It's that time again... Trafalgar Day!

Today marks the 215th anniversary of this naval battle, in which the British fleet, under the command of Horatio Nelson (and later our boy Collingwood) beat the combined fleets of France & Spain, off Cape Trafalgar.

Thread.

Usually, I'd mark this occasion with a thread on the battle but, instead, I thought I would share some of the stories which don't tend to make it into every article.

Those of the men serving... On both sides.

If you want the normal run through... https://twitter.com/kejamieson_/status/1186167778459488257?s=20

By the morning of October 21st the two fleets were sailing ever closer. Due to some questionable seamanship the Combined Fleet were spaced out in no particular sense, over a distance of about 3 miles.

The British? Also out of formation, but this wasn't the case for much longer.

At around 0615 Victory signalled to form the order of sailing in two columns.

Due to light winds, and the fact most of the ships weren't getting much more than 3kts, it took quite a while to close the almost 12 mile gap between the fleets and reach this famous point...

On the morning of 21st October, William Beatty, surgeon on HMS Victory, spoke of Horatio Nelson preparing for battle.

It was at this point Nelson penned his famous prayer (seen here on the Nelson statue in Old Portsmouth)

On HMS Ajax the scene below decks prior to the first shot being fired was described by Second Lieutenant Ellis of the Royal Marines.

Swords and hornpipes!

On HMS Tonnant, the Captain ordered bread, cheese, butter and beer for every man at the guns.

Able Seaman John Cash said, "I was one of them and, believe me, we ate and drank and were as cheerful as ever we had been over a pot of beer"

William Robinson of HMS Revenge said, "Some were offering a guinea for a glass of grog, whilst others were making a verbal will such as, "If one of Johnny Crapeau's shots knocks my head off, you will take my effects & if you are killed and I am not, why I will have all yours"

On one of the Spanish ships a (clearly new) seaman asked why sacks of sand were being emptied to cover the decksg to hear back:

"For the blood. for the blood!"

The seaman said he "looked at the men who were busily employed on this task and for a moment felt I was a coward"

At around 1200, not long after Nelson's famous signal of "England expects that every man will do his duty" had been flown, the first shots were fired, by the French ship Fougeux, engaging HMS Royal Sovereign.

The French Master at Arms said of the engagement...

At this point I could cover Villeneuve, or any number of splinters hitting Captain's shoes stories, perhaps even Nelson being shot... but these are all pretty well known.

Tweet me if not, though!

I will tag in @Trois_Ponts here whilst on Nelson, though, as he wrote an incredibly interesting post/thread on the shot which killed Nelson, supposedly from Sergeant Robert Guillemard on the Redoubtable.

And now to the Spanish

A member of the crew of the San Juan Nepomuceno (at this point surrounded by 6 Brits) wrote an account of the injury of his commander, Don Cosme Churruca, who famously held his post as long as possible, despite an injury that would eventually kill him.

It was said that when the six British captains demanded the highest ranking officer on the San Juan Nepomuceno hand over Churruca's sword, the officer said that he would have had to divide it into 6 pieces as, one on one, none of them would have defeated him.

One of my favourite, and frankly a bit crazily British, stories from Trafalgar, and one I've shared before is that of Thomas Main, from the Leviathan https://twitter.com/kejamieson_/status/1313762590657519617?s=20

This was happening at around the same time that Horatio Nelson was taking his final breaths.

A story we all know, and by the time of Nelson's death the conclusion of the battle was certain, though the French and Spanish would continue fighting for another hour or so...

The battle eventually concluded with the explosion of the Achille, which could be heard from Cadiz where, supposedly women were crying on the walls and people were screaming, calling for the destruction of the British.

Some of these stories aren't the nicest, I realise, but I think it's important we consider that it wasn't just pretty sailing ships firing on each other. These battles would have been horrendous. Shot and splinters everywhere, body parts, blood.

Master & Commander does a good job of showing the realities, but take into consideration that is one ship firing on another. A fleet battle would have been utter carnage, if you could even see it for the smoke.

The surrender of Villeneuve, taken from the ship's log of Conqueror will make anyone with an interest in naval history smile...

Villeneuve and two of his captains presented their swords to Capt Atcherley.

On the topic of surrenders, the Captain of the San Ildefonzo supposedly "lit his segar upon being captured and smoked it unconcernedly, as if nothing particular had occurred"

The death of Nelson was written about by a number of sailors. One, from Royal Sovereign claimed he had never met Nelson and was both "sorry and glad" for never laying eyes on him, as everyone who had are "such soft toads they have done nothing but blast their eyes and cry"

William Rivers, Master Gunner of HMS Victory (yes, I know, I don't shut up about my Gunners) wrote this poem after the battle, lamenting the death of Nelson. https://twitter.com/kejamieson_/status/1108662286300966912?s=20

The rescue of a French woman by the crew of the Revenge, is a sad story, worth sharing again too, I think. Important to remember there were a number of women at Trafalgar. I have another story of a British PO's wife on another ship helping the surgeon. https://twitter.com/kejamieson_/status/1186253440487481344?s=20

Of course, the end of the battle this was not the end of the story!

The great storm which followed & Collingwood's dispatch I will cover tomorrow...

And the famous journey made by @LtLapenotiere along what is now known as @TheTrafalgarWay is yet to start...

If you're looking for the perfect podcast to listen to on #TrafalgarDay with your morning coffee, look no further than this from the Mariner's Mirror! https://play.acast.com/s/the-mariners-mirror-podcast/hmsvictoryandthebattleoftrafalgar