Billy Ruffian by David Cordingly

Author:David Cordingly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2003-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

13

Victory or Death

1805

No other fleet in Britain’s long naval history approached a major battle with a keener sense of anticipation or with a greater confidence in its ability to win than did the British fleet off Cape Trafalgar in October 1805. Many of those present had already taken part in sea battles or single-ship actions and were fully aware of the dangers but, as one of the Bellerophon’s crew later wrote, ‘I can assure you I felt not the least fear of death during the action, which I attribute to the general confidence of victory which I saw all round me.’1

There were many reasons for this widespread feeling of invincibility. The first and most obvious was that the British seamen knew that they were superior to their enemy in every essential respect. In particular they were superior in seamanship, shiphandling and gunnery, all of which were crucial in the confusion of a sea battle. Unlike the ships of France and Spain which, apart from the brief and desperate foray to the West Indies, had spent years blockaded in their naval bases, the British ships at Trafalgar had been more or less constantly at sea since the outbreak of the war with France. Their officers were experienced in navigating and keeping station in all weathers and in some of the most treacherous waters in the world. Their crews were constantly drilled in gunnery and their accuracy in firing from a moving platform and their rate of fire were formidable. Moreover the British not only knew the weaknesses of their enemy but were used to winning. In the past ten years British fleets had been victorious in a succession of battles, notably those of the Glorious First of June, Cape St Vincent, Camperdown, the Nile and Copenhagen. And in Nelson they had a commander-in-chief in whom they had total confidence and who inspired a devotion and loyalty among all ranks which had a remarkably unifying effect.

A less obvious but equally powerful reason for the determination and spirit of the British seamen was that they truly believed that they were fighting for the defence of their country and for their homes and families. When the Bellerophon left Plymouth in September 1804 the entire south coast was in a state of readiness to repel the invasion flotilla which Napoleon had gathered in the French ports. Every English sailor knew that the navy was all that stood between Napoleon’s armies and the conquest of their country. Collingwood spoke for many when he wrote that he felt ‘as if the welfare of all England depended on us alone’. There was also a strong feeling among British sailors that they wanted to put an end to the dreary task of blockading the enemy ports, and to confront and defeat the enemy once and for all so that they could return home to their anxiously waiting families. What they dreaded was that the enemy would elude them. Much of this is summed up by the reaction of the

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