Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/117

Rh nothing more than fifteen ships of the line, two frigates, a cutter, and a lugger, he had little fear of the issue, as the French and Spanish fleet was supposed to amount to only sixteen ships. But as soon as the enemy hove in sight, looming through a fog that had concealed their approach until they were close at hand, it was found that they consisted of twenty line-of-battle ships, a fifty gun ship, seven frigates, and two brigs. This was an unexpected and startling disparity; but Sir Robert boldly entered into action, although the fog that had commenced in the morning made it necessary for his ships, which bore down in two columns, to tack before they reached the enemy. A close action of four hours ensued, in which the British, notwithstanding their inferiority of numbers, behaved with such gallantry and spirit that a signal victory would probably have been the consequence, had it not been for the haze, which became so dense, that Sir Robert was scarcely able to see his ships either ahead or astern. As it was, he had already captured two large Spanish ships, the Rafael of eighty-four, and the Firme of seventy-four guns; and judging it imprudent to continue the fight, he brought-to, for the purpose of covering his prizes, and waiting an opportunity to renew the engagement. On the following day, the French and Spanish fleet, having the advantage of the windward, advanced within a league and a-half of the British, upon which, Sir Robert hauling on the wind, offered them battle; but Villeneuve, the admiral of the combined fleet, refused the challenge, by hauling to the wind on the same tack as his adversary. On the third day, Sir Robert once more offered battle, but in vain: and being now justly apprehensive of the union of the enemy with the Rochefort and Ferrol squadrons, under whose combined force his own would have been overwhelmed, he fell back, relying upon the support of the Channel fleet, or that of Lord Nelson, while Villeneuve, instead of holding on in his course, was fain to retire into Ferrol. This meeting, that was fraught with such momentous consequences, occurred in lat. 43° 30' north, and long. 11° 17' west, or about forty leagues from Ferrol, on the 22d of July, 1805.

Nothing could exceed the rage and vexation of Napoleon at this engagement and its result. He saw, that by this single stroke, all his preparations at Boulogne were frustrated, and the projected invasion of England rendered hopeless. As soon as he received the tidings, he summoned Count Daru, his private secretary, into the apartment, who, on entering, found the emperor traversing the room with hurried steps, and exclaiming, "What a navy! What sacrifices for nothing! What an admiral! All hope is gone! That Villeneuve, instead of entering the Channel, has taken refuge in Ferrol! It is all over: he will be blockaded there. Daru, sit down and write." Daru took up his pen accordingly, and, with the rapidity of lightning, Napoleon dictated the details of the breaking up of the army at Boulogne, the routes and movements of the different corps, and all the complicated minutiae of the campaign that ended so triumphantly at Austerlitz. In this manner, the terrible storm that was to have gathered and burst over London, was suddenly wafted away to the shores of the Danube and the devoted palaces of Vienna. Speaking of his disappointment in after years, Bonaparte said, "If Admiral Villeneuve, instead of entering into the harbour of Ferrol, had contented himself with joining the Spanish squadron, and instantly made sail for Brest and joined Admiral Gantheaume, my army would have embarked, and it was all over with England."

While such was the judgment of Napoleon upon this event and certainly no one was so fitted to tell its consequences a very different estimation was made V.