politeness, 18th Century idea of 166-9, 171, 172, 192
Polyphemus 219, 220
Pompée 10
Pope, Alexander 115, 206
Popham, Sir Home 128-9
Powys, Caroline Lybbe 167
Prelude (Wordsworth) 237, 291-2
Pride and Prejudice (Austen) 172-3
Prince 198, 288, 289
Prince of Wales 186, 187-8
Principe de Asturias 18
Prowse, Captain 155
Purísima Concepción 17
Pye, Henry James 38-9, 41-2
Quebec 133-4, 135
raking fire 220, 223
Ram, Lieutenant William 227
Rayo 305, 311
Redoutable 241, 244, 246, 247, 254, 258, 259, 260, 262-3, 264, 272, 278, 302, 303, 304
Revelation xii
Revenge 88, 214-15, 310
Rice, Henry 106-7, 109-14, 118
Riou, Captain 55
Robinson, Hercules 49-50
Rochefort 75, 79, 85
Rochefoucauld, Duc de 37
Rodney, Admiral 179, 180, 181, 183, 186, 192, 197
Romantic Battle 182-3, 316-17
Rosily, Admiral 47
Rotheram, Edward 275
Rousseau, Jean Jacques 193, 285, 286
Royal Academy 252, 273
Royal Arsenal, Woolwich 247
Royal George 179
Royal Navy 10, 12, 20, 21-2, 23-5, 26, 33, 43, 46, 69, 120, 146, 150, 154, 185
appreciation of within Britain 70-2
bourgeois capitalist philosophy of 44-6, 313
Channel Fleet 74, 84, 86, 87, 99
chivalry, officers’ sense of 122-7
class distinctions 54-5, 140-7, 214-15, 216
fleet as a great machine 66-9, 131-2
funding 21-2, 41-3, 58-9
homesickness within 99
humanity 137-8
liberation of individual to win promotion and place 45-6, 184-5
line of battle 175-85
love within 147-56
Mediterranean fleet 54, 74, 78, 101, 103, 121, 191
number of ships 23, 72
officer class 23, 24-5, 26, 102-3
officer status anxiety 107-9, 110, 114
officers’ attachment to men 137
officers’ knowledge of ships and seafaring 132-3
orderliness of ships 53-7, 58, 59-63, 69, 72-3, 131-2, 133-4, 178, 201-2
penalties 79
punishments 135, 138-41
quality of sailors 15-16
self-image 57-8
self-sacrificial style of command 224-5
state of fleet before Trafalgar 89-90
strategic position, 18th Century 182
superiority of guns 162, 176-7
supply system 21-2, 29-30, 58-9, 69, 72-3
swiftness of attack, new tactical insistence on 178-82
Trafalgar, tension and anxiety on morning of 90-1
tyrant captains 152-3
yearning for beautiful machine founded on anxiety 58-60
zeal, importance of 43-5
Royal Sovereign 157, 160, 215, 217, 219-20, 221, 221, 222, 223, 225-6, 245, 275-6, 282, 293, 300, 301
Rudiments of Genteel Behaviour, The (Nivelon) 165
Rules of Discipline and Good Government to be Observed on Board His Majesty’s Ships of War, The 108
Ruskin, John 315-16
Sackville, Lord 37
Saint-André, André Jeanbon 12, 31-2
Salvador del Mundo 17
San Agustín 280, 310
San Francisco de Asís 305
San Juan 94
San Juan Nepocumeno 93
San Justo 225, 229
San Leandro 225, 229
Santa Ana 17, 219-20, 221, 221, 223, 225, 226, 236, 245, 304, 305
Santísima Trinidad 4, 10, 17, 201, 227, 241, 269, 270, 287-8, 310, 311
Sassoon, Siegfried 317
Scorpion 120-1
Scott, Reverend Dr Alexander 265, 266, 268, 270, 274
Scott, John 202-3, 227, 254
Seahorse 230, 232
Senhouse, Lieutenant Humphrey 198, 199-200, 284, 292
Seven Years War 20, 53, 179, 251
Shakespeare, William 126
ships:
beautiful order of 66
danger of 146-7
decks, differences of danger upon 223
delicacy of 240-1
guns 64, 175-7, 202-3, 219, 248-9
hull 63, 64-5
keel 64
log 136
Muster Book, The 136-7
Quarterdeck 148, 155, 294
rig 65-6
stern 64
Trafalgar, damage to 298-9
very nearly unsinkable 248
Shovell, Sir Cloudesley 24
Simond, Louis 37
Sirius 155
Smith, Adam 44, 45, 250-1
Smith, John 269-70
Southampton 175
Southcott, Joanna xiv-xv, xvii
Southey, Robert xiv, xvi-xvii
Spain:
backward 13-14, 34-5
conservative 13-14, 43
disease, prevalence of 15
Spanish Armada 57
Spanish Royal Navy 17
aristocratic officer class 24, 26, 28, 43, 45
attacked by British ships seeking prize money 11-12
considered secondary to army 18
crucifixes hung on ships 160
disease, prevalence in fleet of 15
lack of good men 14-17, 18
pay 87
ships in poor condition 15
Trafalgar, casualties 220-1, 287-8
Trafalgar, Churruca speaks to men on morning of 93-4
Trafalgar, first contact with British 220-1, 221
unavailability of skilled labour 16-17 see also Combined Fleet
Spartiate 88
Spencer 90
Spencer, Lady 6
Spithead mutiny 180-1, 231, 290
St Paul’s Cathedral 276
St Vincent, Earl 44, 54, 55, 59, 103, 116, 125, 137, 173-4, 183, 231, 232-3
Stanhope, Lord 114-15
Steele, Sir Richard 164-5
Stroehling, PE 124
Superbe 90
Swiftsure 10, 19, 229, 298, 302-3, 310
Sykes, John 237
Telford, Thomas 70
Téméraire 91, 92, 98, 246, 260-1, 262, 264, 268, 282
Tenerife 103
Terpsichore 137
Thanksgiving Odes 314-15
Theory of Moral Sentiments (Smith) 44
Thunderer 60, 304
Toland, John 165
Tonnant 229, 257, 292
Touches, Auguste Gicquel des 278, 279, 280, 281-2, 283, 287
Toulon 23, 29, 74, 78, 79, 99, 145, 194, 195, 277
TRAFALGAR, BATTLE OF xv, xviii
aggression of English fleet xi, 224, 258
average age of sailors 53
battle for trade 42
battle shock 291-2
British approach to battle 3-8, 46-8, 49-52, 96-9, 130-1, 157, 158, 159, 160
British liberation of individual energies to ensure victory 45-6, 184-5
British rescue French and Spanish sailors in post-battle storm 289-90, 303, 309, 310, 311
British sailors request to leave fleet prior to 87-9
British shipboard orderliness 53-7, 58, 59-63, 69, 72-3, 131-2, 133-4, 178, 201-2
British tactics 91, 162, 183-5, 196-201, 217, 217-18, 240, 242, 260, 277, 279, 281
British victory won before battle begins 9, 23
casualties 9-10, 20, 220-1, 225-6, 227, 229, 230, 239, 263, 268, 287-8, 302-3, 306-7, 309
closeness of battle 219-20
Combined Fleet approach to battle 4, 46-8, 93-4, 157, 158, 159, 160
Combined Fleet first shot 155
Combined Fleet tactical mistakes 94-5, 276-9, 282-3
Combined Fleet, authoritarian pattern of
24-34, 45-6
Combined Fleet, problems within 8-10, 20, 94
density of gunfire 163, 209-10
desertions 53
devastation of Spanish ships 287
Dumanoir’s failure to come to aid of fleet 277-9, 282-3
early fighting 203
end of battle 289-91, 298
first minute devastates Spaniards 220-1
French and Spanish fear of British 11-12
French navy, weakness of 23, 34, 35 see also French Navy
honour as a concept comes to identify 116, 127
horrifying nature of 204, 209-10, 226-8, 257-8, 291-3
humanity within 251, 258, 264, 288-9, 297, 303, 309, 310, 310-11
intimacy of 219, 244
Intrépide’s suicide mission 277-84, 287
last stage of 261
moment of contact 161, 162
Nelson’s signals to fleet 3-4, 5, 128-9, 160, 183, 215
Neslon’s tactics 162, 183-5, 196-201, 217, 217-18, 240, 260, 277, 279, 281
noise of gunfire 209-10
Northesk’s reluctance to engage 275-6
officers required to stand under fire 162-3
pressed men 53
prisoner exchanges 312
prize money 264, 269-70, 299-300, 302, 304, 306, 307, 308, 309, 312
Quarterdeck as killing zone 148
Romantic Battle 316-17
satisfaction of image to 19th Century mind 314
sense of order in British fleet on morning of 66-7
size of British fleet 72
Spanish lack of seamen on board ship 18
state of British fleet on eve of 89-90
storm following 300-12
technological parity of fleets 10
three phases of 217-19
Victory, role in see Victory victory won by British at Toulon and the Nile 23
Villeneuve strikes his flag 268-9
Villeneuve’s tactics see Villeneuve
violence of 219-20 see also violence
Virgilian and Homeric inheritance at play at xix
Treatise on Practical Navigation and Seamanship, A (Nichelson) 131-3
Troubridge, Sir Thomas 230-6
Truguet, Vice-Admiral Laurent Jean-François 27
Turner, JMW 71-2, 245-6, 263, 269
Tyler, Captain 257
Ulm, Battle of 84
Uriarte, Don Fransico de 270
Ushant 79, 86, 87
Vanguard 235
Vernon, Admiral Edward 58, 177
Victory 5, 45, 50, 85, 88, 89, 108, 119, 127, 144, 156
chases Villeneuve to Caribbean 81
construction 65-6
punishments on 138
TRAFALGAR 290, 293
anxiety level of men on morning of battle 90-1
approach to battle 157, 160, 239-40
battle around 221
Bucentaure, battle with 244-5, 251, 260, 268
careful maintenance 241
carronades 244-5
casualties 227, 239-40, 245-6, 264, 269
damage sustained 202, 203, 227, 239-40, 254, 264
last stage of battle 261
Nelson carried below so as not to dishearten men 256-7
Nelson describes plan to Captains on 196
Nelson plans for great damage to before a shot can be fired 240
Nelson’s relationship with 265
paintings of 269
prepares to collide with Combined fleet 241-2
Redoubtable, battle with 246-7, 258-60, 262-3
return to England 312
storm, damage sustained in 298, 301
surgeons 227, 239
Villeneuve, Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre:
background and class 28-9
Cape Finisterre 86, 87
Caribbean, leaves Nelson behind in 80, 81, 131
Churruca criticises tactics of 94-5, 277
complains of state of French Navy 19
Council of War, presence at 9
despairs at state of Spanish allies 15
Dumanoir, relationship with 277-8
Grand Strategy, first informed of 77
Grand Strategy, role in 75, 84-5
Napoleon forbids informing his captains of French Grand Strategy 45
Napoleon, relationship with 45, 47, 85, 86
personality 92
portraits 285
Toulon, breaks out of 78, 79
Trafalgar tactics 46, 48, 94-5, 120, 197, 268-9, 276-8
Trafalgar, surrenders 268-9
Vincent, John 144-5, 147, 155
violence:
biblical xii
British culture of xi, 230, 237-8
definition of 209
ending of 258
heroism, relation to 215
honour in exposure to 224-5, 240
millennial apocalyptic xii-xiii
Nelson’s instinct for devastation and 190, 232-3, 262
Trafalgar, presence at 209-38, 244-5, 257-8, 270, 272, 288, 289-91, 292-3
Troubridge’s nature of 231-2, 233, 235-6
Wordsworth views as divine virtue 314-15
Virgil xviii, xix, 57, 235, 284-5, 317
Voltaire 169
Walker, Henry 307-8
Walpole, Horace 36, 37-8, 106, 167, 180
Walpole, Robert 36, 40
war:
as foundation of beauty 314-17
change in attitudes towards after First World 317
Waterloo, Battle of 263, 314
Wealth of Nations (Smith) 44
Wellington, Duke of 76, 172, 251
Wemyss, John 88-9
West Indies 78, 80, 133
West, Benjamin 124, 251, 252, 253, 272, 273
Wharton, Lieutenant 87
Wilkes, John 142-3
Wolfe, General 251, 252, 253, 272
Wordsworth, Dorothy 70
Wordsworth, William 52, 70, 115, 191-2, 193-4, 237, 291-2, 314-15
Wyatt, James 124
‘Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor, The’ 26
Yule, Lieutenant John 91
zeal:
Bayntun’s 134
definition of 3
French Revolutionary 19
Nelson’s 44
Royal Navy encourages individual 43-6
Acknowledgements
Any book of this kind relies entirely on the work of scholars over many decades and I happily acknowledge my debt to all those who have written about the 1805 Royal Navy in the past. In particular, the outstanding volumes of naval records produced annually since 1893 by the Navy Records Society make any exploration of this extraordinary and fascinating world the greatest of pleasures. I have quoted extensively from those records and I gratefully acknowledge the permission to do so. Anyone wishing to become a member of the Society, and receive the annual volumes as part of their subscription, should apply to the Hon. Secretary, Department of War Studies, King’s College London, Strand, London wc2r 2LS.
I would also very much like to thank my editors, Susan Watt and Hugh van Dusen, as well as Katie Espiner, Marie Estrada, Vera Brice, Amanda Russell and Helen Ellis, all of whom have, with practised skill, guided this book through its various paths. Caroline Dawnay and Zoe Pagnamenta remain sources of great encouragement, for which I am immensely grateful.
About the author
ENDPAPERS: Nelson’s Undress Coat in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The star sewn on to its wool serge cloth is of the German Order of St Joachim, founded in 1755, of which Nelson had been appointed Knight Grand Commander in 1801. The motto, Junxit Amicus Amor, Love has United Friends, represents a powerful strand of medievalist 18th-century thought, one of the formative influences on the behaviour of officers at Trafalgar.
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2005
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Copyright © Adam Nicolson 2005
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