hot had been fired from her, the
_Redoutable_ struck her colours, and about three hours after Nelson had
received his wound, he breathed his last.

In the whole action the British lost 449 killed and 1241 wounded, while
several of the ships lost two of their masts, and five were totally
dismasted. Lord Nelson intended to anchor the fleet and prizes, but
this Lord Collingwood did not think fit to do, and a gale coming on from
the south-west, some of the prizes went down, others were driven ashore,
one escaped into Cadiz, some were destroyed, and only four by the
greatest exertions were saved. To the credit of the Spaniards it must
be recorded that the English prize-crews which landed from the wrecks
were treated with the greatest kindness.

Although there were few trophies, the result of the victory was
completely to disconcert Napoleon's plans, and to prevent him from
invading England. Four ships which escaped after the action were
captured by Sir Richard Strachan on the 4th of November, and not while
the war continued did the French and Spanish navies ever recover the
tremendous blow they had received off Cape Trafalgar. Thus, of the once
formidable French and Spanish fleet of 35 sail of the line, 2 were taken
by Sir Robert Calder, 4 of those captured at Trafalgar were carried into
Gibraltar, as were the 4 taken by Sir Richard Strachan, 15 were sunk or
were burnt or wrecked; 3 only fit for sea escaped into Cadiz; while 7,
so severely battered as to be mere wrecks, got into the same port,
making up the whole number mentioned. In vain for some time did
Napoleon attempt to send another fleet to sea. His ships were either
blockaded by the British squadrons, or, when they did manage to escape,
were attacked and beaten by our fleets. At the same time small
squadrons or single cruisers running out of port committed much havoc on
English commerce; not, however, with impunity. Numerous actions between
light squadrons and single ships took place. The enemy, indeed, were
never safe, even in port; and expeditions to cut out vessels in the
harbours or under the protection of forts were much in vogue.

The navy of England was, at the commencement of 1806, larger than it had
ever before been, consisting of 551 cruisers in commission, of which 104
were line-of-battle ships; in addition to which 26 were building or
being built, and 10 in ordinary, a large proportion of the rest being
frigates carrying from 56 to 28 guns.