-deckers, according to the estimates of the
time, were each worth two of the enemy 74's, and on the other hand,
the 6 Spanish ships with Villeneuve could hardly be counted for
more than three. In the ensuing action, fought in foggy weather,
two of the Spanish were captured and one of Calder's three-deckers
was so injured that it had to be detached. The two fleets remained
in contact for three days following, but neither took the aggressive.
In a subsequent court martial Calder was reprimanded for "not having
done his utmost to renew the said engagement and destroy every
ship of the enemy."

[Illustration: NELSON'S PURSUIT OF VILLENEUVE, MARCH-SEPTEMBER,
1805]

On July 27 the Allied fleet staggered into Vigo, and a week later,
after dropping three ships and 1200 sick men, it moved around to
Corunna and Ferrol. Instead of being shaken down and strengthened
by the long cruise, it was, according to the commander's plaintive
letters, in worse plight than when it left Toulon. Nevertheless,
ten days later he was ready to leave port, with 29 units, 14 of them
raw vessels from Ferrol, and 11 of them Spanish. If, as Napoleon
said, France was not going to give up having a navy, something
might still be done. His orders to Villeneuve were to proceed to
Brest and thence to Boulogne. "I count," he ended, "on your zeal
in my service, your love of your country, and your hatred of that
nation which has oppressed us for 40 generations, and which a little
preseverance on your part will now cause to reenter forever the
ranks of petty powers."[1]

[Footnote 1: Orders of 26 July, Desbriere, PROJETS, Vol. V, p. 672.]

Such were Villeneuve's instructions, the wisdom or sincerity of
which it was scarcely his privilege to question (though it may
be ours). In passing judgment on his failure to execute them it
should be remembered that two months later, to avoid the personal
disgrace of being superseded, he took his fleet out to more certain
disaster than that which it now faced in striking northward from
Corunna. "_Un poltron du tete et non de la coeur_"[2] the French
Admiral was handicapped throughout by a paralyzing sense of the
things he could not do.

[Footnote 2: Graviere II, 136.]

If he had sailer northward he would have found the British fleet
divided. Nelson, it is true, after returning to Cadiz had fallen
back from Gibraltar to the Channel, where he left his eleven ships
with the Brest squadron in remarkable condition after mor