asked the Officer if his wound was dangerous. He hesitated; then said he hoped it was not; but I saw the fate of my friend in his eye; for his look told what his tongue could not utter. About an hour after, when the Action was over, Captain Hardy brought me the melancholy account of his death. He inquired frequently how the battle went, and expressed joy when the enemy were striking ; in his last moments showing an anxiety for the glory of his Country, though regardless of what related to his own person.-I have the honour to be, Sir, your Royal Highness's most obedient and most humble Servant, C. COLLINGWOOD, TO ADMIRAL SIR THOMAS PASLEY. [From a copy in the possession of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Malcolm.] Queen, off Carthagena, 16th December, 1805. My dear Sir Thomas, lation I am exceedingly obliged to you for your late letter of congratuon the great events; a happy day it would have been indeed had my dear friend survived it; but I cannot separate from the glory of such a day the irreparable loss of such a hero. He possessed the zeal of an enthusiast, directed by talents which Nature had very bountifully bestowed upon him, and everything seemed as, if by enchantment, to prosper under his direction. But it was the effect of system, and nice combination, not of chance. We must endeavour to follow his example, but it is the lot of very few to attain to his perfection. We knew that, whenever they gave us a The following "Memorandum of a conversation between Lord Nelson and Admiral Sir Richard Keats, the last time he was in England, before the Battle of Trafalgar," in the handwriting of Edward Hawke Locker, Esq., who wrote on it "Copy of a Paper communicated to me by Sir Richard Keats, and allowed by him to be transcribed by me, 1st October, 1829," ought perhaps to have been inserted in a former page: When we One morning, walking with Lord Nelson in the grounds at Merton, talking on Naval matters, he said to me, 'No day can be long enough to arrange a couple of Fleets, and fight a decisive Battle, according to the old system. meet them, I was to have been with him,) 'for meet them we shall, I'll tell you how I shall fight them. I shall form the Fleet into three Divisions in three Lines. One Division shall be composed of twelve or fourteen of the fastest two-decked Ships, and I shall put them under an Officer who, I am sure, will employ them in the manner I wish, if possible. I consider it will always be in my power to throw them into Battle in any part I may choose; but if circumstances prevent their being carried against the Enemy where I desire, I shall feel certain he will employ them effectually, and, perhaps, in a more advantageous manner than if he could have followed my orders.' (He never mentioned, or gave any hint by which I could understand who it was he intended for this distinguished service.) He continued With the remaining part of the Fleet formed in two Lines, I shall go at them at once, if I can, about one-third of their Line from their leading He then said, 'What do you think of it?' Such a question I felt required consideration. I paused. Seeing it, he said, 'but I'll tell you what I Ship.' think of it. what I am about. I want. VOL. VII. meeting, they would be very numerous. You know what time is required to form a regular Line of Battle. Lord Nelson determined to substitute for exact order an impetuous attack in two distinct bodies. The Weather Line he commanded, and left the Lee Line totally to my direction. He had assigned the points to be attacked. It was executed well, and succeeded admirably; probably its novelty was favourable to us, for the Enemy looked for a time when we should form something like a Line. The light wind was unfavourable to us. I thought it a long time after I got through their Line before I found my friends about me. Duff, worthy Duff, was next me, but found a difficulty in getting through; for we had to make a kind of S to pass them in the manner they were formed; and had we to pass them from the leeward, it would have been still more difficult, as it required nice steerage, and which was the cause of so many of our Ships getting on board them. Those dots will give you an idea -0--0--0--0- O O O O I I I I I I I O ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺---0--0--0--☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ how they were formed, except that they did not make a right Line, but the centre bent to leeward; but in half an hour there was nothing like order. The Victory got on board the Redoutable, the Temeraire boarded the Fougueux and another, and many of the Ships astern of me were on board the Frenchmen. The Defiance boarded L'Aigle, and had the possession of her poop for some time, when the Frenchmen rallied and drove them back; and if I could tell you all the histories of all the Ships, you would find much to admire. Everybody was sorry Malcolm was not there, because everybody knows his spirit and his skill would have acquired him honour. He got out of the Gut when nobody else could, and was of infinite service to us after the Action. If it is in my power to be of use to Mr. Tailour, I shall have pleasure in advancing your friend. Here is a long list, and little means, that I see yet: let us see what time produces. I wish you health, my dear Sir, and every happiness; and, with many thanks for your kind wishes to me, I am, with great regard, your faithful and most obedient humble servant, COLLINGWOOD. P.S.-Truly sorry am I that Calder was not of the party, that he might have settled his account with Villeneuve. TO HIS EXCELLENCY HUGH ELLIOT, ESQ., NAPLES. Sir, [Autograph in the Elliot papers.] Queen, off Cadiz, January 25th, 1806. I beg to give your Excellency my best thanks for your kind congratulations on the success of the Fleet in the late Battle. The victory was a great one; for so complete was the defeat of the TRAFALGAR. Enemy, that but for the awkward situation in which we were, near the land, and on a very dangerous coast, those Ships which got into Cadiz could not have escaped. In the Ocean we should have taken them all. Yet this great event has been the cause of far more lamentation than joy. Never did any man's death cause so universal a sorrow as Lord Nelson's. Those who only knew his great name as a Commander, feel the loss the Country sustained: but to me, with whom for more than thirty years there had subsisted the most intimate friendship-to me who had been the companion of his service on many occasions-who had been in the habit of admiring the strength of his mind, the excellence of his judgment, and the magnanimity with which he dared to exercise it, my loss in him is irreparable. I have succeeded him in his command of the Fleet, and I beg, Sir, you will be pleased to offer my humble duty to their Sicilian Majesties, and assure them that I have succeeded him also in his zeal and ardent desire to render every service to their Majesties, and to their States, that is in my power.-I have the honour to be, &c., COLLINGWOOD. THE DEATH OF LORD NELSON. IT has been already stated that Lord Nelson was wounded about a quarter past one o'clock, and his dying moments are thus described by Mr. Beatty, the Surgeon who attended him: "It was from this Ship (the Redoutable) that Lord Nelson received his mortal wound. About fifteen minutes past one o'clock, which was in the heat of the engagement, he was walking the middle of the quarter-deck with Captain Hardy, and in the act of turning near the hatchway with his face towards the stern of the Victory, when the fatal ball was fired from the Enemy's mizen-top'; which, from the situation of the two ships (lying on board of each other), was brought just abaft, and rather below, the Victory's main-yard, and of course not more than fifteen yards distant from that part of the deck where his Lordship stood. The ball struck the epaulette on his left shoulder, and penetrated his chest. He fell with his face on the deck. Captain Hardy, who was on his right (the side furthest from the Enemy) and advanced some steps before his Lordship, on turning round, saw the Serjeant-Major (Secker) of Marines with two Seamen raising him from the deck; where he had fallen on the same spot on which, a little before, his Secretary had breathed his last, with whose blood his Lordship's clothes were much soiled. Captain Hardy expressed a hope that he was not severely wounded; to which the gallant Chief replied: 'They have done for me at last, Hardy.'-'I hope not,' answered Captain Hardy. 'Yes,' replied his Lordship, 'my backbone is shot through.' "Captain Hardy ordered the Seamen to carry the Admiral to the cockpit; and now two incidents occurred strikingly characteristic of this great man, and strongly marking that energy and reflection which in his heroic mind rose superior even to the immediate consideration of his present awful condition. While the men were carrying him down the ladder from the middle deck, his Lordship observed that the tiller ropes were not yet replaced; and desired one of the Midshipmen stationed there to go upon the quarter-deck and remind Captain Hardy of that circumstance, and request that 1 Southey and some other of Nelson's biographers state, that the man who wounded Lord Nelson was recognized by one of the Victory's quarter-masters; that two Midshipmen, Messrs. Collingwood and Pollard, kept firing at the mizen top of the Redoutable, until one of the only two Frenchmen then in it, attempting to escape down the rigging, was shot by Mr. Pollard, and fell on the poop; that while the quarter-master was exclaiming, "that's he-that's he," and pointed at the only other Frenchman who was coming forward to fire again, the quartermaster received a shot in the mouth and fell dead. Both the Midshipmen then fired at the same time, and the fellow dropped in the top. When they took possession of the Prize, they went into the mizen top and found him dead, with one ball through his head, and another through his breast. TRAFALGAR. new ones should be immediately rove. Having delivered this order, he took his handkerchief from his pocket and covered his face with it, that he might be conveyed to the cockpit at this crisis unnoticed by the crew. "Several wounded Officers, and about forty men, were likewise carried to the Surgeon for assistance just at this time; and some others had breathed their last during their conveyance below. Among the latter were Lieutenant William Andrew Ram, and Mr. Whipple, Captain's Clerk. The Surgeon had just examined these two Officers, and found that they were dead, when his attention was arrested by several of the wounded calling to him, 'Mr. Beatty, Lord Nelson is here: Mr. Beatty, the Admiral is wounded.' The Surgeon now, on looking round, saw the handkerchief fall from his Lordship's face; when the stars on his coat, which also had been covered by it, appeared. Mr. Burke, the Purser, and the Surgeon, ran immediately to the assistance of his Lordship, and took him from the arms of the Seamen who had carried him below. In conveying him to one of the Midshipmen's berths, they stumbled, but recovered themselves without falling. Lord Nelson then inquired who were supporting him; and when the Surgeon informed him, his Lordship replied, Ah, Mr. Beatty! you can do nothing for me. I have but a short time to live: my back is shot through.' The Surgeon said, 'he hoped the wound was not so dangerous as his Lordship imagined, and that he might still survive long to enjoy his glorious victory.' The Reverend Dr. Scott', who had been 2 Mr. James doubts the possibility of Lord Nelson's having given such an order, because he could not have expected the tiller-ropes to be rove when the wheel was shot away, and the Ship foul of another; and says no order of the kind ever reached Captain Hardy.-Naval History, vol. iv. p. 30. 3 This gentleman, who is said "to have entered the Navy under the auspices of his illustrious relative the Right Hon. Edmund Burke," died at Wouldham near Rochester, on the 22nd of September, 1815, in the 76th year of his age. Dr. Scott's description of the cockpit of the Victory, and of the last moments of Lord Nelson, will be read with much interest : He never "The carnage on the deck of the Victory became terrific. Dr. Scott's duties confined him entirely to the cockpit, which was soon crowded with wounded and dying men; and such was the horror that filled his mind at this scene of suffer. ing, that it haunted him like a shocking dream for years afterwards. talked of it. Indeed, the only record of a remark on the subject was one extorted from him by the inquiries of a friend, soon after his return home. The expression that escaped him at the moment was, it was like a butcher's shambles.' His natural tenderness of feeling, very much heightened by the shock on his nervous system, quite disqualified him for being a calm spectator of death and pain, as there exhibited in their most appalling shapes. But he suppressed his aversion as well as he could, and had been for some time engaged in helping and consoling those who were suffering around him, when a fine young Lieutenant [apparently Mr. Ram] was brought down desperately wounded. This Officer was not aware of the extent of the injury until the Surgeon's examination; but, on discovering it, he tore off with his own hand the ligatures that were being applied, and bled to death. Almost frenzied by the sight of this, Scott hurried wildly to the deck for relief, perfectly regardless of his own safety. He rushed up the companion-ladder, now slippery with gore-the scene above was all noise, confusion, and smoke,but he had hardly time to breathe there, when Lord Nelson himself fell, and this event at once sobered his disordered mind. He followed his Chief to the cockpit; the scene there has been painfully portrayed by those who have written the Life |