Champions of the fleet : $b Captains and men-of-war and days that helped to make the empireFraser, Edward
History
Champions of the fleet : $b Captains and men-of-war and days that helped to make the empire
Fraser, Edward
Great Britain -- History, Naval; Naval battles -- Great Britain
On board the _Donegal_ all were listening with straining ears. As the
trumpet bawled the direful intelligence across, a shudder, we are told,
seemed to run through the whole ship, followed by a deep, long drawn-out
groan, plainly heard on board the _Téméraire_ as that ship swept past on
her way.
They reached Collingwood and the rest of the fleet off San Lucar a few
hours later. At once the _Donegal_ found work to do in finishing off and
taking possession of the stricken and dismasted Spanish three-decker _El
Rayo_, one of the forlorn-hope squadron that had made the sortie from
Cadiz on the 23rd, hoping to find the British fleet in serious distress
after the battle and the storm, and to be able to recapture some of the
prizes.
Most of _El Rayo’s_ men were taken on board the _Donegal_. In connection
with one of them, Captain Brenton tells this story. “A man fell overboard
from the _Donegal_ in a gale of wind on this occasion; the usual cry was
raised, when some one thoughtlessly called out, ”He is only a Spaniard.”
“Supposing he is only a Spaniard?” said a gallant English seaman, seizing
the end of a rope, and darting into the sea at the same time; “no reason
the poor ⸺ should be drowned!” Happy am I to say, from the information of
Sir P. Malcolm, both men were picked up.
Besides that, the _Donegal_ rendered invaluable assistance to several of
the badly-damaged British ships during the second gale between the 25th
and the 28th; and in rescuing men from some of the prizes that had been
driven ashore, or were in peril among the reefs here and there along the
rock-bound coast.
Wrote Collingwood a day or two afterwards: “Everybody was sorry that
Malcolm was not there, because everybody knows his spirit and skill would
have acquired him honour. He got out of Gibraltar when nobody else could,
and was of infinite service to us after the action.”
By way also of appreciation and acknowledgment of the magnificent
services rendered by the _Donegal_ after the battle, the officers and men
of the Trafalgar fleet, without one dissentient voice, agreed that the
_Donegal_ should be specially permitted to have a share, equally with
themselves, in the Nelson Monument, which the ship’s companies that
fought at Trafalgar immediately after the battle jointly subscribed for,
as their own personal tribute to their dead chief—the tall obelisk on
Portsdown Hill at the back of Portsmouth Harbour.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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