Famous Sea Fights, from Salamis to Tsu-Shima

by A. Hilliard Atteridge

The memorandum shows that Nelson originally contemplated a formation in three lines, an advanced division to windward, a main division under his personal command, and a lee division under his second-in-command, Collingwood. The final grouping of the ships in the battle was in two divisions. In the following list of the British fleet the names of ships are arranged in the same order in which they appear in Collingwood's dispatch, written after the action:—

	Windward Line.
Ships.	Guns.		Commanders.
Victory	100		Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson. Captain Hardy.
Téméraire	098		Cap"ain Harvey.
Neptune	098		Cap"ain Fremantle.
Leviathan	074		Cap"ain Bayntun.
Conqueror	074		Cap"ain Pellew.
Britannia	100		Rear-Admiral Lord Northesk. Captain Bullen.
Agamemnon	064		Cap"ain Sir E. Berry.
Ajax	064		Lieutenant Pilfold.
Orion	074		Captain Codrington.
Minotaur	074		Cap"ain Mansfield.
Spartiate	074		Cap"ain Sir F. Laforey.
Africa	064		Cap"ain Digby.
	Leeward Line.
Ships.	Guns.		Commanders.
Royal Sovereign	0100		Vice-Admiral Collingwood. Captain Rotherham.
Belleisle	074		Cap"ain Hargood.
Mars	074		Cap"ain Duff.
Tonnant	080		Cap"ain Tyler.
Bellerophon	074		Cap"ain Cooke.
Colossus	074		Cap"ain Morris.
Achille	074		Cap"ain King.
Dreadnought	098		Cap"ain Conn.
Polyphemus	064		Cap"ain Redmill.
Revenge	074		Cap"ain Moorsom.
Swiftsure	074		Cap"ain Rutherford.
Defiance	074		Cap"ain Durham.
Thunderer	074		Lieutenant Stockham.
Defence	074		Captain Hope.
Prince	098		Cap"ain Grindall.
Besides one frigate of 38 guns, three of 36, and two brigs of 12 and 8 guns.

This was the fleet that lay off Cape Sta. Maria, some fifty miles from Cadiz, on Saturday, 19 October, 1805, and received from the frigates watching the port the message, passed on by connecting ships, that the enemy was at last coming out.

Villeneuve, like Nelson, had originally divided his fleet into three divisions. On the day of battle it fought in an order which was (as we shall see) partly the result of chance, arrayed in a long double line. He had deliberately mixed together in his array the French and Spanish units of his fleet, to avoid the dangers that might arise from mutual jealousies if they were drawn up in divisions apart. Instead of giving the list of his fleet according to the ordre de bataille drawn up in Cadiz harbour long before the event, it will be more convenient to arrange the list as they actually lay in line from van to rear on the day of battle.

The following, then, is the list of the allied Franco-Spanish fleet:

	Ships.	Guns.		Commanders.
*	Neptuno	080
	Scipion	074		Captain Bellanger.
	Intrépide	074		Commodore Infernet.
	Formidable	080		Rear-Admiral Dumanoir le Pelley. Captain Letellier.
*	Rayo	100		Commodore Macdonel.
	Duguay-Trouin	074		Captain Touffet.
	Mont Blanc	074		Commodore La Villegris.
*	San Francisco de Asis	074		Captain de Flores.
*	San Agustino	074		Cap"ain Cagigal.
	Héros	074		Cap"ain Poulain.
*	Santisima Trinidad	130		Rear-Admiral Cisneros. Commodore de Uriarte.
	Bucentaure	080		Vice-Admiral Villeneuve. Captain Magendie.
	Neptune	080		Commodore Maistral.
	Redoutable	074		Captain Lucas.
*	San Leandro	064		Cap"ain Quevedo.
*	San Justo	074		Cap"ain Gaston.
	Indomptable	080		Commodore Hubert.
*	Santa Ana	112		Vice-Admiral de Alava.
	Fougueux	074		Captain Baudouin.
*	Monarca	074		Cap"ain Argumosa.
	Pluton	074		Commodore Cosmao Kerjulien.
†	Algéciras	074		Rear-Admiral Magon. Captain Letourneur.
* †	Bahama	074		Commodore Galiano.
†	Aigle	074		Captain Gourrège.
† ‡	Swiftsure	074		Cap"ain Villemadrin.
†	Argonaute	074		Cap"ain Epron.
* †	Montanez	074		Cap"ain Alcedo.
* †	Argonauta	080		Cap"ain Pareja.
†	Berwick	074		Commodore Filhol-Camas.
†	San Juan Nepomuceno	074		Comm"dore de Churucca.
†	Ildefonso	074		Comm"dore de Vargas.
†	Achille	074		Captain Deniéport.
†	Principe de Asturias	112		Admiral Gravina. Rear-Admiral Escaño.
	Besides five 40-gun frigates and two corvettes, one of 18, the other of 16 guns.
*	Names of Spanish ships are distinguished by being marked with an asterisk.
†	Ships of the "Squadron of Observation" originally intended to act independently under Gravina.
‡	Formerly British.

So far as mere figures can show it, the relative strength of the opposing fleets may be thus compared:—

	Line of Battle.		Lighter Ships.
	Ships.	Guns.	Frigates.	Guns.	Brigs and corvettes.	Guns.
British fleet	27	2148	4	146	2	20
Allied fleet	33	2626	5	200	2	30

But here once more—as so often happens in naval war—the mere reckoning up of ships and guns does not give the true measure of fighting power. The British fleet was immeasurably superior in real efficiency, and the French and Spanish leaders knew this perfectly well.