lson intimated
his intention of making a feint of hauling out towards their van,'
&c. There is little doubt that we have here the true distribution of
duties which Nelson intended for the windward attack--that is, the
advanced squadron was to be the real containing force, but he intended
to assist it by himself making a feint on the enemy's van before
delivering his true attack on the centre.[25]

From Codrington's evidence it is at any rate clear that some time
before the 19th Nelson had told off an 'advanced squadron' as provided
for in his memorandum, and that the ships that were forming the
connection between the fleet and the frigates before Cadiz formed part
of it. Now Nelson had begun to tell off these ships as early as the
4th. On that day he wrote to Captain Duff, of the Mars, 'I have to
desire you will keep with the Mars, Defence and Colossus from three to
four leagues between the fleet and Cadiz in order that I may get
information from the frigates stationed off that port as expeditiously
as possible.' On the 11th, writing to Sir Alexander Ball at Malta, he
speaks of having 'an advanced squadron of fast sailing ships between
me and the frigates.' The Agamemnon (64) was added on the 14th, the
day after she joined. On that day Nelson entered in his private diary,
'Placed Defence and Agamemnon from seven to ten leagues west of Cadiz,
and Mars and Colossus four leagues east of the fleet,' &c,[26] On the
15th he wrote to Captain Hope, of the Defence: 'You will with the
Agamemnon take station west from Cadiz from seven to ten leagues, by
which means if the enemy should move I hope to have constant
information, as two or three ships will be kept as at present between
the fleet and your two ships.'[27]

On the 12th he writes to Collingwood, of the Belleisle, the fastest
two-decker in the fleet, as though she too were an advanced ship, and
on the morning of the 19th he tells him the Leviathan was to relieve
the Defence, whose water had got low. Later in the day, when Mars and
Colossus had passed on the signal that the enemy was out, he ordered
'Mars, Orion, Belleisle, Leviathan, Bellerophon and Polyphemus to go
ahead during the night.'[28] On the eve of the battle therefore these
six ships, with Colossus and Agamemnon, made up the squadron of eight
specified on the memorandum.

The conclusion then is that, though some of the ships destined to form
the advanced squadron had not arrived by the 9th when the memorandum