Trafalgar Book

'I never trust a Corsican or a Frenchman' - Admiral Lord Nelson

21-OCT-1805 and the brutal Battle of Trafalgar took place. I have walked through Trafalgar Square in London so many times, looking up at Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson perched at the top of the column, and to my shame it is only just now, at the age of 44, that I have read about the battle. Trafalgar Square was constructed in 1840 to commemorate this legendary event. So, what of the book written by Alan Schom. There are, of course, a lot of facts to digest and it is a true history lesson and the actual battle at the end of the book is quite raw and will leave you a little shell-shocked.

William Pitt 'the Younger' (born on 28-MAY-1759) was prime minister between 1783-1801 and then from 1804-1806 so was prime minister while the Battle of Trafalgar raged. He read law at Cambridge and at the ae of 22 was elected to Parliament.

That pesky Frenchman, Napoleon, who seized control of the government in 1799, was busy re-organizing France. New schools, banks, businesses, tax collection system, public works and gearing himself up for 18-MAY-1804 when Pope Pius VII is summoned to Paris for the coronation and enthronement of the Imperial couple. Josephine was 41 years of age at this time.

Henry Addington was prime minister between 1801 and 1804 and in 1802 wanted peace with France at any cost and this was agreed at Amiens (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amiens). By 18-MAY-1803 things were not going so well and Napoleon is a little unhappy to say the least. He states that Britain had not evacuated Malta quickly enough thus breaking the Treaty. He starts getting tough and increasing tarrifs in ports. Napoleon himself is building his empire and then Britain declares war on France. Napoleons chief diplomat is the former bishop Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigaord (phew - apologies for any spelling errors). He actually opposed the hostilities with Britain in 1803. Napoleon ignored him. Oh to be an Emperor (nearly, he was not quite Emperor yet) but when he did make himself Emperor guess who was on the British throne? None other than mad King George III himself. He had came to the throne in 1760 at the age of 22. It was only 200 years later, in the 1960s no-less, that King's real problem was correctly diagnosed. He had something called porphyria which is a rare hereditary disease.

Now England needs to get its defences sorted (advice from General Dummouriez) and build dozens and dozens of ships if they are to match the number that Napoleon has projected that he will build. Napoleon was not one to respect naval officers but one he did was 43 year old Rear-Admiral Denis Decres. Napoleons loyal friend, Alexandre Berthier, was made Major-General of the Grand Armee in 1805. Still, both England and France had enormous trouble with getting their navies, ports and defences ready. The French were building all these ships but with no trained officers or crew to actually man them. He really wanted that 'a flotilla would be ready to carry an army of 125,000 men to Britain' by the end of SEP-1804.

Sir William Cornwallis was in-command of the number one fleet and it was his job to 'seize or destroy' all French vessels of war. There was another issue to deal with. The French were selling captured British vessels in Spanish ports and the crews were detained in Spanish prisons so Cornwallis ordered Graham Moore, the Captain of the ship Indefatigable to intercept and seize Spanish treasure ships returning from America to Cadiz (ancient port in south west Spain). Moore duly executed the order on 05-OCT-1804. Spain are now unhappy. Very unhappy in-fact and declare war against England on 12-DEC-1804.

On 04-JAN-1805 a Franco-Spanish pact was completed permitting military co-operation between the two countries.

Britain had been using blockades as a defensive measure but Admiral Villeneuve escapes one at Toulon. Nelson hears about this on 30-MAR-1805 and races to Cadiz. Villeneuve has sailed to Antigua capturing 15 British merchant ships. With Nelson hot on his tail Villeneuve flees back to Europe. Through the fog on 27-JUL-1805 Villeneuve runs into Admiral Robert Calder's fleet at Cape Finisterre where Calder wins a nominal victory but not a decisive one.

By this time on 02-SEP-1805 Nelson is back home in Merton. As they saying goes 'bad things come in threes'. It was back on 12-JUL-1794 that he was struck in the face and chest by splinters and stone from an enemy battery while laying siege just outside Calvi in Corsica. An injury to his left eye meant that he could only distinguish light and dark and not able to focus at all. The second injury happened three years later on 25-JUL-1797 when grape-shot (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapeshot)nearly severed his right arm at the elbow during the siege of Spanish capital of the Canaries, Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The injured arm had to be amputated immediately. I think we know what the third will be.

Hearing that the combined Franco-Spanish had been found at Cadiz he heads off and there he waits. On 18-OCT-1805 Admiral Villeneuve orders the combined fleet to sail and by the 20th the remainder of the fleet clears Cadiz. On 21-OCT-1805 Villeneuve goes north to face Nelson who is on HMS Victory. They pound Victory relentlessly. Here comes the third - a ball from a French sharpshooter's musket pierces Nelson's left shoulder. It goes through his lung and lodges in his spine and that will be the end of Nelson. The punishing fighting continues and finishes with England victorious but with Nelson and 448 British sailors dead and 1241 wounded. The Spanish had 1038 men killed and 1385 wounded. The French had 3370 dead and 1160 wounded.

Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was caught and was sent to England but released on parole until he was fully freed and returned to France until 22-APR-1806 he was found dead in a hotel in Rennes with six stab wounds. The verdict? Suicide. Hmmmm.