Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar — Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson Did His Duty

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Spain had joined France when it declared war on Britain in 1804, and the following month the two continental powers signed a secret treaty whereby King Charles IV agreed to provide Napoleon with between 25 and 29 ships of the line. With the addition of the Spanish ships, the French and Spanish admirals would have larger, more heavily armed ships than their British counterparts. What’s more, the French ships were of better design and faster under sail than the British ships. If used properly, they might offset British experience. Anticipating that Nelson would try to cut his line, Villeneuve had formed a 12-ship reserve, which he called a’squadron of observation.’ If properly led, it might be able to neutralize Nelson’s attack by counterattacking the British.

When the French departed Cadiz, the vanguard of their fleet was commanded by Spanish Vice Adm. Ignacio de Alava aboard Santa Ana, the center under Villeneuve aboard Bucentaure, the rear under Rear Adm. Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley aboard the 80-gun Formidable and the squadron of observation under Admiral Federico Gravina aboard the 112-gun Principe de Asturias. When the fleet reversed course, it put Dumanoir’s division in the van and should have put Alava’s in the rear. Gravina, however, swung into the rear instead of taking up a position windward as Villeneuve had instructed. As the battle unfolded, the Combined Fleet missed two key opportunities. One was that the van under Dumanoir could have fallen upon the British rear, and the other was that Gravina’s squadron of observation could have reinforced the Franco-Spanish line either in the center or the rear where the British attacked. Those missed opportunities would cost the Combined Fleet the battle.

As Victory passed astern of Bucentaure, one of the former’s gunners pulled the lanyard on a 68-pounder carronade on the forecastle port side, sending a deadly short-range combination of one massive ball and 500 musket balls through Bucentaure’s stern and across its deck. That carronade blast was followed by a double-shotted broadside from Victory fired at point-blank range into the French flagship’s stern. That crippling first broadside killed or wounded upward of 200 of Bucentaure’s crew and dismounted 20 of its guns. The French ship’s misery was compounded in the course of the next hour as broadsides from five more British ships shredded its hull and masts.

The French maneuvered in vain to rescue Bucentaure. The 84-gun Neptune fired a broadside that splintered Victory’s foremast and bowsprit, while Captain Jean Jacques Lucas steered the 74-gun Redoutable into position to have his crew board the British man of war. Hardy accepted the challenge and ordered his crew to steer Victory so that its starboard side would come alongside Redoutable’s. Victory’s bow rammed Redoutable’s port bow, and the two ships locked yardarms. In a scene that was to be repeated often throughout the battle, Lucas and his men tried to disable Victory by annihilating the crew that controlled the ship from its upper deck. While Victory’s gun crews poured shot into Redoutable, sharpshooters and grenadiers perched in Redoutable’s tops fired their muskets at any human target they could spot on Victory’s deck.

More ships joined the expanding battle in the center. The 98-gun British Temeraire cut sharply through the enemy line behind Victory. In the process, it took a broadside from Neptune that brought its main topmast crashing down. Despite the damage, Temeraire was able to take up a position opposite Victory on Redoutable’s starboard side, from which it began to fire a number of effective broadsides. As the fighting progressed, Temeraire and Redoutable became locked together when their masts fell across each other. The ships gradually drifted leeward until Temeraire crashed into Fougueux, a refugee from the action begun by Royal Sovereign farther down the line. This created the rare spectacle of four ships of line locked together in battle.

An unidentified sharpshooter perched in the mizzen top of Redoutable fired a shot from his musket that struck Nelson in the chest at 1:25 p.m. as he and Hardy walked the quarterdeck.

‘I hope you’re not wounded, my Lord?’ Hardy cried.

‘They have done for me at last, Hardy,’ Nelson gasped.

‘I hope not!’

‘Yes,’ Nelson said. ‘My backbone is shot through.’

Hardy ordered Nelson carried down to the orlop, the lowest deck, where he would be protected from gunfire.

On the upper decks, the battle seemed to be going Lucas’ way as Victory’s crew was forced to abandon a dozen 12-pounders on the quarterdeck and retreat below. Lucas organized a boarding party, cut the main yard for a bridge, and prepared to board. Victory had a larger crew than Redoutable, however, and Royal Marines and sailors repulsed the attack. Lucas then tried to board Temeraire, only to fail again. Through repeated broadsides, Temeraire eventually forced both French ships to strike their colors, but Lucas and his crew had inflicted so much damage on Temeraire and Victory that neither ship was able to play a significant role in the second half of the battle.

Although the British seemed most hard pressed at the point where Victory cut through the Franco-Spanish line and Nelson was mortally wounded, that was not the case. The ships of the leeward column, which immediately followed Royal Sovereign through the line, were to suffer the most. Royal Sovereign managed to overpower Santa Ana, but Belleisle and Mars, which followed closely behind it at about 12:15 p.m., were severely handled by their French adversaries, Fougueux and the 74-gun Pluton, respectively.

Santa Ana was pure ‘Spanish perfection,’ wrote Collingwood after the battle. ‘She towered over the Royal Sovereign like a castle.’ As it passed Santa Ana’s stern, Royal Sovereign fired a broadside from its port side into the rear of the Spanish three-decker. The blast wrecked 14 of the ship’s guns and killed nearly 100 of its crew. The 74-gun Belleisle followed closely, firing another broadside through Santa Ana’s stern. Royal Sovereign then took up a position on Santa Ana’s leeward side, and the two remained locked in combat for nearly two hours before the Spanish ship struck its colors.

Belleisle, under the command of Captain William Hargood, was the next to enter close combat. As it sailed through the enemy line, Fougueux struck it amidships. The bowsprit of the French ship made a screeching sound like a wounded animal while it was dragged along Belleisle’s quarterdeck. Once locked together, the two ships proceeded to demolish each other with cannon fire. While engaged with Fougueux, Belleisle was subjected to broadsides from a half dozen other enemy ships. Belleisle lost all three masts, while Fougueux lost two before finally managing to break free. Although it appeared that Belleisle would have to strike its colors, Hargood and his men held on until other British ships distracted their attackers.

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Tags: 19th Century, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures, Napoleonic Wars

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