confusion in wearing, and bore down to attack them with the fleet in two columns.

On the Sunday morning, Lord Nelson, as a compliment to Collingwood, called him on board by signal to consult with him, saying to Hardy, jocosely, that he should not be guided by his opinion unless it agreed with his own; and, upon asking him, Collingwood gave his opinion in favour of attacking the fleet immediately. Lord Nelson, however, kept to his own plan of waiting till he could get them farther off; and as they did not seem determined to return immediately to Cadiz, but to persevere in attempting to pursue their original intention of pushing for Toulon, he continued waiting upon them, in two columns according to the order of sailing, and the memorable written instruction which was given out to all the captains.

6

Of course I do not pretend to give an account of the Battle of Trafalgar, which is so fully related elsewhere. My business is solely with the part played in the engagement by the Orion,' as given in home letters from her captain; the Admiral's order of battle to the captain of the 'Orion,' with the honoured signature of ‘Nelson and Bronte' attached to it, remains as an heirloom in the Codrington family. I have added a personal anecdote relating to Lord Nelson's famous signal to his fleet, which is not very generally known; it was confirmed to me in March, 1871, by Sir William Rae, who, without knowing that I was acquainted with it, related it to me as having been told to himself by Captain Pascoe, in almost the same words.

In a letter of 29th October, 1840, from Captain Pascoe, who was senior and flag lieutenant of the 'Victory' at the Battle of Trafalgar, to Mr. Cole, of Plymouth, he writes as follows:

His lordship came to me on the poop, and after ordering certain signals to be made, about a quarter to noon he said : 'Mr. Pascoe, I wish to say to the fleet, "England confides that every man will do his duty".'-And he added, 'You must

1805 THE SIGNAL BEFORE THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.

66

55

be quick, for I have one more to make, which is for close action.' I replied, "If your lordship will permit me to substitute the word " expects for confides the signal will sooner be completed, because the word "expects" is in the vocabulary, but the word "confides" must be spelt.' His lordship replied in haste, and with seeming satisfaction, ‘That will do, Pascoe; make it directly.' When it had been answered by a few ships in the van, he ordered me to make the signal for close action, and to keep it up: accordingly I hoisted No. 16 at the top-gallant mast-head, and there it remained until shot away.

CHAPTER IV.

FROM Captain Codrington to Mrs. C. (Continuation of letter of 20th October):

October 28.

On the 20th the signal was again made that the fleet were at sea, and on the 21st, the wind being more moderate, but with a heavy swell, we bore down to attack them, although they took care to keep Cadiz under their lee.

Our list of wounded is only twenty-three, and killed but one. In the ships which led the noble attack it must be much greater. But our Nelson, our truly noble Nelson, is no more! he was killed early in the action, having himself led the van division.

Collingwood led the other famously, and is well.

I am shaking off the severe fag of the most severe week I have ever passed, and am as well as you can wish me; and ever, ever yours.-E. C.

From Captain C. to Lord Garlies.1

'Orion': October 28, 1805.

Although our poor Nelson is no more, and although a hurricane for the last week has deprived us of most of our prizes, we have added honour to the name of Britons. 'Victory' led the weather and 'Sovereign' the lee line, like steady heroes. We all scrambled into battle as soon as we could, and I believe have done our best in imitation of the noble example before us. I was in the middle of the battle before I fired a gun, not liking to waste our fire, and my men behaved as coolly as possible. When our own length from a wounded Frenchman (the Swiftsure'), I gave leave to fire

1 Then a Lord of the Admiralty.

1805

BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.

57

-carried away his masts, and made him strike. We then passed on to Gravina's ship, but we could not get within three cables' length of him and his supporters; and thus we continued, meeting now and then a French and a Spanish ship with whom we exchanged fire. At length, after a continuance of firing against a sort of reserve line they had formed, I found the opportunity of assisting Leviathan,' who had just beat the 'St. Augustin' (Spanish), and who was galled by 'L'Intrépide' (French) (one bold one out of their shy van)-we got up what studding sails were left, began on his starboard quarter, and in turning round from thence to his lee bow (almost calm), we carried away his tiller and his three masts, and took possession. He had fought bravely with several others, and was determined to fight till the last extremity, as he did. When I first made for him I thought we should have had their whole van also upon about four of us, but Dieu merci they only fired on us at a distance. You will judge of the action when I tell you that entouré de feu et de fumée, I three times met with Gravina's ship, the 'Prince of Asturias,' who got off after all by avoiding close action. I am not wishing to speak of Orion,' because each ship engaged must have fought with a dozen enemies, and those headmost in the line had much the greater part of the action. It was all confusion when 'Ajax' and 'Orion' got down, and Croft was afraid I should find no ship to engage closely, as I had promised my men; but there were still enough for us to keep up a cannonade of five hours, as I expected, and for which I had prepared myself by not wasting our fire. This reserve did well for me, for our fire on 'L'Intrépide' within shot of their whole van was the best directed and best kept up I ever saw. We burned her with 14 feet of water in her hold: we are now taking out the St. Augustin' to burn her; and I believe we, here at anchor, have each 500 prisoners on board already. I towed a prize belonging to 'Bellerophon from close to Trafalgar in safety for three days, but having my topsails blown out of the boltropes, and one bumpkin carried away, with the foremast wounded, and only six miles from the lee shore near St. Mary's in the worst hurricane I ever saw, I was obliged to quit her, to save my own ship, which

I had little hopes of. 'Ajax' and 'Orion' were much together, and employed in the same way, each profiting by circumstances and assisting each other.

Pilford will, of course, write to Brown; 1 but send him this also. How I lament his not being here! He and I could have gone together under the greatest advantage, and, I think, between us we would have got Gravina, who was at one time my decided object. When driven in close to Cadiz on the 23rd the remaining French might have got at me, if they had had spunk, being far to leeward of them; but I kept my prize in tow, and they contented themselves with retaking three others. You will know all official particulars, and I shall, therefore, only say that I am well, and in hope of soon seeing you. trust, at all events, 'Orion' will now get home; for I do not wish to stay here under Collingwood. Croft, I trust, will be promoted, and indeed he richly deserves it.

I am now of a mind to rest contented, whenever I get once on shore again, with having made a good finale. We have not one officer killed or wounded, although we have some very awkward shot about the hull, except, indeed, two mids, who are wounded slightly. But such is the confusion that we hardly know, or can find out, how to make out our list; we have on board men belonging to all the ships of the fleet, taken out of the different prizes destroyed.

Kind remembrances to Lady G. Yours ever,

E. C.

Send to Mrs. C. that I am well, in case she should not get

my letter.

From Captain C. to Mrs. C.

October 30.

Do not, my dearest, think me wanting in attention if you have heard of our glorious, yet hard-earned victory, without knowing whether your poor husband is alive or dead. horrid weather which came on the following day, dispersed

The

Edward Codrington and Billy Brown' first became acquainted when travelling in the stage-coach together to join the same ship for their first cruise; and they continued fast friends till the death of the latter, in command at Jamaica, in 1814. In 1805 he was captain of Ajax.'