VILLENEUVE
The enemy
Makes threat as though to throw him on our stern:
Signal the fleet to wear; bid Gravina
To come in from manoeuvring with his twelve,
And range himself in line.
[Officers murmur.]
I say again
Bid Gravina draw hither with his twelve,
And signal all to wear!—and come upon
The larboard tack with every bow anorth!—
So we make Cadiz in the worst event.
And patch our rags up there. As we head now
Our only practicable thoroughfare
Is through Gibraltar Strait—a fatal door!
Signal to close the line and leave no gaps.
Remember, too, what I have already told:
Remind them of it now. They must not pause
For signallings from me amid a strife
Whose chaos may prevent my clear discernment,
Or may forbid my signalling at all.
The voice of honour then becomes the chief’s;
Listen they thereto, and set every stitch
To heave them on into the fiercest fight.
Now I will sum up all: heed well the charge;
EACH CAPTAIN, PETTY OFFICER, AND MAN
IS ONLY AT HIS POST WHEN UNDER FIRE.
[The ships of the whole fleet turn their bows from south to
north as directed, and close up in two parallel curved columns,
the concave side of each column being towards the enemy, and
the interspaces of the first column being, in general, opposite
the hulls of the second.]
AN OFFICER [straining his eyes towards the English fleet]
How they skip on! Their overcrowded sail
Bulge like blown bladders in a tripeman’s shop
The market-morning after slaughterday!
PETTY OFFICER
It’s morning before slaughterday with us,
I make so bold to bode!
[The English Admiral is seen to be signalling to his fleet. The
signal is: “ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY.” A loud
cheering from all the English ships comes undulating on the wind
when the signal is read.]
VILLENEUVE
They are signalling too—Well, business soon begins!
You will reserve your fire. And be it known
That we display no admirals’ flags at all
Until the action’s past. ’Twill puzzle them,
And work to our advantage when we close.—
Yes, they are double-ranked, I think, like us;
But we shall see anon.
MAGENDIE
The foremost one
Makes for the “Santa Ana.” In such case
The “Fougueux” might assist her.
VILLENEUVE
Be it so—
There’s time enough.—Our ships will be in place,
And ready to speak back in iron words
When theirs cry Hail! in the same sort of voice.
[They prepare to receive the northernmost column of the enemy’s
ships headed by the “Victory,” trying the distance by an occasional
single shot. During their suspense a discharge is heard southward,
and turning they behold COLLINGWOOD at the head of his column in
the “Royal Sovereign,” just engaging with the Spanish “Santa Ana.”
Meanwhile the “Victory’s” mizzen-topmast, with spars and a quantity
of rigging, is seen to have fallen, her wheel to be shot away, and
her deck encumbered with dead and wounded men.]
VILLENEUVE
’Tis well! But see; their course is undelayed,
And still they near in clenched audacity!
DAUDIGNON
Which aim deft Lucas o’ the “Redoubtable”
Most gallantly bestirs him to outscheme.—
See, how he strains, that on his timbers fall
Blows that were destined for his Admiral!
[During this the French ship “Redoubtable” is moving forward
to interpose itself between the approaching “Victory” and the
“Bucentaure.”]
VILLENEUVE
Now comes it! The “Santisima Trinidad,”
The old “Redoubtable’s” hard sides, and ours,
Will take the touse of this bombastic blow.
Your grapnels and your boarding-hatchets—ready!
We’ll dash our eagle on the English deck,
And swear to fetch it!
CREW
Ay! We swear. Huzza
Long live the Emperor!
[But the “Victory” suddenly swerves to the rear of the “Bucentaure,”
and crossing her stern-waters, discharges a broadside into her and
the “Redoubtable” endwise, wrapping the scene in folds of smoke.
The point of view changes.]