Oct. 1805. enter Cadiz bay, anchored off San-Lucar, a town at the mouth of the river Guadalquivir, a few leagues to the north-west of Rota. There the Rayo soon rolled away her masts, which had been previously wounded by shot. cious viathan negal. Judi- Observing that some of the leewardmost of the Conduct prizes were running for, and had already approached of Le- very near to, the spanish coast, the Leviathan obtained leave of the commander in chief to endeavour to bring them to anchor. On the 24th, at daylight, when standing after the Monarca, the Leviathan discovered the Rayo, with spanish colours flying, still at an anchor off the shoals of San-Lucar. At this time the 74-gun ship Donegal, captain Pulteney Arrival Malcolm, from Gibraltar,* was stretching in from of Do- the southward, on the larboard tack, with a moderate breeze from north-west by north, and steering direct for the spanish three-decker. At about 10 A. M., just as the Monarca had got within little more than a mile of the Rayo, who was at about an equal distance from the Donegal and Leviathan, the latter fired a shot wide of the Monarca, in order Cap- to oblige her to drop anchor. The shot falling about Rayo. midway between the Monarca and the Rayo, the latter, conceiving probably that it was intended for her, hauled down her colours, and was taken possession of by the Donegal; who presently anchored alongside and took out the prisoners. Meanwhile the Leviathan kept standing on towards the Monarca, and, on boarding her, found that she was in a sinking state. Captain Bayntun, as quickly as possible, removed all the Englishmen, and nearly the whole of Loss of the Spaniards. It was well the Leviathan did so, ca and for, in the gale of the ensuing night, the Monarca Rayo. parted her cable and went on shore. A similar fate, ture of Monar a day or two afterwards, attended the Rayo; and, of the 107 officers and men put on board by the Donegal, 25 were drowned: the remainder were made prisoners by the Spaniards. * See p. 36. Oct. of mis about force. struc The supposition that the franco-spanish squadron, 1805. which had sailed out of Cadiz on the 22d, consisted of 10, instead of five sail of the line, was doubtless Evil the reason that as many as 10 sail of british line-of- consebattle ships had been ordered to cut adrift their quences prizes, and form in order of battle. This untoward take circumstance, and the continuance of bad weather, M.Cosdetermined vice-admiral Collingwood to destroy all mao's the leewardmost of the captured ships. Accordingly the Santisima-Trinidad was cleared, scuttled, and Desunk by the Neptune and Prince; but, in spite of tion of every pains to remove the wounded by lowering them Trinidown in cots from the stern and quarter-gallery windows, 28 of them perished in the ship. The south-west gale increasing to a most violent degree, it took several days to collect and anchor the remaining hulls preparatory to their destruction. withstanding every exertion was used on the part Aigle. of the Defiance, the Aigle drifted into Cadiz bay on the night of the 25th, and was stranded on the bar off Port Santa-Maria. dad. Not-Loss c struc pide, The few remaining prizes were at length anchored between Cadiz and about six leagues to the westward of San-Lucar; and on the 28th the body of the british fleet lay also at anchor to the north-west of Lucar, the Royal-Sovereign without any masts except jury main and mizen ones, and the Mars with main and mizen masts only, each ship having lost Deher foremast in the last severe gale. Between the tion of 28th and 30th the Intrépide was burnt by the IntréBritannia, and the San-Augustin by the Leviathan and Orion; and the Argonauta was scuttled and Augussunk by the Ajax. Another of the hulls, the Ber- Argowick, after having anchored in apparent safety, was nauta. wrecked off San-Lucar, entirely owing to the frenzied behaviour of a portion of the prisoners who cut the cables. The Donegal, being at an anchor near, cut her cables, and, standing towards the drifting Loss of ship, sent her boats to save the people on board. wick. This noble proceeding of captain Malcolm was only tin,and Ber Oct. 1805. partially successful, when the Berwick struck upon the shoals; and in her perished about 200 persons. As a practical proof of the benefit that might have Safety been derived to the fleet and prizes by attending to thatan- lord Nelson's dying injunctions, the Defence, accomchored. panied by her prize, the San-Ildefonso, anchored on of ships tion of the evening of the action, and weathered the gale in safety. The example of these ships was followed by two other of the prizes, the Swiftsure and Bahama; and, with the assistance rendered by the Donegal and Phoebe, these also were saved. The fourth and only remaining prize, the San-JuanNepomuceno, being less disabled, had not been in such imminent danger, and was already safe in the offing. On the 30th, in the afternoon, vice-admiral CollingJunc- wood was joined by rear-admiral Louis, with the r.-ad. 80-gun ship Canopus, captain Francis William Louis. Austin, 98-gun ship Queen, captain Francis Pender, and 74-gun ships Spencer, captain the honourable Robert Stopford, and Tigre, captain Benjamin Hallowell; which squadron, as already stated, had been detached to Gibraltar for water, and to escort a convoy up the Mediterranean.* While reconnoitring Cadiz, just before the squadron joined, the Queen had a slight brush with the batteries and with the Argonaute, who, with only her foremast standing, lay at anchor at the entrance of the bay. On the 31st, in the morning, vice-admiral Collingwood shifted his flag from the Euryalus to the Queen. Reca tion of &c. To sum up the result of the battle of Trafalgar, pitula the French, out of 18 sail of the line, preserved only prizes, nine, and the Spaniards, out of 15 sail of the line, lost all except six. Of the 19 french and spanish ships, including the Rayo, which the British captured, one, the Achille, was accidentally burnt, and 14 were recaptured, wrecked, foundered, or destroyed; leaving but four ships, one french and three spanish 74s, as trophies in the hands of the conquerors. * See p. 32. The following recapitulatory table may here be use- 1805, fully introduced; Oct. tive two In reviewing the merits of the battle of Trafalgar, Relawe shall take the number of ships in each line, 27 force and 33, as a fair criterion of the relative force of the of the two fleets. It is singular that the aggregate of the fleets. rated number of guns on each side, 2148 and 2626, affords about the same result, a full sixth part in favour of the French and Spaniards. The real number of guns on each side would very slightly reduce the disparity. A few examples will establish this. The Victory and Téméraire mounted, of Victhe one two, the other four, guns only more than tory the numbers of their respective classes, or 102 guns Téméeach. Those of the Victory consisted, in equal di- raire. visions upon her first, second, and third decks, of 90 long 32, 24, and 12 pounders, and of 10 long 12pounders and two 68-pounder carronades on her quarterdeck and forecastle. The guns upon the Guns and 1805. three principal decks of the Téméraire were 86 long Oct. 32 and 18 pounders, (30 of the latter on the third or upper deck,) and those upon the quarterdeck and forecastle were four long 18-pounders and twelve 32-pounder carronades. These two ships, therefore, although of different rates, (first and second,) mounted the same number of guns; and the 98 was actually 50lbs heavier in her broadside than the 100. Guns of Tonnant As the Victory and Téméraire were the two ships of the british fleet whose rated and real number of Belle- guns approximated the nearest, so were the Tonnant isle. and Belleisle, the latter in particular, the two in and Guns which there was in that respect the greatest difference. The Tonnant, for instance, whose rate was 80, mounted 90 guns; and the same number were mounted by the Belleisle, although she was only a 74. The latter was even the heavier ship in broadside force, the age and weakness of the former having required the substitution of 18 for 24 pounders on the main deck; while the Belleisle was enabled to carry on her main deck a whole tier of the larger of those calibers. No other 74-gun ship, however, in the british fleet, to our knowledge, mounted more than 82 guns; and that number would of course include six light poop-carronades. With respect to the gun force of the ships in the of spa- franco-spanish fleet, our previous statements upon ship. the subject have left little to add. The force, in nish long guns, of the Santisima-Trinidad, and of a spanish |