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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Trafalgar
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(21 Oct. 1805) Victory by *Nelson over a combined French and Spanish fleet (commanded by Pierre de Villeneuve) in the Atlantic outside the Straits of Gibraltar; the name derives from Cape Trafalgar in southwest Spain. The French fleet of 33 ships was attempting to sail from Cadiz into the Mediterranean to support Napoleon's planned invasion of Austria. Nelson, with 27 ships, began by flying from the masthead of the *Victory his famous signal (*'England expects').
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Both he and *Collingwood broke through the French line, and the battle would have been a relatively painless victory (20 French and Spanish ships surrendered with no British losses) if a sniper firing with a musket from the topmast of the Redoutable had not put a bullet through Nelson's spine. He was alive for the last few hours of the battle. 'Kiss me, Hardy', one of his final requests to his captain on the Victory, has often struck people as odd; but in the context of a long death scene, recorded by a doctor who was tending him (William Beatty), it reads as a simple request for a comforting embrace. The victory gave Britain a reputation at sea which was unchallenged until World War I.
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