The Battle of Trafalgar, 1805
On November 7, 1805, the Times of London published a detailed account of the Battle of Trafalgar, in which the ships of the Royal Navy scored a crushing defeat over the combined fleets of France and Spain, both of which were allied against Britian and under the thumb of Napoleon Bonaparte at that time. The battle is recounted in detail, from the first signal to engage the enemy until the final British victory and the death of its hero, Lord Nelson. Included in the newspaper report are lists of ships damaged or sunk on both sides, as well as casualty lists. In addition, Lord Nelson's last moments are covered in detail.
Forms part of the Sir William Sidney Smith papers, 1794-1862, MS 267, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University. The remainder of the collection includes a genealogy of the Smith family, letters about his brother, John Spencer Smith, ambassador to the Porte at Constantinople, and a battle order issued by Smith aboard the HMS Tigre during the Siege of Acre in 1799.