Throughout the British fleet the men were in the highest spirits, eager and ready for the fray, and at the same time cool and confident. 'As we neared the French fleet,' an officer in the _Ajax_ relates,[95] 'I was sent below with orders, and was much struck with the preparations made by the bluejackets, the majority of whom were stripped to the waist; a handkerchief was tightly bound round their heads and over the ears, to deaden the noise of the cannon, many men being deaf for days after an action. The men were variously occupied; some were sharpening their cutlasses, others polishing the guns, as though an inspection were about to take place instead of a mortal combat, whilst three or four, as if in mere bravado, were dancing a horn-pipe; but all seemed deeply anxious to come to close quarters with the enemy. Occasionally they would look out of the ports, and speculate as to the various ships of the enemy, many of which had been on former occasions engaged by our vessels.' Elsewhere, we are told, the men kept pointing out various ships in the Franco-Spanish line, as seen through the open ports, and calling to one another, 'What a fine sight them ships will make at Spithead!' Particularly keen was every man that his ship should if possible get alongside the huge Spanish four-decker which all could see, near the centre of the enemy's fleet, the _Santisima Trinidad_. On board the _Bellerophon_, one of Collingwood's leading ships, the men at quarters on the main deck chalked '_Billy Ruff'n_, Victory or Death' on their guns.[96] How keen was the rivalry among the ships at the head of Nelson's line, as the morning advanced, is shown by two incidents in which the _Neptune_--a 98-gun three-decker like the _Temeraire_, the ship next in the line to her--and the _Temeraire_ herself, both figured. The _Temeraire_ had the post of honour in Nelson's line, that of 'second,' or chief supporter to the _Victory_, but the _Neptune_ had gradually drawn up level with her. Not content with that, the _Neptune_ began to edge past the _Temeraire_, until, forging ahead, she had come up alongside the flagship herself. Indeed, it appeared as though she was ambitious of passing ahead of the _Victory_, and leading Nelson into the battle. The Admiral himself stopped her. Nelson at the moment that the _Neptune_ began to draw up level with the _Victory_, happened to be in the stern gallery leading out of his cabin, observing how the rear ships of the fleet were coming on. He saw what was taking place, and at once hailed the _Neptune_. '_Neptune_ there,' he called out in a sharp, rasping tone, 'take in your stu'ns'ls and drop astarn. I shall break the line myself!'[97] The _Neptune_ had to comply forthwith, and on her falling back the _Temeraire_ pushed up and resumed her allotted berth as the ship next to the _Victory_.