382 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



tition here. Lord Collingwood led 

 the van in the attack, and Nelson 

 exclaimed : — " Look at that noble 

 fellow! Observe the style ir which 

 he carries his ship into action !'" 

 Collingwood, enjoying the honour 

 of his situation, with equal spirit 

 said to his captain, " What would 

 Nelson give to bein our situation!" 

 The loss of the Royal Sovereign, 

 admiral Collingwood, in this ac- 

 tion, was five officers, twenty-nine 

 seamen, and nineteen marines, 

 killed ; eight officers, seventy sea- 

 men, and ten marines, wounded : 

 in all one hundred and forty-one. 

 Of nineteen vessels that struck, 

 only three Spanish and one French 

 seventy-four were sent to Gib- 

 raltar; all the others being either 

 burnt, sunk, or run on shore. 

 The humanity and piety of lord 

 Collingwood after this battle, 

 were not less conspicuous than 

 they were in Nelson ; and in his 

 letter to the Admiralty, detailing 

 the particulars of the action, he 

 laments the fall of the commander- 

 in-chief with great feeling. — 

 *' My heart (said he) is rent with 

 the most poignant grief for the 

 death of a friend, to whom, by 

 many years intimacy, and a per- 

 fect knowledge of the virtues of 

 his mind, which inspired ideas 

 superior to the common race of 

 men, I was bound by the strongest 

 ties of affection ; a grief to which 

 even the glorious occasion on 

 which he fell does not bring that 

 consolation which perhaps it 

 ought." The merit of this official 

 dispatch struck his majesty, who 

 observed, that "Collingwood'swas 

 an excellent letter." The last fact 

 we shall notice, vas the admiral's 

 humanity after the action to the 

 unfortunate prisoners, in shatter- 

 ed vessels, and exposed to a tre- 

 mendous ;torm. Lord Colling- 



wood's proposal to the governor 

 of Cadiz to receive them into 

 hospitals, was most gratefully re- 

 ceived ; and the Spanish people, 

 in a spontaneous burst of enthu- 

 siastic admiration of the English, 

 although their enemies, sent every 

 assistance to the English fleet, in 

 wines, fruit, and refreshments, to 

 comfort the wounded and sick. 

 The well-meritedeulogiums which 

 have been pronounced on lord 

 Coliingwood's professional talents 

 are sufficiently known. By lord 

 Hood it was observed, that " he 

 only wanted the opportunity to 

 prove himself a second Nelson." 

 After the battle of Trafalgar, he 

 was raised to the rank of admiral 

 of the Red, created baron Col- 

 lingwood of Coldburn and Heth- 

 pole, in Northumberland, and a 

 grant of 2,000/. a year voted to 

 him during his own life, 1,000/. 

 to his lady, and 500/. to each of 

 his daughters. During the last 

 five years, he has scarcely ever 

 been on shore; and in one of his 

 letters to a friend, he observes, 

 "since 1793,1 have been only one 

 year at home. To my own children 

 1 am scarcely known ; yet, while 

 I have health and strength to serve 

 my country, I consider that health 

 and strength due to it; and if I 

 serve it successfully as I ever have 

 done faithfully, my children will 

 not want friends." His natural 

 diffidence and unassuming cha- 

 racter induced a rather disadvan- 

 tageous opinion of real merit ; he 

 despised ostentation, and evinced 

 a kind of patriarchal simplicity in 

 his whole conduct. To the chari- 

 table institutions of Newcastle he 

 has been a most liberal benefactor, 

 and has also subscribed to raise a 

 monument to his master the late 

 rev. Mr. Moises. His noble title is 

 now extinct; but therecords of his 



