Page:Memoirs of the life and gallant services of Admiral Lord Nelson.pdf/20

 20 The Life and gallant Services ſioners of the Admiralty, that on the 10th 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 filed with light winds weſterly, his Lord- ſhip concluded their deſtination was the Mediterra- nean, and immediately made all fail for the Streight's entrance, with the Britiſh Squadren, conſiſting of twenty-ſeven ſhips, three of them ſixty-fours, where his Lardſhip was informed by Captain Black wood, (whoſe vigilence in watching and giving notice of the enemy's movements, has been highly meritori- ous) that they had not yet paſſed the Streights. On Monday the 21ſt inflant, at day-light, when Cape Trafalgar bore E. by S. about ſeven Leagues, the enemy was diſcovered fix or ſeven miles to the Laſtward, 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 order of failing; a mode of attack his Lordſhip had previouſly directed, to avoid the in- convenience and delay 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 Admi- ral Villeneuve; the Spaniards under the direction of Gravina, wore with their heads to the Northward, and formed their line of battle with great cloſeneſs and correctneſs; but as the mode of attact was un- uſual, ſo the ſtructure of their line was new; it formed a creſcent convexing to Iceward-ſo that, in leading down to their centre, I had both their Van and Rear abaft the heam; before the fire opened, every alternate (hip was about a cable's length to windward of her ſecond a head and a-ſtern, form- ing a kind of double line, and appeared, when on their beam, to leave a very little interval between them; and this without crowding their ſhips. Ad- miral