confidence and superiority to
match themselves against Nelson and his fiery coadjutors were
tragically accounted for.

Collingwood was now the commander-in-chief of the British fleet, and
to him fell the task of notifying the victory. I insert the documents
in full.

LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY.

ADMIRALTY OFFICE, _6th November, 1805._

Despatches, of which the following are copies, were received at
the Admiralty this day, at one o'clock a.m. from Vice-Admiral
Collingwood, Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's ships and
vessels off Cadiz.

"EURYALUS", OFF CAPE TRAFALGAR, _October 22, 1805._

SIR,--The ever-to-be-lamented death of Vice-Admiral Lord
Viscount Nelson, who, in the late conflict with the enemy, fell
in the hour of victory, leaves me the duty of informing my lords
commissioners of the Admiralty, that on the 19th instant, it was
communicated to the Commander-in-Chief, from the ships watching
the motions of the enemy in Cadiz, that the combined fleet had
put to sea. As they sailed with light winds westerly, his
Lordship concluded their destination was the Mediterranean, and
immediately made all sail for the Straits' entrance, with the
British squadron, consisting of twenty-seven ships, three of
them sixty-fours, where his Lordship was informed, by Captain
Blackwood (whose vigilance in watching and giving notice of the
enemy's movements has been highly meritorious), that they had
not yet passed the Straits.

On Monday, the 21st instant, at daylight, when Cape Trafalgar
bore E. by S. about seven leagues, the enemy was discovered six
or seven miles to the eastward, the wind about west, and very
light; the Commander-in-Chief immediately made the signal for
the fleet to bear up in two columns, as they are formed in the
order of sailing; a mode of attack his Lordship had previously
directed, to avoid the delay and inconvenience in forming a line
of battle in the usual manner. The enemy's line consisted of
thirty-three ships (of which eighteen were French and fifteen
Spanish, commanded in chief by Admiral Villeneuve, the Spaniards
under the direction of Gravina), bore with their heads to the
northwards and formed their line of battle with great closeness
and correctness. But as the mode of attack was unusual, so the
structure of their line was new; it formed a crescent conv