1805 - Battle of Trafalgar


 
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Naval history of Great Britain - Vol. IV
by
William James
1805Battle of Trafalgar 26 

force off Cadiz was now at, its greatest height, 29 sail of the line; and the whole force under Lord Nelson's command, including the five ships recently gone to Gibraltar, amounted to 33 sail of the line. Since the 10th the Franco-Spanish fleet had moved to the entrance of the harbour, and evinced every disposition to put to sea the first opportunity. On the 14th Lord Nelson, as he had been directed, detached to England Sir Robert Calder, in the Prince-of-Wales, and on the 17th was obliged to send the Donegal to Gibraltar, to get a ground tier of casks. This done, the fleet under his lordship's immediate command consisted of the following 27 sail of the line, four frigates, one schooner, and one cutter:

Gun Ship  
100 Victory Vice-admiral (w) Lord Nelson K. B.
Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy.
Royal-Sovereign Vice-admiral (b.) Cuthbert Collingwood
Captain Edward Rotheram
Britannia Rear-admiral (w.) the Earl of Northesk.
Captain Charles Bullen.
98 Temeraire Captain Eliab Harvey.
Prince Captain Richard Grindall
Neptune Captain Thomas Francis Fremantle
Dreadnought Captain John Conn
80 Tonnant Captain Charles Tyler
74 Belleisle Captain William Hargood
Revenge Captain Robert Moorsom
Mars Captain George Duff
Spartiate Captain Sir Francis Laforey, Bart.
Defiance Captain Philip Charles Durham
Conqueror Captain Israel Pellew.
Defence Captain George Hope
Colossus Captain James Nicoll Morris
Leviathan Captain Henry William Bayntun
Achille Captain Richard King
Bellerophon Captain John Cooke
Minotaur Captain Charles John Moore Mansfield.
Orion Captain Edward Codrington
Swiftsure Captain William George Rutherford
Ajax Lieut. John Pilfold, acting:*
Thunderer Lieut. John Stockham, acting:*
64 Polyphemus Captain Robert Redmill
Africa Captain Henry Digby
Agamemnon Captain Sir Edward Berry.

Frigates: Euryalus, Naiad, Phoebe, and Sirius; Captains the Hon. Henry Blackwood, Thomas Dundas, the Hon. Thomas Bladen Capel, and William Prowse.

Schooner Pickle, Lieutenant John Richards Lapenotiere, and cutter Entreprenante, Lieutenant John Puver.

On the very day, on which Lord Nelson arrived to take command of the Mediterranean fleet, arrived at Cadiz a courier, with the French emperor's orders for M. Villeneuve to put to sea. These orders, it may be recollected had issued since the 17th

*  For Captains William Brown and William Lechmere, gone to England to attend as witnesses on Sir Robert Calder's court-martial.

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