Day of Decision: The Battle of Trafalgar
The Peace of Amiens, signed on March 25th, 1802, ended the French Revolutionary War that had been raging between France and Britain and her continental allies for nearly nine years. The treaty, beyond confirming “peace, friendship, and good understanding” arranged for the restoration of prisoners and hostages. Britain gave up much of the West Indies to the Batavian Republic and also withdrew from Egypt but was granted Trinidad and Tobago and Ceylon. France withdrew from the Papal States. The treaty fixed the borders of French Guiana. Malta, Gozo, and Comino were restored to the Order of St. John and the islands were declared neutral.
Much of the Royal Navy was disbanded, its ships laid up, the crews paid off. But the Treaty of Amiens only gave a fourteen month respite in hostilities. The fragile peace collapsed and Britain hastily reassembled her fleet to blockade French ports while Napoleon, now Emperor of the French, assembled a Grande Armee along with 2000 sailing craft with which to cross the English Channel for the invasion of Britain. All Napoleon needed was control of the channel for a few hours to allow him to sail his army across.
In order to secure the naval superiority that he needed, Napoleon ordered the commander of the Toulon Squadron, Admiral Villeneuvel, to break out of the British blockade, make his way to the Atlantic, break the blockades of Brest, Rochefort, and Ferrol, freeing the fleets in those ports, and then, with the combined fleet, secure naval superiority in the channel at Boulogne to allow the passage of the Grande Armee to Britain. Instead, Villeneuvel picked up the Spanish fleet at Cadiz, passed through the straits of Gibraltar, and headed for the West Indies.
Admiral Horatio Nelson
The man commanding the British fleet at Toulon, Admiral Horatio Nelson, was already considered the greatest naval commander in history. At age 47, he had already won decisive victories at the Battle of the Nile, where he had destroyed the French fleet and thus bottled up Napoleon in Egypt, and at the Battle of Copenhagen, where he had destroyed the Danish Fleet, preventing that country from joining with France, He had lost both an eye and an arm in the service of his country.
Nelson had also provided the British people and press with a juicy scandal, having abandoned his wife Fanny for the company of Lady Emma Hamilton, with whom he had a child, named Horatia. Had it not been for his undoubted talents as a naval commander, such behavior would have likely gotten him cashiered.
Back and Forth across the Atlantic
When Villeneuvel broke out of Toulon, Nelson at first assumed that he was headed for Egypt. By May 10th, Nelson realized his mistake, turned his fleet about, and pursued Villeneuvel across the Atlantic. The French fleet arrived at the then French held island of Martinique, turned about, and headed back for Europe. Nelson doggedly pursued.
Attempting to break the blockade of Brest, on the Atlantic coast, Villeneuvel encountered a British fleet of 15 ships of the line under Vice Admiral Calder off Cape Finisterre. The action, fought on July 22nd, was inconclusive, with two of Villeneuvel’s ships captured and several British ships damaged. Villeneuvel decided not to press ahead to Brest, but instead headed for Ferrol.
Under orders from Napoleon, Villeneuvel sailed from Ferrol on August 10th for another attempt to break the blockade of Brest, combining his own fleet with the Brest Squadron, and head for the channel to facilitate the invasion of Britain. Instead, having become nervous over the presence of British frigates observing his movements, Villeneuvel headed for Cadiz, where he anchored later that month.
Along with Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood’s fleet that had been blockading Cadiz, Nelson arrived to lay in wait. His plan was to observe the Cadiz harbor with a force of frigates under Captain Blackwood, with his main fleet remained fifty miles offshore. Nelson’s hope was that Villeneuvel would be lured into another breakout attempt, in which case Nelson would engage and destroy the combined Franco-Spanish fleet.
The End of the Invasion Plans
Napoleon, seeing that he would not achieve even a brief naval superiority in the English Channel, and noting that Austrian and Russian armies were massing to invade France, decided to abandon hope of invading Britain. He turned the Grande Armee east to destroy the Austrians and the Russians.
Still wanting to make use of the naval power under Villeneuvel’s command, Napoleon ordered Villeneuvel to set sail for Naples, to support operations in southern Italy and to help guard Napoleon’s southern flank and he marched against Austria and Russia. On October 20th, badly disorganized, the combined Franco-Spanish fleet of thirty three ships of the line set sail.
The Battle of Trafalgar
Spotting the emergence of Villeneuvel’s fleet, Nelson gave chase. On August 21st, at about 8 AM, Villeneuvel suddenly decided that the Franco-Spanish Fleet should wear together, each ship turning about, and head back for Cadiz. This threw the fleet into further disorganization, so that after an hour and a half had passed, Villeneuvel’s ships were headed back toward Cadiz not so much in a line than in disorganized clumps. Nelson decided to pounce.
Ordinarily, the tactics for naval combat involved two fleet in line of battle sailing parallel to one another, exchanging broadsides of cannon fire until one or the other was defeated. For Trafalgar, though, Nelson decided on an entirely new tactic. He divided his fleet into two lines ahead, one commanded by Nelson on board the HMS Victory, the other by Admiral Collingwood on board the HMS Royal Sovereign. The two columns would approach the Franco-Spanish fleet in a perpendicular angle, cutting the enemy battle line in two places, concentrating fire on the French and Spanish ships, destroying them in turn. The disadvantage of the plan was that the British ships would be subject to French and Spanish broadsides during the approach.
Even so, Nelson hoisted the signal flags on the Victory, reading, “England expects every man will do his duty”, and began the attack. Because of the light wind, the British fleet’s approach was slow, almost stately in its pace.
At about noon, Collingwood’s column was the first to break the Franco-Spanish line and engaged the Santa Ana. The next ship, the Belle-Isle, was engaged by four enemy ships, lost masts, and was unable to fight further as the fallen sails had obscured her gun ports, Still, she refused to strike her colors and was rescued forty minutes later by the rest of Collingwood’s column.
Meanwhile, Nelson’s column broke the Franco-Spanish line and the Victory began to engage the Redoutable. The two ships locked masts as they exchanged broadsides. It was at this point that a French sniper shot Admiral Nelson through the left shoulder, breaking his spine, fatally wounding him. Nelson was carried below decks while the fight continued.
A general melee had ensued as British, French, and Spanish ships fired at each other at point blank range. But the superior gunnery of the British sailors provided the upper hand. By the late afternoon, twenty two French and Spanish ships had been captured and Admiral Villeneuvel taken prisoner. Dying below decks on board the Victory, Admiral Nelson was informed of the British triumph. Nelson’s last words were, “Thank God I have done my duty.” He died at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Aftermath
Britain’s triumph was tempered to a great degree by the loss of Nelson, a national hero even before Trafalgar, but now a man translated to the status of virtual demigod-hood Even so, despite his will, Nelson’s mistress Lady Hamilton received nothing and died ten years later in abject poverty.
Villeneuvel was taken to Britain as a captive. On his return to France, he was stabbed six times in the chest in an inn while journeying to Paris. The official verdict was suicide.
Napoleon’s triumphs on land were unaffected by Nelson’s victory. The day before Trafalgar he beat the Austrian Army at the Battle of Ulm. Two months later, he destroyed the combined Austrian and Russian Armies at Austerlitz. For the next seven years, Napoleon reigned supreme in Europe, racking up victory after victory. His invasion of Spain turned out to be a major blunder, tying up men and supplies in a guerrilla war against the Spanish and a conventional war against a British Army under one General Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington. His invasion of Russia in 1812 was an even bigger blunder, resulting in the virtual obliteration of the grande armee. By 1814 he was forced to abdicate and was exiled to the island of Elba. Less than a year later, Napoleon made a come back, overthrowing the restored French Monarchy, but was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. He spent the rest of his life in exile on the south Atlantic island of St. Helena.
Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar sealed British naval supremacy for over a hundred years. This supremacy did much to ensure relative peace in Europe so that the next all consuming conflagration did not occur until 1914.
