[143] Ibid., p. 372.

[144] Ibid., p. 81.

[145] Jan. 24, 1804. Ibid., p. 85.

[146] Ibid., p. 89.

[147] Ibid.

[148] Ibid., pp. 85, 89.

[149] For some account of the advantages to French privateers arising from this use of Spanish ports, with interesting particulars, see Naval Chronicle, vol. xiii. p. 76. In March, 1804, Spain prohibited the sale of prizes in her ports.

[150] Parl. Debates, 1805, vol. iii. p. 86.

[151] Corr. de Nap. vol. ix. p. 482.

[152] Parl. Debates, 1805, vol. iii. p. 93.

[153] Ibid., p. 122.

[154] Ibid., pp. 95, 122.

[155] Thiers, Cons. et Emp. livre xvii. pp. 383, 384.

[156] Pitt's Speech of February 11, 1805.

[157] D. José de Couto, Combate Naval de Trafalgar (Madrid, 1851), pp. 83, 89.

[158] Nels. Disp., vol. vi. p. 240. This letter was not sent, Nelson soon after receiving the Admiralty's order.

[159] Jurien de la Gravière, Revue des Deux Mondes, Oct. 1887, p. 611.

[160] Correspondance de Napoléon, vol. x. pp. 79-97.

[161] Nelson's Dispatches, vol. vi. p. 333.

[162] After writing these words the author noted Nelson's opinion to the same effect: "Had they not been crippled, nothing could have hindered our meeting them on January 21, off the south end of Sardinia." (Dispatches, vol. vi. p. 354.)

[163] For Villeneuve's opinion see Chevalier's Hist. de la Mar. Fran. sous l'Empire, p. 134; for Nelson's, Disp. vol. vi. pp. 334, 339.

[164] Corr. de Nap., vol. ix. p. 701.

[165] Ibid., Jan. 16, 1805.

[166] Compare with Nelson's views on attacking Russian fleet, ante, p. 46.

[167] Corr. de Nap., April 29, 1805, vol. x. p. 443.

[168] Letter to Pitt by Robert Francis; Castlereagh's Memoirs, vol. v. p. 444. The whole letter is most suggestive, not to say prophetic. From internal indications it is extremely probable that the writer of these letters, signed Robert Francis, was Robert Fulton, though the fact is not mentioned in any of his biographies.

[169] Mémoires du Duc de Raguse, vol. ii. p. 261.

[170] Thiers, Cons. et Emp., vol. v. p. 413.

[171] Barrow's Autobiography, p. 263.

[172] Ibid. Nav. Chron., vol. xiii. p. 328.

[173] The above account depends mainly upon the "Naval Chronicle" for April 15, 1805; vol. xiii. pp. 365-367,—checked by James and other sources.

[174] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 227.

[175] So in the orders, Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 232. At a later date this rendezvous is spoken of by Napoleon as in the Cape de Verde. (Corr. de Nap., vol. xi. p. 50.) A singular confusion in such important orders.

[176] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 447.

[177] Ibid., 324.

[178] Nels. Disp., vol. vi. pp. 338-341.

[179] Nelson's Dispatches, vol. vi. p. 397.

[180] Chevalier, Mar. Fran. sous l'Empire, p. 142.

[181] Nelson's Dispatches, vol. vi. pp. 410, 411, 415.

[182] See ante, p. 142. Missiessy sailed from the West Indies in the same week that Villeneuve sailed for them.

[183] Corr. de Nap., April 13, 1805, vol. x. p. 390.

[184] Ibid., April 20 and 23.

[185] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 394.

[186] Ibid., p. 490.

[187] Ibid., p. 571.

[188] Ibid., p. 616.

[189] Ibid., p. 624.

[190] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 708.

[191] For example, Thiers, Cons. et Emp., liv. xx. p. 178; Jurien de la Gravière, Guerres Maritimes, vol. ii. p. 224 (first edition).

[192] Corr. de Nap., vol. xi. p. 162.

[193] Nels. Disp., vol. vi. p. 401. In a former work ("The Influence of Sea Power upon History," p. 23), the author casually spoke of this as a false step, into which Nelson had been misled. A closer study has convinced him that the British admiral did quite right.

[194] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 624. Compare this with Nelson's remark, just quoted.

[195] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 624.

[196] Ibid., June 22, 1805, p. 686.

[197] Nap. to Decrès, May 10, 1805.

[198] Corr. de Nap., June 9, p. 624.

[199] Annual Register, 1805, p. 225; Naval Chronicle, vol. xiii. p. 399.

[200] Naval Chronicle, vol. xiii. p. 484. The expression "balayer la Manche"—sweep the Channel—is far stronger than the Chronicle's translation, which is preserved in the quotation.

[201] Apparently a prize. (Nels. Disp., vol. vi. p. 410.)

[202] Nels. Disp., vol. vi. p. 411.

[203] Ibid., Sept. 6, 1804.

[204] Corr. de Nap., June 28, 1805, vol. x. p. 708.

[205] Ibid., p. 705.

[206] Nels. Disp., vol. vi. p. 457.

[207] Ibid., p. 45.

[208] Nels. Disp., vol. vi. p. 459.

[209] On this date is the first intimation of Nelson's sailing as known to Napoleon. June 27, he writes, "I do not clearly see where Nelson has been." (Corr. de Nap., vol. x. p. 701.)

[210] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. April 23 and May 4, 1805, pp. 420, 465.

[211] Ibid., May 24, p. 544.

[212] Ibid., May 29, pp. 563, 624.

[213] Corr. de Nap., vol. x. June 22, p. 686.

[214] Ibid., p. 545.

[215] See, for his reasoning, letter of June 16, three days after leaving Antigua; and also, for his uncertainty after reaching Europe, July 18. (Nels. Disp., vol. vi. pp. 457, 473.)

[216] Naval Chronicle, vol. xiv. p. 64.

[217] Napoleon to Decrès, July 18, 1805.

[218] Naval Chronicle, vol. xiv. p. 64.

[219] Barrow's Autobiography, pp. 276-290.

[220] See ante, p. 162.

[221] Napoleon to Berthier, Decrès, and Ganteaume, July 20, 1805.

[222] Napoleon to Decrès, July 27, 1805.

[223] Calder's Defence, Naval Chronicle, vol. xv. p. 167. The words quoted, frequently repeated in different terms, embody the spirit of the whole paper.

[224] Chevalier, Mar. Fran. sous l'Emp., p. 171. Couto (Combate de Trafalgar, p. 107) gives a very serious account of the injuries suffered by the four remaining Spanish ships.

[225] Nelson's Disp., vol. vi. p. 457.

[226] Nelson's Disp., vol. vii. p. 16.

[227] Corr. de Napoléon, July 16, 1805.

[228] The harbors of Ferrol, Coruña, and a third called Betanzos, are inlets having a common entrance from the sea.

[229] See Napoleon's letters to Decrès, Allemand, and others, July 26, 1805.

[230] Napoleon to Decrès, August 29.

[231] Napoleon to Talleyrand, Dec. 18, 1799. "Frame your reply to Genoa in such terms as to leave us free to incorporate the Ligurian Republic with France, within a few months."

[232] Stanhope's Pitt, vol. iv. p. 318.

[233] Napoleon to Talleyrand, July 31, 1805.

[234] Ibid., August 13.

[235] Napoleon to Villeneuve, August 13.

[236] Napoleon to Decrès, August 14.

[237] Twenty-nine only of the line.

[238] Chevalier, Marine Française sous l'Empire, p. 180.

[239] Collingwood's Correspondence, August 21, 1805.

[240] Thiers, Cons. et Emp., livre xxii. pp. 125, 128.

[241] Thiers, Cons. et Emp., livre xxviii. p. 233.

[242] Napoleon to St. Cyr, Sept. 2, 1805.

[243] Napoleon to Decrès, Sept. 15.

[244] Ibid., Sept. 4.

[245] Nels. Disp., vol. vii. p. 80.

[246] Fyffe's History of Modern Europe, vol. i. p. 281.

[247] To the King of Wurtemburg, April 2, 1811; Corr., vol. xxii. p. 19.

[248] Life of Sir Wm. Parker, vol. i. p. 39. Ross's Life of Lord de Saumarez, vol. ii. p. 214. Naval Chronicle, Plymouth Report, Dec. 10, 1800.

[249] Message of Directory to Council of Five Hundred, Jan., 1799; Moniteur, An 7, p. 482.

[250] McArthur, Financial and Political Facts of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1801, p. 308. Norman (Corsairs of France, London, 1887, App.) gives the number of French privateers taken in the same period as 556.

[251] Sir J. Barrow, then a Secretary to the Admiralty, mentions in a letter to J. W. Croker, July 18, 1810, that two colliers had been captured in sight of Ramsgate, close under the North Foreland; and on July 27 an ordnance hoy taken close under Galloper Light, in the face of the whole squadron in the Downs, not one of which moved. (Croker's Diary, vol. i. p. 33)

[252] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxiv. p. 327. For further curious particulars concerning French privateering in the narrow seas, see Nav. Chron., vol. xxii. p. 279; vol. xxiv. pp. 327, 448, 460-462, 490; vol. xxv. pp. 32-34, 44, 203, 293; vol. xxvii. pp. 102, 237.

[253] See, for example, the account of the privateer captain, Jean Blackeman Nav. Chron., vol. xii. p. 454.

[254] Naval Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 535; vol. iii. p. 151.

[255] In 1806, on the Jamaica station alone, were captured by the British forty-eight public or private armed vessels, two of which were frigates, the rest small. (Nav. Chron., vol. xvii. pp. 255, 337.)

[256] American State Papers, vol. ii. pp. 670, 771.

[257] James (Naval Hist., ed. 1878, vol. iii. p. 249) says that though denominated 1,200-ton ships, the registered tonnage of most exceeds 1,300, and in some cases amounts to 1,500 tons.

[258] Nav. Chronicle, vol. vi. p. 251.

[259] Brenton's Naval Hist. (first ed.) vol. i. p. 346. Low's Indian Navy, vol. i. 204.

[260] Low's Indian Navy, vol. i. 205. Milburn's Oriental Commerce, vol. i. 405.

[261] The premium of insurance, which had in 1782 been fifteen guineas per cent on ships engaged in the trade with China and India, did not exceed half that rate at any period between the spring of 1793 and the end of the struggle. (Lindsay's Merchant Shipping, vol. ii. 265. See also Chalmer's Historical View, pp. 308-310.)

[262] Letter of Bombay merchants to Sir Edward Pellew; Nav. Chron., vol. xxiii. 107.

[263] Robert Surcouf, by J. K. Laughton; Colburn's United Service Magazine, 1883, part i. pp. 331, 332.

[264] Milburn's Oriental Commerce, vol. i. p. xci.

[265] Naval Chronicle, vol. vii. 276.

[266] Naval Chronicle, vol. iv. pp. 150, 151, 326.

It should be explained that as all ships, old as well as new, had to register, this gives the total of French shipping without deduction for losses.

[268] Moniteur, 26 Floréal, An 9 (May 16, 1801).

[269] Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iv. 359.

[270] Cobbett's Parl. Debates, March 15, 1804, p. 921.

[271] Naval Chronicle, vol. xvii. p. 369.

[272] Norman gives the total number of captures, 1793-1800, as 5,158 against Lloyd's 3,639. Through the kindness of Captain H. M. Hozier, Secretary of Lloyd's, the author has received a list of British ships taken, annually, 1793-1814. This list makes the numbers considerably less than the earlier one used in the text. By it, between 1793 and 1800, both inclusive, only 3,466 British ships were captured.

[273] Moniteur, 16 Pluviôse, An 7 (Feb. 5, 1799), pp. 582, 583.

[274] Guérin gives the total number of captures by France from Great Britain, from 1793 to the Peace of Amiens, March 25, 1802, including both ships of war and merchant vessels, as 2,172; while the French lost in all, from ships-of-the-line to fishing-boats, between 1,520 and 1,550. Of this total, 27 were ships-of-the-line and 70 frigates,—a number considerably below that given by James, the painstaking English naval historian. Allowing 150 as the number of smaller naval vessels taken, there would remain, by Guérin's estimate, about 1,300 French trading vessels which fell into British hands. Of these a large proportion must have been the chasse-marées that carried on the coasting trade (as their expressive name implies); attacks on which formed so frequent and lucrative a diversion from the monotony of blockade service. (Hist. Mar de la France, vol. iii. p. 674.)

Guérin claims great carefulness, but the author owns to much distrust of his accuracy. It is evident, however, from all the quotations, that Fox's statement, May 24, 1795, that in the second year of the war France had taken 860 ships, was much exaggerated. (Speeches, vol. v. p. 419. Longman's, 1815.)

[275] In this period of twenty-two years there were eighteen months of maritime peace.

[276] Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iv.

[277] Thus it is told of one of the most active of French privateersmen, sailing out of Dunkirk, that "the trade from London to Berwick, in the smacks, was his favorite object; not only from the value of the cargoes, but because they required few hands to man them, and from their good sailing were almost sure to escape British cruisers and get safely into ports of France or Holland." Between 1793 and 1801 this one man had taken thirty-four prizes. (Nav. Chron., vol. xii. p. 454.)

[278] Returns of the coasting trade were not made until 1824. Porter's Progress of the Nation, section iii. p. 77.

[279] The merchant vessels of that day were generally small. From Macpherson's tables it appears that those trading between Great Britain and the United States, between 1792 and 1800, averaged from 200 to 230 tons; those to the West Indies and the Baltic about 250; to Germany, to Italy, and the Western Mediterranean, 150; to the Levant, 250 to 300, with some of 500 tons. The East India Company's ships, as has been said, were larger, averaging nearly 800 tons. The general average is reduced to that above given (125) by the large number of vessels in the Irish trade. In 1796 there were 13,558 entries and clearances from English and Scotch ports for Ireland, being more than half the entire number (not tonnage) of British ships employed in so-called foreign trade. The average size of these was only 80 tons. (Macpherson.) In 1806 there were 13,939 for Ireland to 5,211 for all other parts of the world, the average tonnage again being 80. (Porter's Progress of the Nation, part ii. pp. 85, 174.)

Sir William Parker, an active frigate captain, who commanded the same ship from 1801 to 1811, was in that period interested in 52 prizes. The average tonnage of these, excluding a ship-of-the-line and a frigate, was 126 tons. (Life, vol. i. p. 412.)

In 1798, 6,844 coasters entered or left London, their average size being 73 tons. The colliers were larger. Of the latter 3,289 entered or sailed, having a mean tonnage of 228. (Colquhoun's Commerce of the Thames, p. 13.)

[280] The returns for 1813 were destroyed by fire, and so an exact aggregate cannot be given. Two million tons are allowed for that year, which is probably too little.

[281] Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iv. 368, 535.

[282] Porter's Progress of the Nation, part ii. p. 171.

[283] Chalmer's Historical View, p. 307.

[284] Porter, part ii. p. 173. The Naval Chronicle, vol. xxix. p. 453, gives an official tabular statement of prize-vessels admitted to registry between 1793 and 1812. In 1792 there were but 609, total tonnage 93,994.

[285] Chalmer's Historical View, p. 351.

[286] The amounts given are those known as the "official values," assigned arbitrarily to the specific articles a century before. The advantage attaching to this system is, that, no fluctuation of price entering as a factor, the values continue to represent from year to year the proportion of trade done. Official values are used throughout this chapter when not otherwise stated. The "real values," deduced from current prices, were generally much greater than the official. Thus, in 1800, the whole volume of trade, by official value £73,723,000, was by real value £111,231,000. The figures are taken from Macpherson's Annals of Commerce.