h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How about a collaboration?

Erm - If you don't mind kicking me a lot

It won't need much on the Victory itself - I've already covered most of that (or will finish covering most of that) in this entry A4267244

I'm quite good at kicking...

Bob? Interested at all?

Yes I wil do a rough and you see what you think.

Rough copy here what do you think A20737848
There is enough about the ships already on the entry lists I put the personalities to the fore then the battle prioper

I suspect the paragraph describing warships of the period and their armament is probably better to leave out - it'll either be too short for everyone or big enough to merit its own independent entry

You are proably right

Any better now

Looks like a good start - I'll be back with an extended preamble shortly.

Here's an expansion of the preamble:

By 1805, Napoleon's First French Empire dominated Europe, and so Napoleon began a campaign to take control of the English Channel with a view to invading Britain, something the French had failed repeatedly at since 1066. Aware of Napoleon's intentions, the Royal Navy blockaded the French and were generally successful for a time. However, after the Third Coalition of Austria, Russia and the United Kingdom declared war upon France, Napoleon made new plans to invade Britain. This would require good control of the Channel, but would also require the French and Spanish fleets to escape the British blockade and rendezvous with other forces in the West Indies.

France's most senior naval officer of the time, Admiral Villeneuve had been blockaded in Toulon but broke out on 30 March 1805 after Nelson's loose blockade was blown off by storms. Villeneuve met up with the Spanish fleet and then sailed for the West Indies as planned, with Nelson giving chase. Villeneuve then returned to Europe with hopes of breaking the blockade that had trapped Vice-Admiral Ganteaume at Brest, but failed after figthing an indecisive action against Calder and his squadron of 15 ships just off Cape Finisterre. The visibility was poor and Calder failed to press home his advantage and Admiral Villeneuve broke free, with the French fleet making for Martinique.

Villeneuve then left Martinique, turned north and sailed for Ferrol in northern Spain. From here, he had orders direct from Napoleon to sail for Brest once more, but due to a paranoia that he was being watched, Villeneuve headed for Cádiz instead. The invasion force waiting for Villeneuve at Brest gave up waiting on the 26 August, and ended up taking part in Napoleon's invasion of Russia instead. Meanwhile, Nelson's fleet returned home to rest after their voyage looking for the French. He was forced to wait until mid-September before HMS Victory was ready to sail, but meanwhile Cornwallis, who had been tightly blocking Brest, had detached 20 ships of the line from his group and sent them south under Calder with the intention of meeting the French in battle. This left the channel slightly exposed, but would later provide Nelson with the ships he needed to fight the French at Trafalgar. Calder reached Cádiz on 15 September, with Nelson joining him and taking command on 29 September.


I think the following bit about Villeneuve leaving the harbour can go in a following section, as it comes right before the battle.

Alex

Good stuff mate, is the format suggested by me any good do you think

It's a good start, though I reckon the Main Players section slightly gives away the fact that Nelson dies at the end

They are all deded now

Please check next stge

I'm not sure if using subheaders for the signals is a good idea - the first few work well as subheaders, but those later on are built into the flow of the text.

It helps with the flow, but if the main ones Fleet go as heahers and the others in the text will that be OK

One possible change, It looks a little confusing having the frigates listed first, especially as you've just said there are two columns and then go on to list three formations...

What about saying...

The fleet captains had orders in advance to form the fleet into two columns each ship had its place in line, the disposition of the fleet was as follows, with the weather lineWeather line - the line of ships furthest upwind under his own command and, to the south, the lee lineFurthest downwind under the command of Admiral Collingwood.

Then, go straight onto the

Admiral Nelson's Line
and
Admiral Collingwood's Line

before adding, at the end, something along the lines of

In addition to the two groups of Capital Ships, Nelson also had a number of smaller frigates and schooners under his control, sailing apart from the two lines. These were:


Africa 64 Capt Henry Digby.
Pickle (a schooner) 10 Lieut John Richards La Pentoiere.
Entreprenante 8 Lieut Robert Benjamin Young
Naiad 38 Capt Thomas Dundas
Phoebe 36 Capt Hon. Thomas Bladen Capell
Sirius 36 Capt William Peowse
Euryalus 36 Capt Hon Henry Blackwood


The footnote

Warships of this period were rated according to the number of cannon they carried (shown as the bold number e.g. 64 that follows the name of the ship.)

Would have to be moved to the first ship in Nelson's line though.





1. Africa 641 Capt Henry Digby.
2. Pickle (a schooner) 10 Lieut John Richards La Pentoiere.
3. Entreprenante 8 Lieut Robert Benjamin Young
4. Naiad 38 Capt Thomas Dundas
5. Phoebe 36 Capt Hon. Thomas Bladen Capell
6. Sirius 36 Capt William Peowse
7. Euryalus 36 Capt Hon Henry Blackwood

Nelson divided the bulk of his fleet into two distinct lines, The weather line under his own command and to the south the lee line under the command of Collingwood to attack the enemy fleet.

D**n! Ignore the bottom of my last post - forgot to remove some copy/paste text

Added and extended please comment

Hi Whisky

Ammended is this better