Breaking the line

At noon Villeneuve signals to engage, and Fougueux fires the first shot at Royal Sovereign. Faster than the ships behind her, Collingwood’s flagship comes under fire from four ships before she breaks through the line astern of Admiral Álava’s Santa Ana and fires a raking broadside into her. The next British ship, Belleisle, is dismasted by four French ships but keeps her flag flying for 45 minutes until help arrives.

HMS Royal Sovereign rakes the stern of the Spanish flagship Santa Ana, painting by John Wilson Carmichael, 1856Wikimedia Commons, James Wilson Carmichael, Public domain (John Wilson Carmichael - The opening engagement at Trafalgar; H.M.S. 'Royal Sovereign' raking the stern of the Spanish flagship 'Santa Ana'.jpg)

Nelson leads his column towards the allied van as if to attack it, then turns towards the centre. For 40 minutes Victory is under fire she cannot answer, and her wheel is shot away. At 12:45 she cuts the line between Villeneuve’s flagship Bucentaure and Redoutable, and a treble-shotted broadside through Bucentaure’s stern dismasts her and puts her out of the fight. Victory then locks with Redoutable, while Temeraire, Conqueror and Neptune take on Bucentaure.

Sources

Mark Adkin, The Trafalgar Companion (2005).
Tim Clayton and Phil Craig, Trafalgar: The Men, the Battle, the Storm (2004).
Roy Adkins, Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle (2004).

Prev: The approach Next: The mêlée