1805. nominal, but increase in their real strength, these brigs would have been better able to cope with the description of force, which they were likely to encounter in the waters that were to be the scene of their services.

The prize and casualty lists for the year 1804 will furnish the names and other particulars of the ships respectively contained in the fourth column of the "Increase," and first of the "Decrease" compartments of the abstract.*

The number of commissioned officers and masters, belonging to the british navy at the commencement of the year 1805, was,

Treaty

tween

50

36

63

639

25

superannuated 22

And the number of seamen and marines, voted for the service of the same year, was 120000.+

Scarcely had Spain issued her declaration of war be- against England, than France began to put in reFrance quisition the fleets and armies of her new ally. On Spain. the 4th of January, three days actually before the

and

spanish declaration reached London, a secret treaty between the two courts was signed at Paris, by viceadmiral Decrès on the part of France, and viceadmiral don Frederico Gravina on the part of Spain. The first article contains a display of the force by sea and land at the french emperor's disposal. At the Texel are 30000 men, with the necessary transports. At Ostende, Dunkerque, Calais, Boulogne,

* See Appendix, Nos. 29, 30, and 31.

+ See Appendix, No. 32.

It bore date at Madrid, December 12, 1804. See p. 411.

and Havre, respectively, are flotillas, capable of 1805. embarking, altogether, 120000 men and 25000 horses; at Brest, a fleet of 21 sail of the line, besides frigates and transports, with 25000 men ready for embarkation; at Rochefort, a squadron of six sail of the line (including the Achille 74, nearly ready for launching) and four frigates, having on board 4000 men; and at Toulon, a fleet of 11 sail of the line, eight frigates, and sundry transports, having on board 9000; total 188000 men.

By the second, third, and fourth articles, the king of Spain engages to arm, and supply with six months' provisions and four months' water, from 25 to 29 sail of the line, and to have them ready, along with from 4000 to 5000 spanish troops, (in conjunction with 20000 french to embark from Cadiz,) by the 20th, or at farthest, the 30th of March. Of those 25 or 29 sail of the line, Ferrol is to furnish from seven to eight, and which are to combine in their operations with the five french sail of the line in that port; Cadiz is to supply from 12 to 15, and Carthagena six. By the fifth article the two high contracting parties mutually engage, to augment their fleets by all the ships of the line and frigates that may be subsequently constructed, repaired, and fitted in their respective ports. The sixth article contains an engagement on the part of Napoléon to guarantee to his catholic majesty, as well the integrity of his european dominions, as the restitution of all colonies that may be taken from him during the war; and that, should the fortune of arms, " in accordance with the justice of the cause which their majesties are defending," grant success to their armies and fleets, the emperor will employ his influence to get Trinidad restored, and also the treasure taken out of the four frigates. The seventh article contains a mutual undertaking not to make a separate peace;

*The Océan three-decker is here meant to be excluded, and probably some other ship equally in an unseaworthy state. See p. 314, where 23 sail of the line are mentioned as in the port.

بہت

1805. and the eighth provides that the ratifications shall be exchanged within a month.* To the treaty a note is appended, signed by the spanish ambassador, don Frederico Gravina, in which he expresses a doubt as to the possibility of collecting a sufficiency of sailors for the ships, and, above all, of having ready, by the time stated, so many as six millions of rations.+

If Napoléon, with his 40 or 45 sail of the line, had calculated to create such a diversion of the british fleets, as should give him a clear channel for his flotilla to cross, how must his expectations have been raised now that he possessed the disposal of Equa- upwards of 70 sail of the line. It is true that the lity of british public lists and journals did show and insist, that the and number of commissioned line-of-battle ships belongspanish ing to England at the time amounted to 105; but, line-of- as respects sea-going ships, the fact was not so: the force. british navy could send forth no more than 83 sail

franco

battle

Adm.

Corn

of the line, and scarcely the whole of them. Buonaparte had constantly a Steel's list before him, and, with the aid of the information derived from his numerous spies, knew, better by far than many in England, how to analyze the accounts, and separate the non-combatant from the combatant ships. Let it then be kept in remembrance, that, at the commencement of the year 1805, the british and the franco-spanish navies (leaving the batavian navy out of the question) were, as to number of effective line-of-battle ships, nearly upon a par. What changes took place in the relative numbers of these navies before the close of this eventful year, we shall now proceed methodically to relate.

The commencement of the year found admiral wallis Cornwallis at his station off Ushant, with a force not off exceeding 11 sail of the line; while the french fleet Ushant. that lay in the road of Brest, ready for sea, num

* They were exchanged on the 18th of January.

For a copy of this important treaty, see vol, xi. p. 215, of Précis des Evénemens, &c.

bered, as has on more than one occasion been shown, 1805. 21 sail. On the 3d of February, when the block- Feb. ading force, by successive arrivals, had been augmented to 16 sail, the departure of five, under viceadmiral sir Robert Calder, to the station off Ferrol and Corunna, left the admiral again, for a short time, with only 11 sail. The perseverance with which, during a period of 22 months, including two boisterous winters, admiral Cornwallis had maintained the blockade of Brest, affected his health, and obliged him to suspend his arduous labours, and seek a few weeks' relaxation on shore. Accordingly, on the 20th of March, the Ville-de-Paris anchored March. at Spithead, and in the course of the day struck the flag at her main. The command of the Channel fleet devolved upon admiral lord Gardner, whose flag was flying on board the Trent frigate at Cork. In the mean time the fleet, cruising off Ushant and numbering 17 sail of the line, had been left in charge of vice-admiral sir Charles Cotton, in the 112-gun ship San-Josef.

Gard.

ner off

On the 3d of April admiral lord Gardner, in the April. new first-rate Hibernia, arrived off Ushant, and Lord relieved sir Charles Cotton in the command of the fleet, then consisting of 21 sail of the line. On the Brest. 11th a gale of wind drove the british fleet from the french coast. On the 13th, in the afternoon, lord Gardner, with 17 sail, regained his station; and, the next morning, the 14th, in consequence of some intelligence received from his look-out frigates, he despatched the Warrior 74 to reconnoitre the harbour of Brest. At 5 h. 30 m. P. M. captain William Bligh rejoined, with the signal flying, that the french ships were getting under way. Upon this the british ships formed in line of battle to be ready to receive them. On the following morning, the 15th, the french van-division, composed of nine sail of the line, appeared in sight off the Black Rocks, and was presently joined by the main body, forming a 2 F

VOL. III.

1805. total, as counted, of 40 sail of vessels, including April. 21 of the line. This formidable fleet had on board 2000 troops, and was provisioned for six months. The british admiral, whose force in the course of the day amounted to 24 sail of the line, strove his utmost to bring the french fleet to action; but the latter, after manoeuvring for a few hours be-tween Bertheaume and Camaret bays, returned into port.

Unlike a few former shifts of position and manoeuvres in Brest and Bertheaume roads, and which served the double purpose of exercising the crews, and of enabling the Moniteur to insert a boastful paragraph, about offering battle to, and chasing away, the blockading force, this was a real attempt to put to sea. Vice-admiral Villeneuve had sailed from Toulon, and Napoléon's object now was, that the two fleets should effect their junction in the West Indies, and, after ravaging the british possessions there, return to the Channel, augmented, by the Rochefort squadron on the route, and by the combined squadron at Ferrol on appearing off that port, to 56 sail of the line. It was then that the great blow was to be struck. All Napoléon's letters, written at this period, betray his anxiety about M. Ganteaume's departure. In one dated "Au château de Stupinis, le 21 Avril," he says to his minister of marine, "Le non départ de Ganteaume me contrarie beaucoup ;" and, in another dated at the same place two days afterwards, wherein he informs M. Decrès that he has despatched a courier to Ganteaume, to inform him that Nelson had gone to Egypt in search of Villeneuve, Buonaparte emphatically adds: "Dieu veuille que mon courrier ne le trouve point à Brest."

After a vain endeavour, by forging news of disastrous events to the English in India, to weaken, by detachments abroad, the fleet off Ushant, Napoléon directs that, if Ganteaume cannot put to sea before