ture of

and
San-

1805. Mont-Blanc and Atlas, the Pluton succeeded, and
July. the Espana was rescued. Amidst the derangement

of the franco-spanish line, the Atlas suffered most
severely, and, but for the support of her friends,
among whom the Neptune was foremost, would cer-

tainly have been captured.
Cap Soon after 8 P. M. the Firme, with the loss of her
Firme main and mizen masts, and subsequently of all her

masts, struck; and the San-Rafaël, with the loss of her
Rafaël. main topmast, and subsequently of all her masts also,

did not hold out many minutes longer. At 8 h. 25 m.,
at which time the british ships were disunited and
scattered, the body of the combined fleet barely
within gun-shot to-windward, and the shades of night
combining with the fog and smoke to render objects
still more indistinct, sir Robert made the night
private signal to discontinue the action. At about
9 P. M. the Windsor-Castle, with her fore topmast
gone, passed close to-windward of the Prince-of-
Wales, and then bore up and was taken in tow by
the Dragon; who, with all her efforts, had not got
up in time to take more than a very slight part in
the action : indeed, it was nearly 8 P. M. when the
Dragon fell into line ahead of the Barfleur, wbo
herself had been unable to get very close to the
enemy. The signal to discontinue the action being
seen but by few ships, the general firing did not
cease until 9 h. 30 m. P. M. The british ships soon
afterwards brought to upon the starboard tack, with
their heads about south-west by west, and lay by for
the night, repairing their damages, in order to be
ready to renew the contest on the morrow.

The loss, in gross, sustained by the british feet
British amounted to 39 officers and men killed and 159

wounded; and, as sir Robert Calder, in his official
return, has, contrary to what is customary, omitted to
specify the names or qualities of the officers killed and
wounded, we are constrained to do the same. One
ship, the Warrior, escaped with entire impunity; and
the Hero, Agamemnon, Repulse, Raisonable, Glory,

Loss of

and Dragon, lost between them but three men killed 1805. and 14 wounded ; nor were the Dragon's four men July, wounded by the enenıy's shot, but by an accidental explosion. No ship had a mast shot away, but the Windsor-Castle and Agamemnon, nor a yard except the Ajax.* The loss on board the two prizes was stated to consist of about 600 in killed and wounded; Loss of but a careful comparison of the number of wounded French and unwounded prisoners, with the number of men and deposed to have been on board each ship at the niards. commencement of the action, has reduced the number considerably. In this amended state, the gross loss sustained by the combined fleet amounts to 476 officers and men killed and wounded.t With respect to damages, the french and spanish ships did not exhibit many marks in their masts and rigging; but some of them, undoubtedly, were much hit in the hull. One ship, we believe the Atlas, had the head of her bowsprit shot away; another, her fore yard and fore topgallantmast; and a third, a topsailyard. Had a court-martial on the french, as was the case with the british, commander in chief, called for a specific statement of each ship's damage, every wounded topgallantmast and spritsail-yard, every cut rope and shot-graze, would have been formally tive daset forth ; and then, and then only, would a fair opportunity have been afforded, of comparing the two relative damage on board the two fleets.

It was extremely natural for the french writers to make the most of the minute statement of damages published along with the proceedings of the courtmartial which sat upon sir Robert Calder; but they evinced very little candour, when they confronted the whole loss on the british side with a part only of the loss on their side, and then drew from it the inference, that their fleet had suffered the least in the action. To have acted impartially, they should have struck out of the british returns the two ships that

* See Appendix, No. 1. :t See Appendix, No. 2.

mage of the fleets.

fleets,

Second

1805. had sustained the heaviest loss, as a set-off against July. the two prizes, whose united loss, although the French

were unable to enumerate it, they knew amounted to Rela- much more than that of any other two, or any four loss of ships in the combined fleet. This would have made the two the numbers stand thus : british loss in killed and

wounded, except of Windsor-Castle and Malta, 108;
franco-spanish loss in killed and wounded, except of
San-Rafaël and Firme, 171. But, if we add the loss
of the two omitted ships on each side, as given (with
respect to the spanish ships for the first time) in the
preceding page, the relative quantum of loss will be
more than two to one in favour of the British.

Daybreak on the 23d found the two fleets about day of 17 miles apart, reckoning from their respective ing. centres; but, owing to the hazy state of the morn

ing, neither fleet had of the other more than a partial
view. The ships of each were lying to, or making
very little way, with the wind, as on the preceding
day, a moderate breeze from north-west by west.
The british fleet had just come to the wind on the

larboard tack, but the combined fleet still remained tion of on the starboard. The british advanced squadron, feb. consisting of the Barfleur, Hero, Triumph, and Aga

memnon, lay about five miles to-windward of the main
body; and, at the distance of about six miles to-wind-
ward of the former, lay M. Villeneuve's advanced
squadron, consisting also of four sail of the line, besides
a few frigates. To-windward of these again, at the dis-
tance of other five or six miles, lay the body of the
franco-spanish fleet. To-leeward of the british main
body, about five miles, lay the crippled Windsor-
Castle, with the Dragon approaching to take her in
tow; and still further to-leewardy at about an equal
distance, lay the Malta, Thunderer, two frigates, and
prizes, all of whom were out of sight of the admiral.

At 6 h. 30 m. A. M. the Prince-of-Wales, and the
ships with her, filled their main topsails; and at
8 A. M. the van-division, by signal, bore up to close
the former, which had then wore, and, under their

Posi

topsails were running to-leeward, to join the 1805. prizes and the ships with them. At 9 A. M., having July. concentrated his feet, the british admiral hauled up on the larboard tack, and steered about northeast; keeping between the franco-spanish fleet and his three disabled ships. Of these the WindsorCastle was in tow by the Dragon, the Firme, by the Sirius, and the San Rafaël, at present by the Egyptienne, who had recently taken charge of her from the Malta.

No sooner had the weathermost british ship bore up to join the prizes, than, imagining that the former, although under topsails only, were flying in disorder, “ fuyant en désordre,” the french admiral went with his staff on board the Hortense frigate, and calling to him all the other frigates, except the Didon, which latter had been sent ahead to reconnoitre, ordered them to inform his captains, that he meant to bring on a decisive action, and that they were to lay their ships as close as possible alongside of the

While the five frigates were hailing the line-of-battle ships successively, to acquaint them, “au porte-voix,” with their chief's intention, the Didon, confiding in her superior sailing, had approached very near to the british fleet; so near, that the Triumph, at ll A.M., for the want of a frigate to perform the office, tacked and chased her

away. Towards noon the wind veered more to the north-Indicaward and got very light, and a heavy swell came of a reon from the same quarter. At a few minutes past newed noon the combined fleet, formed in order of battle, bore up towards the british fleet, then about four leagues off in the east-south-east; but, owing to the distance, and to the extreme lightness of the breeze, it was not until 3 h. 10 m. P.M. that the advance of the French and Spaniards was noticed by the British. Immediately the ships of the latter hoisted their colours, and hauled closer to the wind, awaiting the

enemy.*

tions

contest

* Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xvi. p. 142,

FranCo-spanish fleet

1805, expected attack. At 4 P. m. however, the ships of

the combined fleet, with colours also hoisted, and July.

then distant about three leagues from their oppo.
nents, hauled to the wind on the same tack as the

british ships; thus evidently declining, for the predecline sent, a renewal of the engagement. For a fact so im the of- portant, and so utterly at variance with the statement engage at first given out by the French, some authority may

be requisite. “A midi, toute la flotte prit chasse
sur l'ennemi, qu'on estimait à trois lieues et demie:
le vent était faible.

A quatre heures, on n'avait
encore gagné qu'une lieue à l'escadre anglaise; il
n'y avait par conséquent pas d'espoir de l'atteindre
avant la nuit, mais on pouvait au moins l'approcher
davantage ; cependant Villeneuve fit signal à la
flotte de serrer le vent, son intention étant de n’at.
taquer l'ennemi que le lendemain; ce signal étonna
autant qu'il affligea les officiers et les marins; on
prévit dès lors qu'on ne parviendrait plus à joindre
l'ennemi."*

The british admiral resumed his course to the meet- north-east, but was soon driven from it by a change of ing. wind; which, commencing about midnight at north,

became, by 8 A. M. on the 24th, north-north-east, and wind- occasionally north-east, but it was very moderate, but re- amounting almost to a calm. This brought the comfuse to bined fleet nearly astern of the british feet; which

was now to-windward, and might, in all probability, sively. have renewed the action. No attempt of the kind was

made. Sir Robert, for reasons that will appear pre-
sently, continued with his prizes, under easy sail,
working towards a british port, steering about south-
east by east. The combined fleet had steered the
same course as the british fleet until 8 A. M.: the

ships then edged away and steered south-east by Fleets south. At 4 P. M.

At 4 P. M. one ship only of the francospanish fleet was in sight of the british fleet, and by 6 P. M. the two fleets had wholly disappeared from each other.

* Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xvi.

Third

day of

from

British to

act offen

separate.

th

143,