Britain's Greatest Naval Battles: The Armada, Trafalgar and Jutland by Richard Freeman

Author:Richard Freeman [Freeman, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-12-04T22:00:00+00:00

Dumanoir’s attack

When Villeneuve had sent his signal to ‘every ship which is not in action’ he had good reason to be concerned. Ever since Nelson had cut the Franco-Spanish line the enemy’s van had sailed on away from the battle area. Whether some or all of the captains in the van were seeking to escape the battle is not clear. But they did not hurry to take part. It was not until 1.00 pm that Dumanoir asked Villeneuve for instructions. It took Villeneuve over an hour to respond with the signal ‘Tack and support centre division’. [46]. The wind was light so Dumanoir’s ships had the greatest difficulty in turning round. Several had to be towed around. So slow was their response that it was not until 3.15 pm that Hardy noticed five ships coming from the north: Héros, Intrépide, San Augustin, San Francisco de Asis, and Rayo.

By now Hardy had taken over Nelson’s column of ship and he ordered it to take action against the new arrivals. The engagement was brief. The San Augustin was captured without difficulty by the Leviathan, although she later caught fire and sank. The Intrépide fought until 5.00 pm when, seriously damaged, she struck her colours. The three other ships in the engagement escaped in the fading light. Dumanoir’s five remaining ships arrived later on the scene and fired off a few broadsides, but the battle was fast ending.

Once the threat of Dumanoir’s ships had been dealt with, Hardy went below again to find that Nelson was still alive. He reported that ‘the victory is complete’ even though he had been unable to ascertain just how many French and Spanish ships had struck their flags. It was then that Nelson became very agitated, crying out ‘Anchor, Hardy, anchor!’ When Hardy asked if Collingwood was now in charge Nelson retorted ‘Not while I live.’ Nelson twice repeated the command to anchor before asking Hardy to kiss him. Hardy then took his leave and never saw Nelson alive again. [47].

Before expiring Nelson, now struggling for breath as his lungs filled with blood, murmured ‘Thank God, I have done my duty!’ The victory and Nelson’s death were duly entered into the ship’s log book: ‘Partial firing continued until 4.30 pm when a victory having been reported to the Right Hon. Lord Nelson, KB and Commander-in-Chief, he then died of his wounds.’ [48].

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