1805 - Battle of Trafalgar


 
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Naval history of Great Britain - Vol. IV
by
William James
1805 Battle of Trafalgar 79

that were captured, not one has her loss stated in the British official account ; and neither the French nor the Spaniards, except in the case of the Redoutable and of one or two Spanish ships, have published any returns. It is therefore impossible for us to do more than point to the effects of the British shot upon the majority of the French and Spanish ships, deducible from the state of their masts and rigging already so fully described ; leaving it to be inferred, that the antagonist of a British ship seldom has her masts shot away, until her hull has been greatly shattered, and a large proportion of her crew killed or disabled.

While the British ships are securing their prizes, and getting the latter and themselves into a state to keep the sea ; and while the more fortunate of the French and Spanish ships are profiting by the occasion to effect their escape from the scene of so much disaster, we will conduct the reader to the cockpit of the Victory,

Ships Loss     Bowsprit, lower and top masts and their yards First lieutenants
Weather column Kill. Tot. Tot. Shot away Left tottering  
Victory 57 102 159 Mizen topmast Mizenmast John Quilliam
Edward Williams
Andrew King
John Yule
Téméraire 47 76 123 Main & head of mizenmasts, foretopsail & fore yds.   Thomas Kennedy
Neptune 10 34 44     George Acklom
Leviathan 4 22 26 Mizentopsail yard   Eyles Mounsher
Britannia 10 42 52     Arthur Atchison
Conqueror 3 9 12 Mizen topmast   James Couch.
Africa 18 44 62 Maintopsail yard All three lower masts John Smith
Agamemnon 2 8 10     Hugh Cook
Ajax 2 9 11     Jerem. Brown
Orion 1 23 24 Maintopsail yard   Richard Croft.
Minotaur 3 22 25 Foretopsail yard   James Stuart
Spartiate 3 20 23   Main topmast John M'Kerlie.
Lee column            
Royal-Sovereign 47 94 141 Main and mizen masts and fore topsail yard Foremast John Ellis.
William Stephens.
Belleisle 33 93 12 All three masts & bowsprit & bowsprit   Thomas Fife
Mars 29 69 98 Main topmast and spanker-boom. Foremast Benjamin Patey.
Tonnant 26 50 76 Three topmasts &   John Bedford
Bellerophon 27 123 150 Main & miz. topmasts Fore topmast Edward F Edmund Thomas
Colossus 40 160 200 Mizenmast Fore & main masts Wm. W Daniel
Achille 13 59 72     Thos. Rd. Toker
Dreadnought 7 26 33 Maintopsail yard   John Clavell
Polyphemus 2 4 6     George, Mowbray
Revenge 28 51 79     Lewis Hole
Swiftsure 9 8 17 Mizen Topmast   James Lilburne
Defiance 17 53 70     William Hellard.
Thunderer 4 12 16     John Clark.
Defence 7 29 36     James Green.
Prince 0 0 0     William Godfrey.
Total 449 1241 1690      

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