wish
his fleet blockaded by an enemy inferior in strength; and if that
is the situation at Cadiz he advises and orders you to attack."

The Allied fleet worked out of Cadiz on the 19th of October and
on the 20th tacked southward under squally westerly winds. On the
21st, the day of the battle, the wind was still from the west, light
and flawy, with a heavy swell and signs of approaching storm. At dawn
the two fleets were visible to each other, Villeneuve about 9 miles
northeast and to leeward of the British and standing southward from
Cape Trafalgar. The French Admiral had formed his main battle line
of 21 ships, French and Spanish intermingled, with the _Santisima
Trinidad_ (128) in the center and his flagship _Bucentaure_ next;
the remaining 12 under the Spanish Admiral Gravina constituted
a separate squadron stationed to windward to counter an enemy
concentration, which was especially expected upon the rear.

As the British advance already appeared to threaten this end of
their line, the Allied fleet wore together about 9 o'clock, thus
reversing their order, shifting their course northward, and opening
Cadiz as a refuge. The maneuver, not completed until an hour later,
left their line bowed in at the center, with a number of ships slightly
to leeward, while Gravina's squadron mingled with and prolonged
the rear in the new order.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, OCT. 21, 1805

Position of ships about noon, when _Royal Sovereign_ opened fire.

(From plan by Capt. T. H. Tizard, R.N., British Admiralty Report,
1913.)]

The change, though it aroused Nelson's fear lest his quarry should
escape, facilitated his attack as planned, by exposing the enemy rear
to Collingwood's division. As rapidly as the light airs permitted,
the two British columns bore down, Nelson in the _Victory_ (100)
leading the windward division of 12 ships, closely followed by
the heavy _Neptune_ and _Temeraire_, while Collingwood in the
freshly coppered and refitted _Royal Sovereign_ set a sharp pace
for the 15 sail to leeward. Of the forty ships Nelson had once
counted on, some had not come from England, and a half dozen others
were inside the straits for water. While the enemy were changing
course, Collingwood had signaled his division to shift into a line
of bearing, an order which, though rendered almost ineffective by
his failure to slow down, served to throw the column off slightly
and bring it more nearly parallel to the enemy rear.