two hours before the rearmost English ships were engaged.

Meanwhile, the leading eight ships of the French van, commanded by Admiral
Dumanoir, in the "Formidable," after firing at the "Victory" and her
immediate consorts, as they came into action, had held on their course, and
were steadily drifting away from the battle. In vain Villeneuve signalled
to them to engage the enemy. Dumanoir, in a lame explanation that he
afterwards wrote, protested that he had no enemy within his reach, and that
with the light wind he found it impossible to work back, though he used
boats to tow his ships round. The effort appears to have been made only
when he had gone so far that he was a mere helpless spectator of the fight,
and his most severe condemnation lies in the fact that without his orders
two of his captains eventually made their way back into the melee and,
though it was too late to fight for victory, fought a desperate fight for
the honour of the flag they flew.

Dumanoir's incompetent selfishness left the centre and rear to be crushed
by equal numbers and far superior fighting power. But it was no easy
victory. Outmatched as they were, Frenchmen and Spaniards fought with
desperate courage and heroic determination. Trafalgar is remembered with
pride by all the three nations whose flags flew over its cloud of
battle-smoke.

There is no naval battle regarding which we possess so many detailed
narratives of those who took part in it on both sides, and it would be easy
to compile a long list of stirring incidents and heroic deeds. Though the
battle lasted till about five o'clock, it had been practically decided in
the first hour. In that space of time many of the enemy's ships had been
disabled, two had been actually taken; and, on the other hand, England had
suffered a loss that dimmed the brightness of the victory.

In the first stage of the fight Nelson's flagship was engaged with the
"Redoutable" alone, the two ships locked together. Presently the
"Temeraire" closed on the other side of the Frenchman, and the "Victory"
found herself in action with a couple of the enemy that came drifting
through the smoke on the other side of her, one of them being the giant
"Santisima Trinidad." Before the "Temeraire" engaged her, the "Redoutable"
had been fearfully damaged by the steady fire of the "Victory," and had
also lost heavily in repeated attempts to board the English flagship. Only
a midshipman and four men succeeded in scrambli