During this time the British ships were coming into action one after another, but very slowly, as the wind, light all the morning, had now fallen to a mere air, barely sufficient to bring all our vessels up; thus the first ships engaged had dreadful odds against them, and the loss of life in them was great. After bringing the _Redoutable_ to close action as before described, Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy, side by side, calmly walked the centre of the quarter deck, from the poop to the hatchway. At about 1.25, in their walk forward his Lordship turned a little short of the hatchway, Captain Hardy took the other step, and turned also, and beheld the Admiral in the act of falling. He had been wounded by a musket ball fired from the mizen-top of the _Redoutable_, which struck him in the left shoulder as he turned, and thence descending, lodged in the spine. He sank on to the very spot that was still red with his secretary's blood, and was raised by Sergeant Secker, of the Marines, and two seamen, who under Captain Hardy's directions, bore him to the cockpit. "They have done for me at last, Hardy," said the hero as he fell. "I hope not," said Hardy. "Yes," was the reply, "they have shot my backbone through." But his presence of mind was still strong, and he gave directions for the tautening of the tiller ropes as he was carried below, and covered his face and decorations with a handkerchief, that he might not be recognised. The cockpit was crowded with wounded, and with difficulty he was borne to a place on the port side, at the foremost end of it, and placed on a purser's bed with his back resting against one of the wooden knees of the ship. Here the surgeon examined his wound, and at once pronounced it mortal. In the meantime the battle raged furiously, the men stationed in the _Redoutable's_ tops (Nelson would allow none in the "VICTORY," for fear of setting fire to the sails), had nearly cleared the "VICTORY'S" upper deck, 40 men being killed or wounded on the deck alone. The French, seeing this, attempted to board, but were driven back with great gallantry by the few men that remained, headed by Captain Adair, of the Marines. At about 1.50 the _Redoutable_ ceased firing, and two midshipmen and a few men were sent from the "VICTORY" to assist in putting out a fire that had burst out on board of her, and the "VICTORY" then proceeded to get herself clear, leaving her prize lashed to the _Temeraire_, that had just fouled her on the other side. The "VICTORY" was by this time so crippled in her spars and sails that all efforts on her part to get into _close_ action (Lord Nelson's favourite position), with another enemy were ineffectual; but she still continued engaged on the port side with the _Santissima Trinidada_ and other ships; and later, with a fresh batch of the enemy's ships that passed along the line and eventually escaped.