- Author
- Jarrett, Hugh
- Subjects
- 19th century wars, Ship histories and stories
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- September 2002 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
On St. Valentine’s Day, 14th February 1797, Jervis, with fifteen ships-of-the-line, was returning from escorting a Brazil convoy when at dawn, he sighted a Spanish fleet of twenty seven ships-of-the-line which was attempting to rendezvous with powerful French and Dutch fleets preparing to invade England. Action was joined off Cape St. Vincent, the extreme south-west tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was Victory’s greatest day till this date and Jervis was made Earl St. Vincent. Commodore Nelson, who had saved the day by disregarding the Fighting Instructions, was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath. (He was offered a Baronetcy but declined it, preferring the KB, because it carried the Star of the Order, which could be worn where everyone could see it.)
It was two and a half years since Victory had been refitted, so she was ordered home and when the dockyard examination was concluded the thirty two year old ship was considered not worth repairing and she was anchored in the Medway as a hospital ship for prisoners of war. In 1799 she was ordered to be “put in good condition for service” with the intention to have her ready for sea in 1800, but so many defects were found that she was still under refit when the Peace of Amiens brought a stop to all naval work until war was again imminent. In March 1803 Victory was named as Nelson’s flagship in the event of further war. This was declared on 18th May and his flag was hoisted that same day.
The Battle of Trafalgar
After chasing Admiral Villeneuve to the West Indies and back, Nelson and Victory returned home to Portsmouth for twenty five day’s leave and a quick refit. After this, Nelson returned to rejoin his fleet blockading the Franco-Spanish fleet at Cadiz. The next day, his 47th birthday, he dined his senior officers aboard Victory and outlined his plan for dealing with the Combined Fleet, which characteristically, he styled “The Nelson Touch”.
Napoleon had sent a relief for Admiral Villeneuve who, when he heard his replacement was in Madrid, took his fleet to sea in the hope of stealing away through the Straits and setting course for Toulon. Nelson helped him make this decision by keeping his fleet out of sight over the horizon. Nelson’s frigates kept him informed of the Combined Fleet’s movements through a chain of signal repeating ships.
When battle was joined off Cape Trafalgar on 21st October 1805, Nelson had twenty seven ships-of-the-line to oppose the Combined Fleet’s thirty three. Before Victory opened fire, as she ran down at walking pace to the enemy line, she endured about twenty minutes of broadsides. As she penetrated the French line she delivered her raking broadsides into the French flagship Bucentaure, putting her out of action. Then for much of the battle Victory was engaged from ahead by Neptune and from her port side by the huge Spaniard, Santisima Trinidad, and from starboard by Redoubtable. Of these, the smallest, Redoubtable, of 74 guns, was the most dangerous, being the best trained of all the French ships.
Redoubtable’s commanding officer, Captain Jean Lucas, was an efficient, brave and fiery little man (under five feet tall) who had trained his upper yardmen as grenadiers and riflemen and his crew were very keen to show their ability as boarders. They had rehearsed this many times. His marksmen and grenade-throwers up aloft had cleared Victory’s upper decks. Included among those shot was Nelson! Lucas’s men then boarded Victory and were met by fire from her starboard carronade and Royal Marines and were finally repulsed when Captain Hardy brought up gunners from below to deal with them. After a fierce struggle with boarding axes, pikes, cutlasses and small arms, all but five of the French boarders were killed. Midshipman Yon and four seamen are honoured heroes in the French Navy to this day. After this epic struggle, when Temeraire grappled her on her other side, Captain Lucas surrendered. With a two-decker 74 he had come very close to success in fighting a three-decker 100 so brilliantly.
Victory continued until the successful end of the greatest of all naval battles, which gave Britain command of the seas for many years to come. When it was decided to send Nelson’s body home in a frigate a deputation from Victory’s sailors put it to the officers, “We brought him out and we’ll take him home”. The officers were of the same opinion and so he returned to England in Victory to be laid to rest in St. Paul’s Cathedral in the coffin made from timber from the mainmast of the French flagship at the Battle of the Nile, L’Orient. It was presented to him after the battle by Benjamin Hallowell, captain of the Swiftsure, who, wishing to remind him of his mortality, “That when you are tired of life, you may be buried in one of your own trophies”. Far from being upset by this grim reminder, Nelson had it placed upright against the bulkhead in his cabin behind the chair in which he sat at dinner.