1805. 



State of Public /{fairs in November^ 1805. 



471 



but my heart is rent with the moft 

 poignant grief for the death of a friend, 

 to whom, by many years intimacy, and a 

 perfe«" knowledge of the virtues of his 

 mint", vvhich inlpired ideas fuperior to the 

 xommon race of men, 1 was bound by the 

 ' ftrongeft ties of aff^aion ; a grief to 

 which even tlie glorious occafion in 

 which he fell, do'-s not bring the confo- 

 latioii which periiaps it ousht. His Lord- 

 ftip received a muJket-ball in his left breaft, 

 about the middle of the a£lion, and fent an 

 officer to me iinm^diately with his laft fare- 

 we! ; and foon after expired." 



I have alio to lament the lofs of thofe ex- 

 cellent officers. Captains Duft", of the Mars, 

 and Coolce, of the Beliercphon. I have yet 

 Iieaid of none others. 



I fear the numbers that have fallen will be 

 found yerv great, when the returns come to 

 me ; but it having blown a gale of wind ever 

 fince th° afiion, 1 have not yet had it in my 

 power t. colleft any reports from the fliips. 



The Ro\al Soverei.;n having loft her mai^s, 

 except the tottering foremaft, Icalled the Eii- 

 ryaius :o me, while the a£lion continued, 

 wliich /hipilying within hail, made my fig- 

 nals, a fervice Captain Blackwood performed 

 with great attention. After the aclion I 

 fliifted my flag to her, that I might more 

 eafily commur.icate my orders to, and colleft, 

 the fliips, and towed the Royal Sovereign out 

 to feav/ard. The whole fleet were now in a 

 very perilous iltuation ; many difmafted, all 

 ftattered, in thirteen fathom water, oft the 

 /hoals of Trafalgar j and when I made the 

 fi.^nal to prepare to anchor, few of the ftips 

 li"jd an anchor to let go, their cables being 

 fhot : but the fame good Piovidence which 

 aided us through fuch a day, preferved us in 

 the night, by the wind fhifting a few points, 

 and drifting the Ihips off the land, except four 

 of the captured difmafted fliips, which are now 

 at anchor oft" Trafalgar, and I hope will ride 

 fafe until thefe gales are over. 



Having thus detailed the proceedings of the 

 fleet on this occafion, I beg leave to congra- 

 tulate their Lordfliips on a viftory which I 

 hope v.'ill add a ray to the glory of His Ma- 

 jcfty's' Crown, and be attended with public 

 benefit to our Country. 



I am, &c. 

 (Signed) C. CoLLlNGWooD. 

 Wilham Marfdia, Efj. 



Euryalus, off C.idjs, 

 $IR, .6i7. 24, 1895. 



In my letter of the 22H inftant I detailed 

 to you, for the information of my Lords 

 Comraiirioners of the Admiralty, the proceed- 

 i i'S of His Majtfty's .Squadron on the day of 

 ; .e .iClion, and that prcLcding it ; fince which 

 . 'lave hid a con inucd feries of misfortunes, 



t they are of a kind that human prudence 

 "ul|d Diit poflibiy provide ajjaiiiil, or my ikill 

 ; ■■.^ent. 



On the 2id, in the morning, a ftronj 

 foutherly wind blew, with fq aally weathsr, 

 which, liowever, did not prevent the aftivity 

 of the officers and feamen of fuch (hips as were 

 manageable froru getting hold of many of the 

 ■prizes ("thirteen or fourteen), and towing 

 them oft" to the weftward, where I ordered 

 them to rendezvous round the Royal Sove- 

 reign, in tow by the Neptune ; but on the 

 23d the gale increafed, and the fea ran fo high, 

 that .many of them broke the tow rope, and 

 drifted far to leeward before they were got 

 hold of again ; and fome of them, taking ad- 

 vantage in the dark and boifterous night, got 

 before the wind, and have perhaps drifted up- 

 on the (horc and funk. On the afternoon of 

 that day the remnant of tlie Combined Fleet, 

 ten fail of fliips, which had not been much 

 engaged, ftood up to leeward of my fliattited 

 and ftraggled charge, as if meaning to attack 

 them, which obliged me to colleft a force 

 out of the le.''lt injured, (hips, a.id form to 

 leeward for their defence. All this retarJe4 

 the progrefs of the hulks ; and the bad wea- 

 ther continuing, determined me to deftroy all 

 the leewardmoft that could be cleared of the 

 men, confidering the keeping pofl'sffion of the 

 Jhips was a matter of little confequenre com- 

 pared with the chance of their falling again 

 into the hands of the enemy ; but even this 

 was an arduous tafk in the high fea which 

 was running. I hope, however, it has been 

 accomplilhed to a confiderable extent : I en- 

 trufted it to ikiiful officers, who would fpare 

 no pains to execute what was poffible. The 

 Captains of the Prince and Neptune cleared 

 t)ie Trinidad and funk her. Capta'ns Hope, 

 Biyntun, and Malcolm, who joined the fleet 

 this moment from Gibraltar, had the charge 

 of deftroying four others. ■ The Santa Anna, 

 I have no doubt, is funk, as her fide was al- 

 moft beat in ; and fuch is the fliatlered con- 

 dition of the v/hole of them, that, unlefs the 

 weather moderates, I doubt whether 1 fhall 

 be able to carry a fiiip of them into port, j 

 hope their Lordihips will approve of what I 

 (having only in coiifidcration the dedruftioii 

 of the enemy's fleet) have thought a meafure 

 of abfolute necclfiCy. 



I have taken Admiral Villeneuve into this 

 fliip. Vice-Admiral Don Aliva is dead — r 

 Whenever the temper of tlie weather will 

 permit, and I can fpare a frigate (for there 

 I were o.nly four in the aftion with the fleet, 

 Euryalua, Syrijs, Phtebe, and Naiad : the 

 Melpomene joined the i2d, and the Euridice 

 and Scout the 2?d), I rtiall coUeft the othtr 

 flag-officers, and fend them to England, with 

 their fla;;s (if they do not all go to the bot- 

 tom), to be laid at His Majc.ty's feet. 



There were four thoufa'id troops embark- 

 ed, under the command of General Contamin, 

 who was taken with Adrr.iral Villeneuve ii\ 

 the Bucentaure. 1 am, S:c. ' 



(Signed) C. CoLLiNCWooD. 



pyUliam Mjrjden, Ej^. 



The 



