1805!} 



Memoirs of Lord Nelfon, 



443 



enemy's fhips were fought with a gallantry 

 liighly ho.iourable to tlieir officers : but the 

 attack on them was irrefiftible, and it pieafed 

 the Almighty Difpofer of all events to grant 

 Kis Majefty's arms a complete and glo ous 

 viftory. Abou: three P. M. maoy of the 

 enemy's Ih ps having ftruck tneir colours, 

 their line give way. Admiral Gravin: wi*n 

 ten (hips, joining th^ir frigates to let ward, 

 liood towards Cadiz. The five headmoft (hips 

 in their van tacked, and, ftandmg to the 

 fouchward, to windward of the Eritifh line, 

 Were engaged, and the (fermioll of them 

 taken : the others went off, leaving to His 

 Majefty's fquadron nineteen (hips of the line, 

 of which two arc firltrates, the Santiflima 

 Trinidada ano the Santa Anna, with three 

 flag officers viz.. Admiral Villeneuve, the 

 commander-in-chief, Don Ignatio iMaria 

 D'Aliva, vice-admiral, and the Spani(h rear- 

 admiral Don Balcazar Hidalgo Cifneros. 



<' After fuch a vi(?ory it may appear unne- 

 cefTary to eiiCer into encomiums on the parti- 

 cular parts tjken by the feveral Command- 

 ers ; the conclufion fays more on the fubjeft 

 than I have language to exprefs ; the fpirit 

 which animated all was the fame : when all 

 exert thennfeives zealoufiy in their country's 

 frrvice, all deferve that their high merits 

 fliould ftand recorded ; and never was high 

 merit more confpicuous than in the battle I 

 have defcribcd. 



'< The Achille, a French 74,, after having 

 furrendered, by fome mifmanagement of 

 the Frenchmen, took fire and blew up.—. 

 Two hundred of her men were faved by the 

 tenders. 



'• A circumftance occurred during the ac- 

 tion, which fo ftrongly marics the invin- 

 cible fpirit of Britilh feamen, when engag- 

 ing the enemies of their country, that I 

 cannot refift the pleafure I have in making 

 it knov/n to tb;ir Lorddiips :— The Teme- 

 raire was boarded, by accident or defign, by 

 a French (hip on one lide and a Spaniard on 

 the other j the contelt was vigorous, but, 

 in the end, the combined enfigns were torn 

 from the poop, and the liriiilh hoi(ted in 

 their places. 



•• Such a battle could not be fought with- 

 out fullaining a great lofs of men. I have 

 not only to lament, in common with the 

 Briti(h navy and the Hricilh nation, in the 

 fall of the Commander in Chief, the lofs 

 of a hero, whofe name will be immortal, 

 and his memory ever dear to his country ; 

 but my lieart is rent with the mod 

 poignant grief for the death of a friend, 

 to whom, by many years intimacy, and a 

 perfedt knowledge of the virtues of bis 

 mind, v/hicli infpircd ideas fupcrior to the 

 common race of men, 1 wjs bound by the 

 Uroni;tll tics of afTtrflion ; a grief to 

 which even the glorious oualioa ia 



which he fell, does not bring the confo- 

 lation which perhaps it ought. His Lord- 

 fhio received a mulket ball in his left breaft, 

 about the middle of the adtion, and fent aa 

 officer to me imm.-diitely wiih his iaft fare- 

 wel ; aiid foon after exjjired." 



Tiiu* (ell glohonfly, on his own q'.nr- 

 ter-deck, ?ifter a long and obllinate con- 

 left, and at tne very moment when the 

 gie-»ielt nava. vicl iry ever ohtiined he- 

 fire by his country had been achieved, 

 Horatia Lord Vncount Neil'on, on the 

 2ift ot 061obrr, 1805. He dropoed by 

 a inuflcet-rtiot, that entered bel «■ his left 

 fhouldei , and, from the a-armi.ig pofinon 

 of the w'u.-.d, afforded from the iir(t but 

 litrle hopes of fiiccef<. T e Iaft awful 

 fceiie WIS jvorihy of his former life.— 

 Wiien carried neiow, the lurgeons being 

 bufied about others, he waved every i.iea 

 of rank and fupcrioritv, and defireJ to be 

 attended in r^ta ion. When he learned. 

 Ills fare, not fro. 11 the mouth, but the 

 countenance, of his medic <1 attendant, 

 h s mind was f^ill occupied with the fame 

 earneftnef' as before aWiUi- the difcharge 

 of hi^ public fandions. It was -with this 

 view hat he c .minunicattd his fittiation 

 to Admiral Coliingwood, the frcond in 

 command, and gave orders to all around 

 him. His mind feemed loo hed on 'lis be- 

 ing ;old that the arms of his country had 

 fo comoietely triumphed, that fifteen fail 

 of the enemy were then in the power of 

 his fleet ; and, after fome kin' nbfeiva- 

 tions refpeiSling prefent, and tender ad'eus 

 to al)fent, friends, the Hero br a: hed hi» 

 la It ! 



No feaman recorded in our naval annafj 

 ever lufFeied fo much in pen'un, or acquir- 

 ed fo much in glory. The lofs of an eye, 

 an arm, a wound on the forehead, and fe« 

 vcrni con'Ufions in ihe body, are fo many 

 proofs of the truth of .he for.nerhfrertion; 

 the c p'ure of fbrty.feven fail of the line, 

 one hundred and t-ienty- four anions by 

 fea -HPif land, among which "--re four mt- 

 moraile pi'ch'rd b.t tl; , in thiee of which 

 h-- comm Hilled, — S . Vincent's, A'-'nikir, 

 C penhagei), a. d th.t in which he at once 

 tiiumphtdand tell,— afeft the julUce of 

 the latter 



His Mijelty has already conferred the 

 well earned t;tle of Earl of Fnf l^aron 

 his brii'her ; and it is 1 > be h ped that his 

 memoiy wdl ne perpetua ed, and his ex- 

 ample rec irded tor the imi'a-io 1 of ouf 

 navil jt.miiianders during t ic ^^ic €• t and 

 futuit apes wi . a lainificencc worthy of 

 a great and giatctul nation. 



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PROCEEDINGS 



