TRAFALGAR
The battle was fought on October 21 1805 off Cape Trafalgar, west of the Strait of Gibraltar, between a Franco-Spanish fleet of thirty-three ships, commanded by Pierre de Villeneuve, and a British squadron of twenty-seven ships, commanded by Horatio Nelson.
The Allied fleet, sailing from Cadiz, were trying to slip pass a Royal Navy blockade, but steering north in a very irregular line in the balmy conditions they were attacked by the British in two columns, running before the wind from the westward. This was a dangerous tactic by Nelson, which counted on superior British training and discipline, as well as the initiative of his captains. Exposing the leading ships to the risk of heavy damage, Nelson placed his biggest ships at the head of the columns, rather than in the protective centre, and while Collingwood led one column in Royal Sovereign, Nelson led the other in HMS Victory.

The Royal Sovereign broke the enemy's line astern of the Spanish flagship Santa Anna, while the Victory cut through astern of Villeneuve's flagship, the Bucentaure.
The painting shows the moment when the guns of HMS Victory deliver a devastating broadside into the stern of the French flagship.

Lord Nelson, though, later fell mortally wounded, shot by a French sniper. However, the battle was a crushing defeat for France and it forced Napoleon to abandon any plans for an invasion of England.

Commissioned for the UK naval magazine WARSHIPS International Fleet Review, TRAFALGAR is printed with lightfast inks on 100-year archival Art Paper, has an image size of 18cm x 28cm approx. and is Signed By The Artist.