On 21st October 1805 at lunch time two columns of English ships of the line made their way slowly in a light breeze towards the combined fleet of Spain and France off Cape Trafalgar. The French and Spanish fleets comprised 33 ships of the line to England’s 27. They also had the three largest warships in the world, one 130 gun vessel and two 115 gun vessels. The two largest English ships mustered just 100 cannon each. The English 27 included more small 64 gun double deckers than their opponents.

This attack broke all the usual rules of engagement. The inferior force was attacking the superior force. The Admiral in charge of the English ships ordered them into action as soon as they arrived at the enemy line, meaning that a few leading ships engaged against greatly superior firepower sometime before reinforcements could arrive. Nelson swept away the traditional Admiralty instructions to go in in a line of battle so each ship reached its opponent at about the same time. What was remarkable was that every officer and man who has left a record reveals that all were quite sure they were not just going to win, but they would annihilate their opponents. Some of the other side also shared this view, and were worried sick that at last they had to stand and engage an enemy they had spent months evading at sea or by accepting blockade in home ports.

I was asked to talk to a Trafalgar night dinner again this year. I felt it was an opportunity to discuss the qualities that make for great leadership. Nelson must go down in the annals as one of the greatest leaders of men our country has ever bred. He made sure his ships outsailed their opponents, outgunned them, outmanoeuvred them and dominated them. His reputation went before him, making many an enemy Commander feel he had lost before battle began.
The historical record leaves us clues on how he did this. It seems he combined a strong sense of high standards and discipline on the one hand, with a strong interest in the well being of all his men and an understanding of what they were looking for in a Leader on the other.

He was fortunate to receive his final command from Barham, the recently created Head of the Admiralty and a seasoned naval professional himself. Barham had been given the difficult task of sorting out the mess at the Admiralty during one of the most dangerous years of the long Napoleonic wars.

All that summer of 1805 Napoleon was threatening to take his huge army on barges across the Channel to conquer England. That year Nelson lost touch with the French Mediteranean fleet when it managed to elude his blockade and headed west to the Atlantic. Nelson spent the following weeks dashing to the West Indies and back trying to track his quarry. England did not have enough serviceable warships at sea to protect the Eastern Med, blockade the French and Spanish fleets, protect the West Indian islands and make sure they could defend the western approaches to the Channel to keep the barges in port at the same time.

Barham set about making more ships of the line seaworthy and finding captains and crews worthy of them. When he wanted an Admiral to destroy Villeneuve’s fleet, following Robert Calder’s failure to do this on a rare occasion when the English and French fleets met at sea, he decided to look again at Nelson. Some reading and a meeting persuaded him to take the risk. Once he had decided, he showed he too was a great Leader, by telling Nelson he could chose which Captains he wanted with him in his band of brothers to make up the attacking fleet.

Nelson took Captains he knew and ones he did not, but told them all the same. He was looking for men of resolve, who would make their own decisions in the thick of the battle when they might not be able to see the signals from the flag ship. He wanted men who would bravely put their ships against the enemy and not give up until they had forced surrender. He also briefed them on his novel method of attack, persuading them all this his new strategy would work best. (It had been tried occasionally before by unorthodox commanders and there were some writings Nelson may have read about how it worked)

Nelson expected the highest standards of cleanliness, maintenance, gunnery and discipline. He managed to persuade men that their lives depended on achieving this excellence. The fleet was painted out in his characteristic yellow and black colours. His tour of the Victory before the battle began displayed his concern for the meanest powder monkey or gun crew member, and led to a spontaneous outbreak of cheering. The men expected to win, they thought they had a good chance of surviving, and a better chance of prize money from capture of enemy ships. They were highly motivated.

When Nelson lay dying in the cockpit of the Victory he was told 15 enemy ships had surrendered. He murmured he was expecting 20, and was glad no English ship had succumbed. By the end of the day 19 enemy ships had been captured or destroyed. Most English ships were in a bad way but not one had given in. Whilst the loss of 1663 men was a tragic and high death toll, it compared very favourably with the 7000 reported dead on the other side. Victory’s complement alone was 850 personnel.

I tell this story because it tells us all something about heroic leadership. The great Leader has doubts Nelson was worried that he was going to miss the French fleet again. He assessed every fact and snippet of information. He made intelligent guesses and took measurable risks. He inspired those who worked for him, getting them to believe that they could achieve something magnificent if they followed his example. He was concerned about the welfare of all, and by taking big but intelligible risks he cut the risk of capture, death or failure.

Months of practising quick fire of the guns meant the English could fire 5 broadsides for every two the enemy managed. Constant practising of seamanship in difficult seas, especially when on patrol and blockade, meant the English could manoeuvre their ships so much better. The ships in the French van were out of the battle and tried to put about by seeking to pull their ships round through the efforts of rowboats linked to them.
Constant attention to detail ensured all worked well. Communicating the vision that England had justice on her side and could win was vital to the success of this extraordinary battle. If only we could get public sector leaders with this combination of dedication, skill and vision today to run our NHS wouldn’t things be better?

Let me end with a word about an Essex MP who even in those days had a second job. He was one of Nelson’s Trafalgar Captains. Captain Harvey took the great fighting Temeraire into battle. He spent some time trying to overtake his Admiral so he could be the first to feel the weight of enemy fire, only to be hailed by his Admiral to hold back. That day the Temeraire did sterling service, capturing two French ships and helping the Victory in a tight corner. The Temeraire is almost as famous as the Victory,for she was recorded for posterity in one of England’s greatest paintings by Turner, when in 1838 she was towed up the Thames by a steam tug at the end of her life.

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