The battle was fought in soundings about sixteen miles to the westward of Cape Trafalgar; and if fortunately there had been more wind in the beginning of the action, it is very probable that Lord NELSON would still have been saved to his Country, and that every ship of the line composing the Combined Fleets would have been either captured or destroyed:  for had the Victory been going fast through the water, she must have dismasted the Redoutable, and would of course have passed on to attack another ship; consequently His LORDSHIP would not have been so long nor so much exposed to the Enemy’s musketry.  From the same circumstance of there being but little wind, several of the Enemy’s ships made off before the rear and bad-sailing ships of the British lines could come up to secure them.

THE Victory had no musketry in her tops:  as His LORDSHIP had a strong aversion to small arms being placed there, from the danger of their setting fire to the sails; which was exemplified by the destruction of the French ship L’Achille in this battle.  It is a species of warfare by which individuals may suffer, and now and then a Commander be picked off:  but it never can decide the fate of a general engagement; and a circumstance in many respects similar to that of the Victory’s running on board of the Redoutable, may not occur again in the course of centuries.  The loss sustained by the Victory amounted to fifty-five killed, and a hundred and two wounded;[22] and it is highly honourable to the discipline and established regulations of the ship, that not one casualty from accident occurred on board during the engagement.

On the day after the battle, as soon as circumstances permitted the Surgeon to devote a portion of his attention to the care of Lord NELSON’S honoured Remains, measures were adopted to preserve them as effectually as the means then on board the Victory allowed.  On the Surgeon’s examining the nature of the wound, and the course of the ball, a quantity of blood was evacuated from the left side of the breast:  none had escaped before.  The ball was traced by a probe to the spine, but its lodgment could not at that time be discovered.  There was no lead on board to make a coffin:  a cask called a leaguer, which is of the largest size on shipboard, was therefore chosen for the reception of the Body; which, after the hair had been cut off, was stripped of the clothes except the shirt, and put into it, and the Cask was then filled with brandy.[23]

In the evening after this melancholy task was accomplished, the gale came on with violence from the south-west, and continued that night and the succeeding day without any abatement.  During this boisterous weather, Lord NELSON’S Body remained under the charge of a sentinel on the middle deck.  The cask was placed on its end, having a closed aperture at its top and another below; the object of which was, that as a frequent renewal of the spirit was thought necessary, the old could thus be drawn off below and a fresh