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- Nelson's Victory
Built in 1765. 2162 tons. The Battle of Trafalgar After twenty-five days in England, Nelson took command off Cadiz on September 28, eager for a final blow that would free England for aggressive war. There was talk of using bomb vessels, Congreve's rockets, and Francis's (Robert Fulton's) torpedoes to destroy the enemy in harbor, but it soon became known that Villeneuve would be forced to put to sea. On October 9, Nelson issued the famous Memorandum, or battle plan, embodying what he called "the Nelson touch," and received by his captains with an enthusiasm which the inspiration of the famous leader no doubt partly explains. This plan, which had been formulating itself in Nelson's mind as far back as the pursuit of the French fleet to the West Indies, may be regarded as the product of his ripest experience and genius; the praise is perhaps not extravagant that "it seems to gather up and coördinate every tactical principle that has ever proved effective." - Columbus casting a barrel into the sea
The Pinta, being separated from the Nina, was supposed to have been lost; but this proved to have been a mistake, as she reached Spain nearly at the same time with the other caravel. At the time of their greatest extremity, when all hope of safety had departed, Columbus, anxious that the knowledge of his discovery might be communicated to the world, wrote a brief account of his voyage; and having properly secured it in a barrel, committed the latter to the ocean, in the hope that it might afterward be found, should he and his crew never see land again. But they were mercifully preserved, as the storm at length subsided, and, within a few days, they reached the island of St. Mary's, one of the Azores. - Columbus sets sail
The fleet consisted of three vessels, one furnished by himself, through the assistance of his friends, and was to sail from the little port of Palos in Andalusia. Two of the vessels were caravels—that is, light vessels without decks—the other was of a larger burden, though not amounting even to an hundred tons. How such craft could survive the waves and storms of the Atlantic, is one of the marvelous circumstances of the undertaking. The number of men received on board amounted to one hundred and twenty. The preparations having been finished, the undaunted navigator set sail on the morning of the 3d of August, 1492, having first with his whole crew partaken of the sacrament.