rly rapid and reliable, and Nelson kept
his fleet out of sight, and requested that the names of ships sent to
reinforce him should not appear in the papers, as he hoped to delude
Villeneuve into a false idea that he had a very inferior force before
Cadiz. He feared that if the whole array of his fleet were visible from the
look-out stations of the port the allies would remain safe at anchor.
During this period of waiting he had had more than one conference with his
captains, and had read and explained to them a manuscript memorandum, dated
9 October, setting forth his plans for the expected battle. His plan of
battle excited an enthusiasm among them, to which more than one of them
afterwards bore testimony. They said that "the Nelson touch" was in it, and
it is generally taken for granted that they saw in it something like a
stroke of genius and a new departure in tactics. I hope it is not
presumption on my part to suggest that their enthusiasm was partly the
result of their seeing that their trusted leader was thoroughly himself
again and, to use a familiar phrase, meant business, and they had a further
motive for satisfaction in seeing how thoroughly he relied on them and how
ready he was to give them a free hand in carrying out his general ideas.

The "Nelson touch" memorandum of 9 October and the whole plan of the battle
have been, and still are, the subject of acute controversy, the various
phases of which it would be far too long to discuss. It is strange that
after the lapse of a hundred years and the publication of a vast mass of
detailed evidence--British, French, and Spanish--there are still wide
differences of opinion as to how the most famous naval battle in history
was actually fought out. There is even much uncertainty as to the order in
which the British ships came into action.

The memorandum shows that Nelson originally contemplated a formation in
three lines, an advanced division to windward, a main division under his
personal command, and a lee division under his second-in-command,
Collingwood. The final grouping of the ships in the battle was in two
divisions. In the following list of the British fleet the names of ships
are arranged in the same order in which they appear in Collingwood's
dispatch, written after the action:--

WINDWARD LINE.

Ships. Guns. Commanders.

_Victory_ 100 {Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson.
{Capt