Review of Reviews, 1/10/13. 



NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES. 



809 



The Battle of Trafalgar : Death of Nelson, October 2 1 , 



1805. 



Trafalgar finally settled the question 

 of Britain's supremacy on the sea. The 

 combined fleets of France and Spain, 

 acting under express orders from Napo- 

 leon, started from Cadiz with the object 

 of destroying the English Fleet. They 

 were met by Nelson off Cape Trafalgar, 

 between Gibraltar and Cadiz, and, 

 thanks to his consummate strategy and 

 the high efficiency of his ships and men, 

 were utterly defeated. The Allies had 

 33 ships of the line and five frigates, 

 the British Fleet consisted of 27 ships, 

 almost all smaller than those of their 

 opponents. The victory was overwhelm- 

 ing, 18 ships were captured, and most 

 of the rest sunk. Nelson's famous sig- 

 nal, " England expects every man to do 

 his duty," will awake a thrill of pride 



as long as the Empire endures. Actu- 

 ally, Nelson wished to signal " confide " 

 instead of "expects," but as time was 

 short, and "Confi.de" would have to 

 be spelled out, whereas " Expects " was 

 in the vocabulary, he agreed to its sub- 

 stitution. As Admiral Mahan says, the 

 slightly mandatory " expects " is less 

 representative of the author of this re- 

 nowned sentence than the cordial and 

 sympathetic " confides." It is " allons " 

 rather than " allez." The victory was 

 dearly bought at the price of the death 

 of the leader, who, by universal consent, 

 is accounted the greatest sea captain the 

 world has known. Nelson's career of 

 triumphs thus reached a glorious close. 

 He passed away murmuring " God and 

 my country." 



Birth of Captain Cook, October 27, 1 728. 



James Cook, the famous navigator, 

 so closely associated with Australian 

 history, was born in Cleveland, York- 

 shire. In his early days he was appren- 

 ticed to a grocer, but soon left to join 

 the merchant service. After several 

 years at sea he joined the Navy, and, 

 by his ability and courage, gradually 

 rose to the post of commander. In 1768 

 Captain Cook was commissioned by the 

 British Government for survey work, 

 which he carried out chiefly in the 

 Pacific, where he made important dis- 

 coveries, annexing many places to the 

 British Empire. He was killed at 

 Hawaii in January, 1779. Besant thus 

 writes of him : — 



" No other sailor has ever so greatly 

 enlarged the borders of the earth. He 

 discovered the Society Islands ; he 

 proved New Zealand to be two islands 

 and he surveyed its coasts ; he followed 

 the unknown coasts of New Holland 



(Australia) for two thousand miles, and 

 proved that it was separated from New 

 Guinea ; he traversed the Antarctic 

 Ocean on three successive voyages, sail- 

 ing completely round the globe in its 

 higher latitudes, and proving that the 

 dream of the great Southern Continent 

 had no foundation unless it was close 

 round the pole, and so beyond the reach 

 of ships ; he discovered and explored a 

 great part of the coast of New Cale- 

 donia, he found the desolate island of 

 Georgia and Sandwichland, the south- 

 ernmost land yet known. He discovered 

 the fair and fertile archipelago called 

 Sandwich Islands ; he explored 3500 

 miles of the North American coast, and 

 he traversed the icy seas of the North 

 Pacific as he had done in the south, in 

 search of the passage which he failed 

 to discover All this without counting 

 the small islands he found scattered 

 about the Pacific." 



