[84] The Téméraire, from which the Trafalgar Téméraire took her name, was a French 74, captured by Admiral Boscawen in his battle with De la Clue off Lagos in August 1759. She served in the British navy for some years, and after being utilised as a floating battery at Plymouth during the American War, was finally sold out of the service in 1783.
[85] '"Thirty-six hours' calm, and England is ours," so says one of the French papers in announcing that the invasion of England is to be attempted before the 14th July. A division of the Imperial Guard has already arrived at Havre on its way to Boulogne, where the Emperor will arrive within a week.'—The Observer, June 24, 1804.
'By an American gentleman just arrived from the Continent, we have received positive and authentic information that the Boulogne flotilla is in a complete state of equipment and ready to embrace the first opportunity of putting to sea. Whether that opportunity will ever be permitted to the enemy by our blockading squadrons remains to be seen. The troops stationed on the uplands above Boulogne, and in its vicinity, amount to upwards of 160,000 men.'—The Times, August 14, 1804.
[86] Captain Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, vol. ii. p. 118.
[87] Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Collingwood, by G.L. Newnham Collingwood, p. 93.
[88] Says the Observer for the 18th of December: 'The motto of Admiral Cornwallis seems to be that from Dryden: "Endure and Conquer." We could dwell upon this theme for ever. Others have simply taught the British Navy (apt scholars enough) to triumph. He has first instructed them in manly perseverance and endurance so opposite to the impetuosity of their natures. We could name the periods, and these too frequently occurring, when a damaged yard or topmast was a sufficient excuse for a good fortnight in port, and this with officers of acknowledged gallantry. What a contrast have we now! The hardy veteran deserves an Order of Merit to be invented on purpose for him.' Without detracting from the admiral's merits this is a little hard on some of Cornwallis's predecessors—on Hawke, for instance, who in the Seven Years' War blockaded Brest throughout 'one of the worst winters on record.' Says Horace Walpole, writing on the 14th of January 1760: 'What milksops the Marlboroughs and Turennes, the Blakes and the Van Tromps appear now, who whipped into winter quarters the moment their noses looked blue. There is Hawke in the Bay weathering this winter, after conquering in a storm.'
[89] The capture of Admiral Villeneuve's frigate the Didon, sent out on a mission of the highest importance, by the British frigate Phœnix, prevented Villeneuve's junction with another French fleet cruising in the Bay of Biscay. Hearing nothing of his colleague, Villeneuve, after leaving Ferrol, became nervous and turned south, instead of pushing on across the Bay for Brest as Napoleon expected him to do.
[90] Wrote Collingwood to his wife on the 21st of August: 'I have very little time to write to you, but must tell you what a squeeze we were like to have got yesterday. While we were cruising off the town, down came the combined fleet of thirty-three sail of men-of-war: we were only three poor things, with a frigate and a bomb, and drew off towards the Straits, not very ambitious, as you may suppose, to try our strength against such odds. They followed us as we retired, with sixteen large ships; but on our approaching the Straits they left us, and joined their friends in Cadiz, where they are fitting and replenishing their provisions. We, in our turn, followed them back, and to-day have been looking into Cadiz, where their fleet is now as thick as a wood' (Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Collingwood, by G.L. Newnham Collingwood, p. 109).
[91] Rear-Admiral Hercules Robinson's Sea Drift, p. 209.
[92] Narrative by Lieut. P. Harris Nicolas, Royal Marines, of the Belleisle, quoted in the Memoir of Admiral Sir William Hargood, G.C.B., Appendix E, p. 279.