Heard ye the thunder of battle, Low in the South and afar? Saw ye the flush of the death-cloud, Crimson o’er Trafalgar? Such another day, never, England shall look on again, When the battle fought was the hottest, And the hero of heroes was slain! This is a glance at Captain Hardy, the captain of the _Victory_ at Trafalgar, his lieutenants and other quarter-deck officers of Nelson’s flagship, and also something of the men who manned the _Victory_ and where they came from. Incidentally this should be said of Nelson’s own personal connection with the _Victory_. Nelson’s first association with the _Victory_ dated back to many years before Trafalgar—ever since, indeed, the year in which he entered the Navy as a boy of twelve. At that time the _Victory_, in her seventh year afloat, was lying up in reserve at Chatham, the pride of the Medway, as the finest and biggest first-rate man-of-war in the British Navy. The boy Nelson while at Chatham saw her day after day for months, and must have gone on board her. Later on, during the four years that Nelson served in the Mediterranean under Hood and Jervis, between 1793 and 1797, the _Victory_ was flagship of the fleet, and Nelson, as we know, was constantly on board her on business with the Admiral. It was on the _Victory’s_ quarter-deck also that Sir John Jervis, after the battle of Cape St. Vincent, publicly embraced Nelson and congratulated him on the magnificent display of heroic daring that he had made that day. In October, 1805, Nelson had flown his flag on board the _Victory_ for two and a quarter years, ever since the war began, having at the outset gladly accepted the offer of her for his flagship from what he knew of her as the fastest three-decker afloat.