“The English had suffered much. Many of them had lost masts; some were entirely disabled. They lost about three thousand men, a great many officers, and Nelson. And this had the effect of moderating the enthusiasm in England over this great victory. During the following night a heavy gale arose, as Nelson had foreseen. The English, having great trouble to take care of themselves, were forced to abandon the prizes they had in tow, or in company. Many of the prizes were seized by the prisoners, and, after great effort, succeeded in getting into Cadiz. The English retained but four of their prizes and Admiral Villeneuve, whose troubles were not yet ended. The French marine was almost destroyed, _physically_ and _morally_; and they have hardly recovered from it at this day. “Napoleon heard of it when in Germany, in the midst of triumphs, and ‘he never forgave Villeneuve.’ The Admiral was placed at liberty by the English, and came home in April, 1806, hoping to justify his conduct. He forwarded a letter to Paris, and soon followed it in person. But while still on the journey, he received a reply, the contents of which caused him to give himself six fatal stabs with a knife, in the region of the heart, causing almost immediate death.” Having seen how fairly and truthfully, upon the whole, the French have described some of the incidents of this great battle, let us now return to some of the details and the result. It will be remembered that Nelson was urging the Victory into action; and that vessel being fast-sailing for a line-of-battle ship, would probably have been, like the Royal Sovereign, far ahead of the ships in her wake, but that the Téméraire, having on board very little provisions or water, was what the sailors call “flying light.” This ship was called the “fighting Téméraire.” She had been taken from the French, and was commanded in this action by the gallant Captain Eliab Harvey, a name worthy of a down-east Yankee. She is well known from the celebrated picture, by Turner, of “The fighting Téméraire towed to her last berth.” The great difficulty on the part of the Téméraire was to keep astern of her leader; and to do this she was obliged frequently to yaw, or to make a traverse. Hence the Téméraire shared with the Victory--although not to quite so great an extent--the damage and loss of life sustained by the head of the weather English column, from the Allies’ heavy and incessant raking fire. Shortly after the Victory opened her port guns the Téméraire opened hers; and when the former put her helm aport, to steer towards the Redoutable, the Téméraire, to keep clear of her leader, was compelled to do the same, receiving a fire as she passed the Santissima Trinidada, that did her much damage.