The battle of Trafalgar. This is the name of one of the greatest battles on open sea in front of the Trafalgar lighthouse, which took place on the 21st of October 1805 where the Spanish fleed, under the command of Gravina and the French fleed, under the command of Villeneuve, were fighting together the British naval force under the Admiral Nelson, who lost his life here.
Those were the times in which the Spanish crown and the French empire entertained best relations, extending their bonds with the treaties of San Ildefonso in 1796. Napoleon had only one objective: to destroy the British fleet.
This objective was quite dismantled, after various battles in the Caribbean Sea and the French Atlantic coast (Napoleon’s objective was to distract the British fleet, so he could invade Great Britain) the French-Spanish fleet took refuge in the Golf of Cadiz. Lots was told about this fleet, and of the reasons for its defeat , which according to historical information was because of lack of professionalism, of organisation and preparation – some ingredients which clashed immensely with the ingenious strategic handling of the matter by the Admiral Nelson, already then reputed for its excellent manoeuvres and who had decided to block Cadiz closing hence the exit to the Mediterranean Sea for the Spaniards and French.
The situation tensed on October 18th 1805, as on one side, the French commandant Villeneuve wanted to leave, whilst the Spanish commandants Churruca and Gravina did not, as the estimated it still too early. The left the Golf of Cadiz on October 19th , on October 21st, in the first hours of the morning, they attacked the British fleet in front of the Trafalgar lighthouse. The first canons were heard, the 27 British ships on one side, the 33 French-Spanish ships on the other, clouds of smoke and the smell of burned powder blemished the air – a wrong manoeuvre of Villeneuve separated them from the Spanish allies and Nelson could attack the sideboards of the ships. Only some were able to escape and bring the news to Cadiz.
To honour history and to honour the French and Spanish marines who died there, history praised them, as no one capitulated, or escaped, they either died in the battle, 3400 dead or were insured (2500). The British fleet suffered 449 dead (amongst them Nelson, who could not abstain to observe the battle from the highest point of the warship, being so a perfect target) and 1241 insured.
Nelson has won this battle, but he paid it with the high price of his life. His body was transferred to Gibraltar and from there to London, where he was buried in the Cathedral of St. Paul.
