The Royal Naval Association

1. The Royal Naval Association Southern Ontario Branch Welcome you to their 19th Annual Battle of Trafalgar

2. Trafalgar 200

3. October 21st, 1805 200 Years ago today

4. Admiral Lord Nelson’s Final Battle

5. October 21st, 1805 5.50 am – 8.30 am Distance between fleets 10 miles HMS Victory’s heading 067° , speed 3 knots

6. 0550 Dawn, lookouts high on mainmast spy the enemy 0610 Nelson signals “Form order of sailing in two columns” 0622 Nelson signals “Prepare for battle” 0642 French frigate Hermione signals her flagship Bucentaure “The enemy in sight to windward”

7. For all 47,000 men that morning, it felt like a day of destiny and decision. Ships of both fleets “cleared for action” French & Spanish 12 miles and British 22 miles off coast of southwest Spain. Nearest point was Cape Trafalgar, an Arabic name, meaning Point of the Cave, Taraf-al-Ghar.

8. Wind light northwesterly, approximately Force 2 or 3 blowing at 10 knots - but enough. A man-of-war could sail with a breeze so slight, it could just be felt on the windward side of a licked finger! 26 British ships-of-the-line were bearing down from windward......only one other, HMS Africa, having missed Nelsons signal and out of position was approaching from the north.

9. Main body of fleet was arranged a little raggedly, in two rough columns. Nelson was already on the quarterdeck of Victory, a slight grey-haired 47-year-old man, alert, wiry, anxious and intense, 5 feet four inches tall and irresistibly captivating in manner. Dressed in the coat with the four stars of his orders of knighthood embroidered in sequins, there was a drama to his presence.

10. The Right Honorable Lord Viscount Nelson K.B. Duke of Bronte in Sicily, Knight of the Great Cross of St Ferdinand & of Merit, Knight of the Order of the Crescent & of the Illustrious Orders of St Joachim, Vice-Admiral of the White and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels employed and to beemployed on the Mediterranean Station.

11. The Right Honorable Lord Viscount Nelson K.B. Duke of Bronte in Sicily, Knight of the Great Cross of St Ferdinand & of Merit, Knight of the Order of the Crescent & of the Illustrious Orders of St Joachim, Vice-Admiral of the White and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels employed and to beemployed on the Mediterranean Station.

12. October 21st, 1805 8.30 am – 9.30 am Distance between fleets 6.5 miles HMS Victory’s heading 034° , speed 2.5 knots

13. British Ships making slow progress eastward. Crews were struck by the beauty of the spectacle they were creating. Nelson commented again and again, how much the enemy were standing up for a fight, not running and scattering. On the ships poop decks, their bands played ‘Rule Britannia’, Britons Strike Home’ and ‘Hearts of Oak’

14. October 21st, 1805 9.30 am – 11.30 am Distance between fleets 5 miles HMS Victory’s heading 067° , speed 3 knots

15. Still five miles apart, maximum range for the heaviest guns was 2,000 yards, one nautical mile. There would be no battle, no death and no resolution before midday. In the Bellerophon, men chalked ‘Victory or Death’ on the barrels of their guns

16. Nelson’s instinct for ‘Confides’ rather than ‘Expects’ was right. To ‘expect’ is to command, but to ‘confide’ is to trust. However Lord Nelson, conscious that time was short, accepted the compromise and the famous signal was made. Collingwood at first complained Nelson was signaling too much. However when he realized the meaning of the signal, he welcomed it.

17. The heart of the idea survived the translation into flags. ‘England’ not ‘Britain’; ‘Duty’. Not ‘Obedience’; and ‘Every man’, not‘Every officer and man’as Henry Blackwood remembered it. The admiral, conscious time was short, accepted the compromise and the famous signal was made. ‘England’, ’expects’, ‘every’, ‘man’, ‘will’, ‘do’, ‘his’, all had designated flags. ‘Duty’ was spelled out with flags 4, 21,19 & 24

18. England Expects That

19. Every Man Will

20. Do His

21. D U T Y

22. October 21st, 1805 11.30 am – 12 noon Distance between fleets 2 miles HMS Victory’s heading 101° , speed 3 knots

23. Three ships astern of Victory, behind Téméaire, Neptune was the Leviatian. The ship was ready for battle. Hammocks had been stowed in upper deck nettings to provide soft bulwarks to absorb musket balls. Other nets had been spread above the deck to catch falling debris. Anti-boarding nets had been rigged. Cabins had been dismantled to give clear run from stem to stern on gundecks.

24. Animals were either slaughtered, sent down to the holds or thrown overboard. Nelson had at times, whilst on a chase, pushed bullocks overboard to lighten ship and clear them out of the way. This morning off Cape Trafalgar, Leviathan’s goat was explicitly saved from any such fate by her Captain, 39-years-old Henry Bayntun. Henry Bayntun, a forgotten figure now, but Nelson knew and trusted him, a very professional and compassionate officer.

25. October 21st, 1805 11.30 am – 12 noon Distance between fleets 2 miles HMS Victory’s heading 101° , speed 3 knots

26. Nelson prepares himself for the imminent battle, writing a letter to Emma, bringing his log book up to date and spending a few moments in quite prayer……..

27. May the Great God whom I worship, grant to my country and to the and for the benefit of Europe in general a great and glorious victory and may no misconduct in any one tarnish it and may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British Fleet, for myself, individually, I commit my lifeto him who made me and may his blessing light upon my endeavors for serving my country faithfully, to him I resign myself and the just causewhich is entrusted to me, to this end. Amen.

29. October 21st, 1805 Approximately 1.30 pm Lord Nelson was pacing the Quarter-deck of HMS VICTORY with Captain Hardy when he was mortally wounded by a musket ball, fired by a French sharp shooter from the REDOUTABLE. As the Battle raged on, he was carried below to the Orlop deck. Approximately 4.30 pm Lord Nelson died, but not before he received the news that the battle was won.  These events ensured both him and his ship HMS VICTORY immortality in British naval history. 

30. Nelson’s last words are a subject of considerable controversy. Upon receiving his wound, Lord Nelson was heard to say, “They have done for me at last, Hardy. My backbone is shot through.” As he lay dying in the orlop, he said, “Oh Victory! Victory! how you distract my poor brain.” According to several witnesses, his final order was: “Anchor, Hardy, anchor.”

31. Although he did say “Kiss me, Hardy”, they could not have been his last words as the captain was on deck when the admiral died. Dr Beatty insisted that before Lord Nelson slipped into delirium, he declared: “I have done my duty. I praise God for it”.

32. The day after the battle his body was, with the exception of his shirt, stripped of all clothing and examined by Victory's surgeon, William Beatty. Preserving the corpse for the journey home presented a problem. However Dr Beatty devised a clever plan. Nelson's body was placed into a large water cask, called a leaguer. It was then filled with brandy - a spirit known for its preservation qualities. Apertures were made at the top and bottom of the cask to permit removal and replenishment of fluid.

33. The leaguer was placed upright on the middle deck under the charge of a marine sentinel where it remained until the ship reached Gibraltar. There it was found that the body had absorbed a quantity of the brandy. This was replaced with spirits of wine, the best fluid available for preservation. On 3 November Victory sailed for England. Due to adverse weather, the passage took four and a half weeks, and the cask was refilled twice with two parts brandy to one part spirits of wine.

34. On 4 December the ship anchored at St Helens near Portsmouth. On 11 December Victory sailed to Chatham for repairs and Nelson's body was removed from the leaguer and examined for decay by Beatty. During the examination Beatty removed the fatal musket ball, complete with part of Nelson's epaulette. The body was then wrapped in a cotton vestment and bandages and placed into a lead coffin filled with brandy and a solution of camphor and myrrh. This lead coffin was put inside a wooden casket and placed in Nelson's day cabin.

35. However, the story of the Victory herself, one of the Navy’s most famous First Rate warships, is probably not so widely known.

36. Her last voyage brought her back into Portsmouth on 4 December 1812. Forty-seven years old (the same age as Nelson at his death), the ship was in need of considerable repair work.She was completelysurveyed at Portsmouth dockyard in 1813.

37. Victory was 'taken in hand' and put into dock where she underwent a 'great repair' between the years 1814 and 1816. From 1816 until 1824 she was laid up in ordinary reserve. After this date she became the flagship to the Port Admiral.

38. In 1889 she became the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Naval Home Command. Her position remains unaltered today except that now she acts as flagship to the Second Sea Lord/Commander-in-Chief, Naval Home Command, thus making her the oldest commissioned warship in the world.

39. Still afloat in 1905 as shown here with a “B” class submarine alongside her. In 1922 Victory was moved permanently into dry dock, where she remains to this day.

40. The End - Fin Researched, complied, produced and presented by Shipmate Norrie Millen

41. BUT…. its not really the end We have to thank the Naval Club for allowing us to stage this special event And all you wonderful people for supporting us in - Trafalgar 200

42. Have you paid your dues?

43. Have a wonderful evening folks!