Asturias and SanLeandro had each rolled away her main and mizen masts soon after anchoring on the night of the 21st. Nor could admiral Gravina, as vice-admiral Collingwood supposed, have commanded the squadron, as he was then suffering the pains of a mortal wound. of the Recap Soon after the above five sail of the line, five fri- Effects gates, and two brigs had sailed out, the wind shifted second to west-south-west, and blew with extreme violence, gale. raising such a, that most of the prizes broke their tow-ropes, nd, drifting far to-leeward, were in part only again secured. The franco-spanish squadron making its appearance about noon, the most efficient of the british line-of-battle ships cast off the hulls of which they had with so much difficulty recovered possession, and by 3 P. M. were formed in line, to the number of 10 sail, between the greater part of those prizes and the ships of M. Cosmao. The odds were far too great for the french commo dore, even had the wind been in his favour, to venture within gun-shot; but his frigates soon effected the principal object for which he had sailed out: ture of they recaptured the Santa-Ana and Neptuno, and Santacarried both safe into port. The recapture of the Neptwo spanish prizes was not, however, without its tuno. alloy. On the 24th the fine french 80-gun ship Indomptable was wrecked off the town of Rota, situated Loss of on the north-west point of the bay of Cadiz. Un- dompfortunately the Indomptable had on board, in addition table, to her own, the survivors of the Bucentaure's crew, amounting to nearly 500 men; making in all, 1100 or 1200 souls, of whom not more than 100 are represented to have been saved. The San-Francisco-de-Asis also of parted her cables, and went on shore in Cadiz bay, Fco.near Fort Santa-Catalina: her crew, except a small de-Asis portion, were saved. The Rayo, three-decker, another of M. Cosmao's squadron, not being able to Ana & In San |