Battle of Trafalgar scene from the film A Bequest to the Nation.
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- The Battle of Trafalgar as depicted in this dramatic scene from the 1973 British historical drama film, Bequest to the Nation, brought to you courtesy of Hal Wallis Productions and Universal Pictures.
Released as The Nelson Affair in the United States, the film was Directed by James Cellan Jones and starred Glenda Jackson as Lady Hamilton, Peter Finch as Admiral Lord Nelson, Michael Jayston as Captain Hardy and Margaret Leighton as Lady Nelson.
All rights owned by Universal Pictures.
Nelson as a young officer fought in the American Revolution. He commanded; I believe a small fighting sloop. One day he chased down and captured a large fishing vessel and took it as a prize. He had it sailed to the nearest port. The next day, the owner of the fishing vessel asked for it back, it was his only means to support his family. Nelson released the vessel back to him. A family in Boston has the letter that the owner wrote detailing the incident.
@mike89128 Nelson was a good and great man. His crew and indeed the nation loved him.
@@TheRealist2022 Oh? Perhaps you've never heard about Naples. Nelson had his virtues of course, but he had his defects too. A great naval officer? certainly. A great man? Nope.
Lord Nelson left no descendants (other than his illegitimate daughter Horatia). His titles were passed down through his older brother.
@@davidm3000ify Nelson the pirate and he was defeated by General Gutierrez at the battle of Tenerife..
Spanish empire won once again.
@@juanmorales5133 Lover of fantasy I see
What was behind Nelson’s success was those high quality guns. Britain’s early start in the Industrial Revolution resulted in cast iron guns that seldom exploded in use. This confidence in quality cast iron enabled the gunners to load with two or three shots at a time. When fired at close range this was devastating. One of best makers was the Walker company of Rotherham. Still today you can see their logo cast onto the end of the left trunnion on the guns lined up on the dockside next to HMS Victory. Also those British guns were cast to accommodate flintlock firing. This resulted in an almost instantaneous firing. The French were still using the old method of a piece of burning match on the end of a pole. This resulted in a few seconds delay, very important when firing from a ship rocking up and down. One moment pointing at the sky and then down at the water.
Nice to see someone do their homework.
Guns are useless without the men they would follow him to hell an back, of all the armed forces back then you were better off in the navy you got rum you got more meat rations per sailor plus bread an everything else less chance of dying from disease as Nelson ran a tight ship no loosie goosy, ships were kept spotless it was Nelson that brought in the regime of scrubbing the decks every day to stamp out disease. The guns were quality as were the ships to takes some real carpentry skills to make ships like that and a lot of good quality timber to.
It also helps when the men firing those cannon were constantly at sea and practicing their gunnery. The Spanish and French were brave and often valiant opponents but their ships were holed up and blockaded in port.
They never had the chance to drill their weapons with the supreme efficiency of the Royal Navy.
There is a reason the service, despite its small size now, is still the model in discipline and conduct for all others.
@@neilhayz1555 There was one exception to the lack of training and that was the French "Redoutable" whose captain had conducted a prolonged training program (although in port the cannon firing was 'dry runs' without actually firing but training the crew to work together as a team just as the Royal Navy did. He also gave his sharpshooters the opportunity to fire at targets at the range of enemy crews alongside which meant of all the ships in the combined fleet, his was the only one with a motivated and skilled crew including snipers. And which ship did Nelson's Victory end up alongside? The bloody Redoutable - that was fate!
Excellent Intel, John Willets & Very important too know those Type's of Technically better Innovations in Gunnery. Thank You. JOHN W.
One other Factor I Read was that?
English & French Ship's of the Line at that Time. We're 54 Gun's or more, & they were Three Decker's usually.
The HMS Victory Carried 105 plus Gun's in Total at that Time. Wowsers.
Nelson was my Harry Potter when I was 9 years old and I first saw his bloodstained uniform in the National Maritime museum at Greenwich. 71 years later I still have his bust on my desk as I type this. What a wonderful man.
A great character and a great man!
30 years your junior and all the way over Australia he was a boyhood hero to me too!
One of history's great characters
I was a few years older but it left a lasting impression on me, blood of a national hero.
I have the famous portrait on Lord Nelson beautifully frame in my living room. It's the one that has him wearing the famous medals.
😥⚖️💪 They never looked after his dear Emma🙏🆘🇬🇧
He was living in Micham, south London,,,, many roads in south Wimbledon are named after his great battles......
No no he will never be forgotten by true English folk.
🥇🗣️📢🤩⚖️💯🇬🇧
I love these scenes showing explicit views of what "Preparing for Battle" entailed on a ship of the line. So many naval films have the Captain saying "Prepare for Battle" and then his ship just runs toward the enemy. People have very little insight into those wind driven Ships of the Line. For their time the were the equivalent of a Space Shuttle. Miles of cordage, tons of equipment all contained and designed with such precision in order to place the vessel in condition to fight. There were thousands of actions required on the part of everyone from the humblest seaman to the Captain of the ship (or the Admiral of the Fleet) that had to be done in just the right way at just the right time. The training and experience of the British crews won the Battle of Trafalgar as much as Nelson's strategy.
You should read a little known book by Melville called "White Jacket". It's about his tour of duty on the US flagship in the 1840's. No battles, just a day to day about life on the ship, everyone's duties, and how they auction a dead sailor's items, and give the proceeds to the family when returning to port.
pepearing a ship of the line was a major task it ment sanding the floor in the so called oar it meant launching of the dingis it ment removing of the false walls into the officers quaters
As we see, mess tables were cleared for the surgeon...
Read Six Frigates by toll to get an understanding of the conditions on the ships of war around that time.
The fact this is filmed on The Victory is amazing to me. I visited Portsmouth Historic Dock a couple of months ago and toured The Victory, it was a fantastic experience but it must of been hell to serve and fight on, You have to walk around almost the whole ship bent over (except on deck) and after a while it really strains your back, I cannot imagine what it was like to carry guns, cannon balls and everything else.
@45 years ago, when I was in the USN, my ship visited Portsmouth, UK and I toured the Victory. Man!! what a ship... remains one of my life's favorite moments :)
I live in the UK and for me as well it's the best museum visit in the country. A real sense of history walking around this ship.
@@AndysEastCoastAdventuresSixty plus years since I last visited her.
What an amazing time capsule ..
But the lower decks so cramp like and height wise so small.
She’ll still stand when we are all gone..
Nelson became immortal the day he fell.
Stay safe..
@@AndysEastCoastAdventures but it is true that HMS Victory is burned?
@@marcolfo100nope, she's still in Portsmouth and open as a museum
@@chrisgibson5571 Very well
My great great great grandfather was Admiral Marlow of the Red Fleet. The journals he kept are just magical. Will donate them to Greenwich
Digitize them. I'd love to read them.
Don’t lie
No God At The Time Of Battle
@@mailenelumayas9371 what dose god have to do with this
Fair play….i bet you’re really proud, I totally would be…..👍🏾
A little bit of trivia. Whenever ever the English cricket team or individual player reaches a score of 111 it is called the Nelson. One eye One arm One life for England
Excellent bit of trivia.
@@ceciljohnrhodes4987
One eye, one arm - won Trafalgar.
. . .
England?? Why not Britain?? What about the Scots, Welsh and Irish who fought for the King and Country?
@@lg7631 whine.
@@lg7631 I am fairly sure they do not qualify to play in the English test team. And none of those countries have test cricket status anyway
Films like this should be passed on to today's generation.
I must have been to the Royal maritime museum in Greenwich at least 6 times ,and I still stand in awe of Nelsons uniform in the big glass case .The musket ball hole is quite visible.He was not very tall ,and quite a slim build .
@Pax.Alotin I have my Father's medal from the French gov .Awarded to him for services in France on D Day .
Legion d Honneuer.
@Pax.Alotin will wear it on 6 June .recipients family are allowed to wear it on special occasions regarding war memorial days.
@Pax.Alotin cool story fuddster.
This is the worst film I've seen in a while.
"England expects that every man will do his duty"
Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson
Or else?
@@chrisnewport7826 a stern warning and no pudding
@@chrisnewport7826 keel haul
Admiral Lord Nelson.
Always rank before title.
@chrisnewport7826 it meant as encouragement to all including officers
It amazes me how few movies today put as much effort into authenticity as films from the 60s and 70s, movies like this and Waterloo get ignored too much imo
“Those who are ignorant of the past are doomed to repeat it.”
@Scruffynerfherder10 Sad isn't it? Most of the kids of today when interviewed over the last few days have no idea what D Day was and that was only 80 years ago!
Nelson never wore an eye patch
@paulbuckland132
Don't know about "never", perhaps when his eye was first injured? However, you're right, he didn't wear an eyepatch habitually. He wore a kind of one-eye eyeshade because bright light bothered him in that one, badly damaged, eye.
@@sirderam1 Problem with Nelson he was vain and like to show of his medals an easy victim for a sharpshooter.
What is often overlooked is the quality of seamanship and weather knowledge by captains and crews not only on the approach to battle, but also - and more importantly - once engaged. The skill needed to fight a ship of the line in manoeuvring, gunnery and bringing targets to bear without becoming one yourself, was incredible. It’s no wonder the senior service was better fed and looked after than the Army of the time.
Incidentally: I live ten miles from Lord Nelson’s birthplace. My gggggrandfather was baptised by Nelson’s father.
and the sailing ships of the time were the state of the art.
Nelson invented a tactic which permitted the British expertise at maneuvering and gunnery to outclass their opponents' numerical advantages.
That's grrrrrrreat! - Tony the Tiger.
The navy was a significantly more meritocratic institution than the aristocratic elitist army at the time, in the army one could purchase a commission or be a noble and become an officer immediately though later this was changed so purchased commissions and noble cadets had to go through the army academies like all others. But the army wasn't really important for Britain so this was excusable however the Royal Navy was a matter of national life or death and it needed the best. Commissions could be purchased but that would only get you to midshipman and it was required to serve in a position for a minimum length of time and serve well to be considered to be sent to academy for the next rank up incentivizing talented of any origin even commoner to rise which was impossible in the army. A combination of efficient command and particularly exceptional gallantry was the only real way to advance so it wasn't just years under the belt so war really helped careers move along and England would be in a hell of alot of those in the age of sail producing the nation's greatest renowned heroes
Yeah I sailed in small vessels. But during competitions one thing was clear.
I have the rudder.
I got no time to look at maps, check the sails.
I must be fully aware of my surroundings.
Now that was with a crew of 5.
Imagine with a crew of 105 in combat on the seas.
If I were captain then, I would give the rudder to some random guy and only give orders like they do in the movie
Makes one to be proud of being of British descent. One of my ancestors served at Trafalgar.
There was a time before our time, It will not come again, When the best ships still were wooden ships. But the men were iron men.
Well said
Speak for yourself, nancy boy. There are plenty of good men around these days who do more constructive things than kill each other.
Heart of oak are our ships, heart of oak are our men;
We always are ready, steady, boys, steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.[7]
@@davidreeves-turner6572 Get it right: 'Heart of oak are our ships. Jolly tars are our men'....
@@starcorpvncj best speak to Wikipedia - cut and pasted from the original wording… I think that your wording is the Royal Canadian Navy version. I’m sat just a few miles from Portsmouth where HMS Victory is located.
About 20 years ago, I visited the VICTORY in Portsmouth. Something I had wanted to see since I was a little kid. I was on the middle gun deck where the 24 pounders were located. I was on the port side, leaning on one of the guns, chatting with a retired Royal Navy CPO who was there. We were talking about the British and US Navies (I had served four years in the early to mid-eighties) and I told him I knew all of VICTORY's guns except one had been jettisoned after Trafalgar. The ones on the ship now are fiberglass replicas. I asked the Chief what had happened to the one gun left from the battle. He snickered a little and said "Yer leanin' on it, mate!" I thumped it, and sure enough, it was iron. I said that it would look great in my living room. Cool memory!
I don't think any of the guns present at the battle remained with victory.
@@lutzderlurch7877 One 24 pounder, about the middle of the port side.
The reason why most of the guns aren’t real is because a wooden ship of the line isn’t structurally strong enough to support them when it’s out of the water.
@@jeremypnet Not just because it is out of the water. Even when in the water, they combined weight put such a huge strain on everything, that ships that were paid off, i.e. taken out of active service, or even just temporarily mothballed during winter were stripped of their guns.
This happened to pretty much all ships multiple times during their carreers and guns were not individually tracked in inventory.
So the chances of one of the guns from trafalgar being on a certain ship again after it was paid off and reentered service once were slim, let alone after several rounds of that.
And there is no knowing which guns were at trafalgar, either.
@@davidstevens6117 I'd like to see their provenance for that being a gun onboard Victory during trafalgar
After the fiasco of the Invincible Armada, Elizabeth I wanted to take advantage of Spain's weakness to destroy its power. England, however, suffered its greatest catastrophe on the sea.
The Counter Armada: this was the greatest Spanish naval victory over England that almost nobody counts.
Of the 180 ships that had sailed to take Spain, 102 returned with many of their men infected by the plague suffered at sea and which they spread when they went ashore. Of the 27,667 men who had embarked, only 3,722 survived.
This expedition - whose losses were double those of the Invincible Armada - made it the greatest naval catastrophe in the history of England.
True, italian friend. But anglos have controlled narratives. Nowadays the globalists.
Never heard of the Anglo-Dutch Naval Wars? I'd argue the fleet being burnt in port near London was worse (at least for prestige purposes).
Also, the Anglo-Dutch Naval Wars were awesome in scope. Hundreds of ships engaged in battles that lasted multiple days...
You are being disingenuous here. While the expedition was a disaster and resulted in an overall Spanish victory, nearly all the losses were incurred during failed landings/incursions made on land against coastal ports such as La Corunna , vigo, etc. There was no great naval battle like Trafalgar or other great sea battles during the Dutch wars, Napoleonic wars, etc. Therefore your claim of it being the greatest Spanish naval victory over England does not ring true in the sense of a large ship to ship engagement with a decisive result on the high seas.
Trafalgar was an example of a well trained and experienced fleet fighting and defeating a fleet that had spent too much time in port. Even today, some nations still haven't learned the lessons from history!
To be fair, the French and Spanish spent too much time in port because it was usually too dangerous to venture out! In other words, it wasn't just because the Admirals in charge were idiots who failed to realize the advantages of practical experience but the consequences of their circumstances.
@@bullettube9863 Well I'm just happy that the French Admiral DeGrasse was a lot better back off of Yorktown in 1781. If I recall, Nelson also used some innovative tactics at Trafalgar.
@@Gallienus53 Which begs the question: Would the outcome had been different if DeGrasse had been in charge at Trafalgar? Aside from the weak winds, what would he have done differently?
Trafalgar is a very important battle for the British, and Nelson a great sailor. Feel proud.
But Britain is an island.
Napoleon invaded Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, Moscow at that time... London and all of England did not have 300,000 French soldiers there because there was no land road. That is why there is Trafalgar, where the British lose 600 sailors and stop the invasion. Countries like Spain lost half a million people, with the economy sunk by 80%, and could not stop the invasion. Neither did Russia, Austria, Germany... Hegemonic empires are unstoppable on land.
In Trafalgar, Spain only loses 11 ships. France 13. A year after Trafalgar 1805, Spain defeats the British in Argentina and Uruguay 1806-1807, capturing the British redcoats and generals. And a month after Trafalgar, Napoleon wins at Austerlitz.
Trafalgar wouldn't even make it into the top 10 Spanish victories at sea.
-1372. La Rochelle. 48 English ships captured or sunk. 0 Spanish sunk. 5 Spanish invasions of southern England 1377-1411
-1571. 200 Turkish ships sunk at the Battle of Lepanto, by Spanish NATO in Italy
-1585. 100 Dutch ships sunk in 1 night at Empel
-1589. 60-80 English ships of Drake's Invincible Fleet sunk
-1625. Cadiz. 62 English and Dutch ships sunk.
-1629. Defeat of the combined fleet of England and France in the Caribbean
-1739-48. War of Jenkins' Ear, won by Spain: 400 British ships sunk or captured.
-1741. Battle of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. 50 British ships sunk
-1779-82. Spanish blockade of the United Kingdom. Capture of 24 British ships
-1779-82 Spanish blockade of the United Kingdom. Capture of 55 British ships captured, including 39 war frigates. Collapse of the London Stock Exchange, independence from the USA.
After the Napoleonic Wars, which destroyed continental Europe, the ISLAND of the United Kingdom made its great global expansion, 300 years after the global expansion of Spain, with a hegemony of 150 years in Europe. British hegemony in Europe: 0 years.
@@Ranillon Good British victory at Trafalgar. But Spain did not spend that much time in the port.
-1372. La Rochelle. 48 English ships captured or sunk. 0 Spanish sunk. 5 Spanish invasions of southern England 1377-1411 -1571. 200 Turkish ships sunk at the Battle of Lepanto, by Spanish NATO in Italy -1585. 100 Dutch ships sunk in 1 night at Empel -1589. 60-80 English ships of Drake's Invincible Fleet sunk -1625. Cadiz. 62 English and Dutch ships sunk.
-1629. Defeat of the combined fleet of England and France in the Caribbean -1739-48. War of Jenkins' Ear, won by Spain: 400 British ships sunk or captured.
-1741. Battle of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. 50 British ships sunk -1779-82. Spanish blockade of the United Kingdom. Capture of 24 British ships -1779-82 Spanish blockade of the United Kingdom. Capture of 55 British ships captured, including 39 war frigates. Collapse of the London Stock Exchange, independence from the USA.
After the Napoleonic Wars, which destroyed continental Europe, the ISLAND of the United Kingdom made its great global expansion, 300 years after the global expansion of Spain, with a hegemony of 150 years in Europe. British hegemony in Europe: 0 years.
The drummer boy crying got to me.💔
Really enjoyed the accuracy in this. From the dismantling of the admirals cabin to make room for the guns, nelson requesting that they hide his uniform to stop morale falling, powder monkeys running around and seeing midshipmen in their early teens.
Agreed, I've not seen an accurate "clear for action" sequence in a film until this...I have to go back and watch Master and Commander as I can't recall if they show this.
@MrGeek2112 I seem to recall in Master & Commander they did show that.
The black sailors. If they did this today some idiot would claim it was just for woke points. However there were ten black sailors on Victory.
@@big_dave_7178 Out of how many?
@cathybrind2381 Victory sailed with around 800 sailors so 10 was a modest but noticeable amount of black crew men. The Royal Navy might not have had any black officers but they had no problem with black crew before the mast.
See…you don’t need expensive computer graphics to produce a great battle scene. Thank you.
Only two ships shoot each one. :D
@@Bynk333 But where are the scenes of ships in the water?
just a boat load of money... (we do CGI coz its cheap)
There were several casualties among the actors...CG is much safer.
@@michaelanderegg2277 6:37 perhaps? :D
The "star and crescent" decoration on Nelson's jacket was awarded to him by the Ottoman sultan Selim III for his victory against France at the Battle of Nile. Its "The Imperial Order of the Crescent" . It was the highest chivalric order of the Ottoman Empire in 18th c. The order had two degrees, Knight First Class and Knight Second Class. Apart from Nelson, 11 more Europeans were awarded with this order. Nelson was so proud of his award that he appended it to his name in the Articles of Capitulation with Denmark after the Battle of Copenhagen on 9 April 1801.
Very interesting
Also shown was Nelson's Turkish 'chelengk' worn on his cocked hat, awarded by the Ottoman sultan. The chelengk was a spray of diamonds rising from a circular clockwork mechanism, also studded with diamonds. When set going the circular section revolved and set the spray vibrating, producing a scintillating display.
YES NELSON HERO OF OTTOMANS AGAİNST POOR FRENCH NAPEOLON ARMİES 😆.
Yes, Nelson was quite vain and wanted every decoration on show pretty much all the time, which was weird as nobody doubted his bravery and courage and it's not like nobody knew who he was without them.
Very interesting, but the Ottomans were worse than the monster Napoleon...or were they both equally tyrannical?
I remember watching a documentary on Nelson, whose only complaint about the fully awake amputation of his right arm was how cold the instruments felt as they cut. He ordered all instruments be pre-warmed before operations.
The loss of his arm at Tenerife caused him a great deal of pain and he sank into depression. “I have become a burden to my country…” He wrote.
At this time Admiral Duncan defeated the Dutch at Camperdown. The fighting was so fierce with the gallant Dutch that an Ordinary Seaman named Jack Crauford literally nailed his ships colours to the mast.
In London mobs went round berating those who didn’t deck their houses out in patriotic colours. One of those mobs arrived at Nelson’s house.
A servant explained that thisvwas Admiral Nelson’s house and he was recovering from his wounds at Tenerife and the mob went quiet. They expressed their sympathy. The leader then wished the Admiral a speedy recovery and insisted he would “not be further molested”.
Later Nelson joked about his wound. In Yarmouth he told a female publican who wished to name her pub The Nelson Arms she could not do so. “For in truth good lady I have only one!”
The pub became uniquely “The Nelson Arm”.
This man was a walking mythos.
Lord Nelson drilled and worked up his ships for weeks outside of Cadiz. The enemy however trained in the taverns and brothels of Cadiz.
The result was a two to one shot rate and greater seamanship.
More like three to one, and for some of the British ships five to one. And that at the beginning of the action, both sides would’ve fallen off but the French and Spanish would’ve fallen off much more dramatically.
The propaganda the englishboys eat is incredible
Peter Finch is portraying Nelson and unlike what is shown, Nelson never wore an eyepatch. He did have an eyeshade sewn into the front of his hat to try and protect his one good eye from the sun’s glare off of the water. Finch later went on to win an Academy Award for his role in ‘Network’ which was awarded posthumously.
Turn back the clock and if Nelson wasn't such a cool character, Peter Finch could have shouted to the crew, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" and it would have been iconically attributed to this film.
Brace. Did you see the Olivier portrayal of Nelson? He wore a patch as Nelson in "That Hamilton Woman."
It's a beautiful film.
@Terminus Est I certainly agree, although there can be no question of Finch’s acting talent he was too old for the part of a 47 year old Nelson. Around 1980, Keith Colley portrayed the admiral in the 4 part series “I Remember Nelson.” In my opinion he was superb. I believe it’s available on RUclips and I recommend it to you. I’ve watched it several times.
@@TheSaltydog07 I’ve seen “That Hamilton Woman” several times over the years. Again, Nelson is portrayed as wearing an eye patch which he never did. Although his eye was sightless it nevertheless looked normal and there was absolutely no need to wear any covering over it. Nelson sat for many portraits during his lifetime and never is he shown wearing an eyepatch. I really have never determined why this bit of fiction ever got started.
@Terminus Est Dynamic is a perfect way of describing his lordship. He was revered by officers and crew alike. His death at the moment of his greatest victory was one of tragedies of history. His final words before he died “Thank God I have done my duty.” His body, preserved in a cask of spirits was brought back to England and in January of 1806 he was given a hero’s state funeral. His body lies today in an ornate sarcophagus crowned by a coronet in the crypt beneath the great dome of St. Paul’s cathedral. I have visited it several times. His noble spirit and love of country never forgotten.
I thought the action pretty good.
The actors were great to watch.
The comments & replies are going to be very entertaining.
Thank you to the people that bring out little bits of True Historic information and share them. I am 71 years old and can not tell you how much pure pleasure it gives me to find the "truth" about how things really were and the meaning behind certain traditions. I started reading books at the age of 10.
I'd sit in libraries everywhere and spend hours & days looking through books.
When Star Trek came out in the early 60s,
I Wanted use a Tricorder & I wanted to be able to talk to that Computer!!!
Now, I can lay here in bed and surf through history at my finger tips.
I can get feedback & information on everything from other humans across the entire planet. What a miracle.
My GOD you are just watching this now? I saw the movie many times .. thought I might revisit . New Years Eve syndrome?
we have learned to be in many places at once, have we not, My Friend?
What action? It looks like they're doing some stuff on a theater stage.
I'm 5 years ahead of you, Old Timer, and know what you're saying. I can remember dreaming about a "giant computer network" in the early 60s, but of course I didn't picture it exactly as it came to pass. But it DID come to pass. A dream, a fantasy, a fascination held by so many, that some were able to turn it into reality. Old guys like us built the internet.
I have never before seen this clip but by
god what a scene, three cheers for Lord Nelson from your cousin from across the pond
thought you treacherous colonials would be cheering on the French in this :)
He was a murderer.
My very first model ship was HMS Victory. I so badly wanted to be in the Royal Navy, but my poor eyes let me down. Never mind, I collected so much stuff, notably 1000 years of Naval history from the Vikings to present day.
I built a model of the victory. I also built one of the constitution. God I love sailing ships.
Back in the day when men were still real men I was in the United States Marine Corps and for every USMC birthday celebration mess night we would all call to order "Shed a tear for Lord Nelson Sir!" which meant we would pause festivities and all honor the late and great Admiral Horatio by all of us taking a pee in the head... It was a long pee too because we drank and partied hard in those old days. Bless you sweet sweet prince... Now back to drinking chasing women and singing songs!
What you just wrote sounds pretty stupid
Did you know Nelson’s fleet was sailing towards Cuba, I presume to kick out the Spanish, when he received an urgent communique to turn his fleet around, and head towards a place called Gibraltar…
@@beefcake5362 You are one to speak beefcake
@@NatEff3ct And how is that
Beefcake says it all, and you shouldn’t make simplistic, dismissive generalizations about a military practice you don’t understand
In London, in Greenwich, near the Cutty Sark, is the National Maritime Museum. I went there not knowing what to expect. Deep in the museum was a display of Lord Nelson -- of all his history, belongings and uniforms. Shivers ran up my spine and I was overwhelmed with near tears when, in a glass case I beheld the jacket he wore that day with the hole in the shoulder along with his white pants that were well stained with a pint of his dried blood. Such men. Such gallantry. Such belief. I, a Yank, I stood there in awe.
The bravery and steadfastness of men on both sides in the service of their countries. The folly of war and the unquestioning adherence to flawed political leaders. Great production for its day.
If I remember correctly, the French marines at Trafalgar (one of whom shot Nelson) were later incorporated into the French 2nd Light Infantry Regiment (2e Regiment d'Infanterie Legere) which ten years later fought at Waterloo, being involved in the attack on the Chateau of Hougoumont.
And it was the 2e Legere that penetrated the North Gate of Hougoumont Chateau and Farm, led by a giant officer - Ltn Legros. There was a desperate hand-to-had fight and shoot-out in the cobbled courtyard with the British Guards, until all of the invaders were killed, except for a single French Drummer Boy.
That would have been terrifying to be in a battle like that. The loser ultimately ends up the bottom of the ocean.
What a bit of history. And what a great film.
Thanks for sharing this.
Lord Nelson was, like all of us, deeply flawed. Human. Prone to mistakes. But in the history of naval warfare there has never been a more brilliant and brave commander. He is absolutely without equal.
I would suggest in frigate warfare Lord Cochrane was his superior
And even Sir Edward Pellew
Don't forget captain Pugwash and Sir Whitworth socket.
Nelson and De Ruyter share the honours.
Horatio himself deferred to Blake being our greatest sea captain. Before Blake we weren't really that much cop, truth be told. For all the tales of Drake, and the 'Revenge'; it was "God blew; and they were scattered" that was the actual story of our war with Phillip II. Blake MADE the tradition that could be blown in an afternoon; he MADE the English navy's predominance. It is far more difficult to START a ball rolling than KEEP it rolling. Unfortunately he was the General-at-Sea for a failed and hated revolution and regime and was memory-holed in the aftermath.
Something about old movies that are so much better than today. No CGI.
"No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy". Horatio Nelson.
That look of glee on the Master Gunner's face when Captain Hardy orders him: "Sink me a ship Master Gunner!" That would be me...
Well the British had been under constant fire for an hour before they were able to bring their own guns to bare, so you can imagine him excitement at being able to give the French some of their own medicine lol
That’s an almost-quote from Tennyson’s ‘Revenge’ “Sink me the ship master gunner! Sink her - Split her in twain! Fall into the hands of God and not into the hands of Spain.”
Sí... ganó Nelson.... Pero murió en la batalla... Viva España 🇪🇸❤💪
I like the addition of the Royal Marines Band. This film looks pretty good 👍
No mere entertainment. This was part of Military discipline in those days to inspire, provide moral support
@Stuart Peacock of course, I wouldn't have thought that in the heat of one of the most celebrated naval battles in history, the band of the Royal Marines was there to entertain but keep up moral besides it's a fife and drum corps.
Peter Finch was too large to play Nelson. He was a tiny man but incredibly dynamic and a tremendous leader. Grudging respect from a Scotsman.
Why would you have grudging respect as a Scotsman?
If you knew your own history, you would know that many Scots served in the Royal Navy and fought at Trafalgar, and you would be familiar with the exploits of Admiral Thomas Cochrane from Culross in Fife who was such a daring captain that Napoleon called him the Sea Wolf.
Shawn Bean is scrawny enough to play Nelson, although a bit too tall. Yes, Pete Finch is TOO big. Yes, he should be a little man with a big ego and big personality. Bean was not big enough, of course, to play Sharpe, but no one seemed to care much.
@@willyspinney1959 Grudging respect because, as a Scotsman, I understand that Scotland is a subjugated colony of England, as was recently proven by the supreme court decision that Scotland does not have a democratic means of determining if it can leave the union and that Nelson was therefore a servant of the union and an enemy of Scotland.
I am well aware of Thomas Cochrane, I have his biography on my bookshelf and he is the basis for the character of Lucky Jack Aubrey in the canon of books known as the Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian.
Those Scots who were part of the British forces of the last three hundred years were often given no choice but to take the king's, (or queen's), shilling and do service to earn a crust. Of course, we have had three hundred years of pro-union propaganda and anti Scotland brainwashing to convince us that we are an equal, voluntary partner in a fair and equal union. That fiction is now rapidly unravelling as the subjugation and robbing of Scotland is becoming more and more apparent to the majority of Scots with every passing day.
Saor Alba gu brath!
@@sandormccann2546 Speaking as a complete outsider, but descended from English sires, I disagree with your assessment of Scotland. Your flag (yes, yours) is the "Union Jack", which boasts both the cross of St. George and St. Andrew; you are united, not subjugated. You are a brother of England, not its slave, in the same family. Without England, both of you would be weaker and less respected, more like Belgium (or even Luxembourg) then the United Kingdom. Did not Scotland recently vote on independence, and they turned it down?
@@davidfinch7407 Sorry, with all due respect, that is utter bollocks. No, we did not vote recently on independence, that was EIGHT YEARS AGO and a great deal has changed in the interim.
That no vote was secured by lying politicians who threatened and frightened elderly Scots into voting 'no' by telling them that they would lose their pensions and that they would be forced out of the EU if they voted for independence. They made a series of promises , NOT ONE OF WHICH HAS BEEN HONOURED! Project fear worked perfectly to secure the continuation of the union.
Now that the majority of Scots see the damage that Wastemonster rule has caused and is still causing to the UK economy, they want out of the 'voluntary' union ASAP before our nation is reduced to penury.
The British Establishment has rigged matters to such a degree that there is now no legal and democratic means for the Scots to obtain independence. Self determination for a nation state is a fundamental part of the UN charter. Thus the British Establishment has denied the Scots a human right and we will obtain our freedom despite the worst efforts of the British Nationalists to stop us.
PS. The union was formed AGAINST the express wishes of the Scottish people, who rioted and protested vehemently the length and breadth of the nation when we were sold down the river by our greedy, bankrupt aristocrats who were bought and sold for English gold.
www.poetryverse.com/robert-burns-poems/such-parcel-rogues-nation
I'd never even heard of this movie before. These scenes are very good
This scene still gives me the goosebumps in 2024. What a time in and great men these were being forever cemented and immortalized into our historic records.
The decorative jewel that Nelson is wearing in his hat is called a Chelengk, it was presented to Nelson by the Sultan Selim III of Turkey after the Battle of the Nile in 1798, the jewel was stolen from the National Maritime Museum in 1951 and has never been seen since.
Sad.
I guess that is where Patrick O'Brian got the idea for the Chelengk that was awarded to Jack Aubrey in one of his Aubrey/Maturin novels and that was subsequently stolen by an enemy spy in Aubrey's employ.
@@sandormccann2546 but surely, when the spy was eaten by a shark, they found the jewel in the spy's quarters...
@@netowl3922 That's correct. Still the name of the jewellery and its theft shows some similarity. Mr. O'Brian gathered most of his inspiration for his stories from real life, adapting true incidents to fit into his narratives. He was a tremendous researcher as you probably know.
Also The "star and crescent" decoration on Nelson's jacket was awarded to him by the Ottoman sultan Selim III for his victory against France at the Battle of Nile. Its "The Imperial Order of the Crescent" . It was the highest chivalric order of the Ottoman Empire in 18th c. The order had two degrees, Knight First Class and Knight Second Class. Apart from Nelson, 11 more Europeans were awarded with this order. Nelson was so proud of his award that he appended it to his name in the Articles of Capitulation with Denmark after the Battle of Copenhagen on 9 April 1801.
This is one of the best sea battle scenes I've watched and I've seen plenty. Forget the impressive cast, I can't believe this picture was made by an American production company and distributed by an American studio. The details! The bits of "business" incorporated in each role! The accuracy! THE KIDS!
It made me wonder if the history of the US Navy includes but omits references to boy sailors/drummers.
Ye Olde Gunner, grateful for your bringing this underrated, underappreciated picture in the USA to my attention.
This explains the major mistake of having Nelson wearing an eye patch.
@@Pumpherstonsmith Aye, matey!
It may be accurate in some aspects, but not in the form of Nelson. they picked a bloke built like a brick shit house, when Nelson was quite small and very slight.
@@daneelolivaw602 Another possible inaccuracy; my understanding is that sailors on ships of that period would spread sand on the decks prior to battle so that those aboard were less likely to slip on the blood and gore.
@@Eric-kv1ip
That is true about the sand, and as someone else has commented Nelson never wore an eye patch.
This is a great production, the one small nit pick is the fact that the French marksman who shot Nelson wasn’t in the rigging he was in the fighting top platform which is halfway up the mast.
Kien carajo sabe donde estaba. Cientos de hombres disparando. Trozos de madera callendo. Humo. Ni se sabe kien fue. El resto fantasi
I was going to comment on that as well.
@@michaelbrandt5416
Moi aussi.
I love this scene. I watched this my dad. He told me thats how they did business back then. I told him "brings back memories eh dad?"😂 he replied "smart ass kid".
God save Royal Navy. Greetings from Brazil.
You've forgotten the king. 😉
😂
@@martinbrode7131 Shouldn't we all?
There's a great book on Trafalgar by Roy Adkins, it reads like a thriller. it gives a real sense of the excitement of the British fleet that after many boring, difficult months at sea blockading the French fleet, finally the chase was culminating, with the prospect of the bounty of prize money. The opposite for the combined French Spanish fleet, they went into the battle with a sense of dread. A truly horrendous experience for both sides.
I read they were at sea for neqrly three years blockading trafalgar.
Duriinh thay time Nelson went ashore once
@@huepix Why would they blockade Trafalgar, as it is not a port? The Franco-Spanish fleet was in Cadiz. Also Nelson returned to England in early August 1805, and sailed for Cadiz on September 14th. The battle was fought on October 21st, so Nelson had been continuously at see for only 37 days.
I agree, Adkins' book is excellent, I recommend it.
@@stvdagger8074 blockading the French fleet would be more accurate. Even so, at one point, the French escaped from Toulon and sailed for the Caribbean where they were to rendezvous with another force. That force was then meant to sail back to break the blockade of Brest but it was engaged by a British force under Calder and that spooked the French admiral who ultimately fled for Cadiz. At was at this time, Nelson went home after being at sea for nearly two years.
In hindsight, Calder’s action (the Royal Navy thought it was so pathetic they didn’t even call it a battle, and Calder got much criticism for his command) was decisive because when Villeneuve’s fleet failed to arrive in Brest, Napoleon gave up his immediate plans to invade Britain and deployed the invasion force elsewhere.
Thanks for the reading suggestion. I love to read about this era of history.
A couple of years ago my son, wife, & I had the chance to tour the HMS.Victory at Portsmouth, England. It's in beautiful condition and with many decks, there's a lot to explore. They have a medal on the deck indicating where Nelson died. There are many other historical ships stationed at Portsmouth: definitely worh a trip!
The brilliance of "Nelson's touch" strategy was to spilt the Franco-Spanish fleet in three and engage and overwhelm the windward Centre and Rear squadrons, he anticipated that the opposing Van squadron on the lee would fail to come about in time to affect the outcome of the centre battle. He was right and by the time the Combined fleet Van realized that they should have come about earlier, the battle in the centre was lost to them.
Sobre todo cuando luchas contra campesinos. Pastores. Y borrachos de las calles de Cádiz. Que no habían subido a un barco en su vida. Reclutados a la fuerza. Nelson lo sabía.los marineros ingleses podían hacer girar el barco en 12m.los Franco españoles necesitaban 25m.hobligados a subir a los palos a golpes por los contramaestres. Sólo a un francés se le ocurre tal locura. Antes del combate los barcos Franco españoles davan asco de tanto vómito 🤮.
A not too bad depiction of a naval battle from the age of sail shot on a sound stage, with the usual errors and license typical of Hollywood. Broadsides were not fired by all guns simultaneously as it put too much strain on the hull. The guns were fired sequentially from one end of the ship to the other. It took 2-4 minutes to reload, so guns were not fired as rapidly as depicted in films. Naval battles took hours, Trafalgar more than five. Nelson was killed by a musketeer already stationed in the rigging. It was the practice of the captain of the Redoubtable to station musketeers in the rigging before battle. I recall reading somewhere that he had them trained to try and pick off the officers on the ships he engaged. On the plus side, they accurately show here how many young boys served on naval vessels. It was very common. Nelson himself, was a few months short of thirteen when he began naval service. The powder monkeys depicted typically started out at around age 12. They were not actually seamen, but civilians. They moved powder from the magazines to the guns, and this job was given to young boys because they could work and move fast in very confined spaces. I have seen Nelson's uniform in the National Maritime Museum in London. Seeing it in person impresses one with what a diminutive person he was (only 5' 4"). The bullet hole is plainly visible in the coat.
Well put, incidentally it was called a "fighting top" and it was common practice to place musketeers up there, often even a small swivel gun or two.
@@yeoldegunner785 but not without risk. The muskets would sometimes set the rigging on fire.
The blood you can see on Nelson’s coat is not his his own. While the Victory was still approaching the French fleet, Nelson’s secretary was cut in half by a cannon ball and when Nelson was shot he fell into the secretary’s blood.
@@jeremypnet Can you imagine how gruesome that must've been.
Admirál Nelson skvělí stratég, námořník a legenda Britského královského námořnictva! Čest jeho památce!
Nelson was also only 5’4”, Hardy was 6’4”. I’ve also wondered about the dopey Marine with a loaded musket allowing a kid to just grab his musket and despatch the dastardly French assassin with such deadly accuracy at such a range. I’ve always been amazed that no studio has ever really attempted a serious well funded epic about Trafalgar. Most movies close to the subject, Trafalgar is just an aside to what is happening (ie Damn the Defiant, That Hamilton Woman)
Apparently it was a Midshipman John Pollard that brought down the offending sharp-shooter. I was not aware that midshipmen were armed with muskets, so perhaps he borrowed one from a Marine. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pollard_(Royal_Navy_officer)
Many "kids" back then were midshipmen training to be officers. Rich parents paid for them to have the privilege. The kid probably had the authority to take the weapon.
@@yeoldegunner785 I checked out your link. What a a load of crap this cancel culture, woke B.S.is.
Pollard was 18 - slightly old for a midshipman, certainly for one with talent but, maybe, he had no influential patrons. Not a 'kid' in an age when midshipmen could start at age 12 or 13, like Nelson did. It was a non-commissioned position; a heavy-duty apprenticeship training for officers. Nelson became lieutenant age 18 (he was brilliant and he had very helpful patrons). My father, like milllions of others, was in officer training for WW2 at 19 and it would have been 18 if war declared earlier.
On Nelson supporting slavery. Not a good call. The abolitionist movement had been going for some time by then in Britain so it was not just a case of accepting the status quo. However, the entire British Navy depended on the press gang to kidnap people to be sailors with death penalty or severe flogging for the slightest step out of line. In effect, almost all sailors were enslaved. Like Winston Churchill in WW2, despite his loathsome attitudes to India, Welsh miners, etc, Nelson was a great man at a particular time. But very great men also often have deep flaws that make them pretty nasty and downright wrong in other aspects of life.
Any shot from mast to mast would have required luck, given the movement of the platform and target and lack of accuracy of the weapon. Almost all films are wrong about accuracy of guns in action
It would be massively expensive and wouldnt appeal to an American audience (half the sodding box office).
That Battle of Trafalgar must've been terrifying! I'm just glad no one got hurt.
Couldn't fight like that today. Nobody was wearing hi-vis jackets or safety hats. Did anybody do a risk assessment?
Yes, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye! 😪
Amazed I've never managed to see this film. Excellent production choice to feature accurately portrayed detail over spectacle (not sure about the snotty grabbing the musket, though, but it makes for good cinema).
I worked with Mike Jayston in the early 80s, and sank a few pints with him, too. A really smashing bloke, and a nicer one, you'd struggle to find.
the approach took so long as there was very little wind. the whole french/spanish fleet was in line and firing broadsides at the 2 slowly approaching british columns let by nelson and collingwood. getting shot up, but unable to return fire ( ships of the line have no forward facing cannons ). HMS Victory finally cut through the enemy line between Villeneuve's flagship Bucentaure and Redoutable giving nelson the ability to simultaneously fire every cannon on her left side into one ship and every cannon on her right into the second. devastating ! she came close to Bucentaure, firing a raking broadside through Bucentaure's stern which killed and wounded many on her gundecks.
Actually the two huge 68pdr carronades on Victory had dual positions so they could fire forward if required. I don't think they were employed during the approach though as the raking shot was far more effective as you said, I think the first 68pdr through Bucentaure's stern killed over fifty of her crew in one go!
The maneuver was called "crossing the t" and the rest of the fleet followed after, shooting up the French and Spanish fleets that had no counter-maneuver for this brilliant stroke of genius.
@@plymouth5714
Carronades were virtually useless at anything over point blank range.
Raked
@@markrhodes1717 Part of "The Nelson touch" was the decision to sail divisions to "cut the line" (of the enemy), not parallel to it. The French were actually crossing the T's of the British, but Nelson and Collingwood accepted the initial disadvantage in order to bring on a pell mell battle that would lead to a result. Nelson knew his crews were better and his ships could hit harder and accepted the risk. The two divisions ganged up on the back end of the French-Spanish fleet then overwhelmed other portions before the storm. It was a smashing victory.
As an historian I must say I am quite pleased to say that was quite accurate, costuming, sets and everything.
Well Spanish are missing on that video but ok
As a bit of a film buff I cannot believe I’ve never seen this film and Peter Finch plays Nelson! Ordering online the DVD pronto!
Full version is on RUclips fyi mate
You’re in for a surprise, cheapest I saw it was $AUD40 to $AUD 87 plus postage, I checked both Amazon and ebay
You can watch the whole film here: fmovies.llc/movie/bequest-to-the-nation-fmovies-87226
For those that really enjoy reading a book that makes you feel as though you are right in the middle of period Naval action, read any (but my recommendation would be all) of the Alexander Kent novels, related to the Bolitho family. I have the entire series in front of me right now, at my desk, due for another 'refresh' from several years ago. The author has since sadly passed away, so no more new tales, but those that were written, are truly remarkable. He was for Naval stories, as Bernard Cornwell is to the Sharpe series, and Jack Higgins for action novels. High praise indeed, in my opinion anyway.
I can’t believe I see another person who reads Kent. Like you I have the whole series and am 1/2 way through reading again- perfect drenching in the times, all the skill’s described. No film does it as well as these books
@@leewhite6708 Very easily readable, and realistic in my mind. Many sad endings of characters, such at the brave, gentle giant Stockdale. His story was one I always remembered, as was his loyalty before Allday came along.
Cornwell also wrote Sharpe's Trafalgar.
I had no idea until recently that Alexander Kent and Douglas Reeman were one and the same and Ive been reading both for years.
@@normanclark933 I hate to break it to you, but Bernard Cornwell wrote ALL the Sharpe novels! Lol! 😛
The uniform shown here for Lord Viscount Nelson is very much accurate to that shown in the actual uniform on display at Greenwich. Except of course for the bullet hole...
Musket ball...
Never seen or knowingly heard of this film, will be checking it out definitely!
This is my favorite movie thank you very much. God bless you always...
Just discovering this film today. Amazing!
Funnily enough it is the typical tragedy of the director buggering up the nature of the battle for cinematic interpretation. A bit mean not showing the Spanish fleet in all that, they were there too.
Wow.
That was epic acting, shame movies today aren't as good.
The Victory was sailing through the French/Spanish at right angles (a tactic devised by Admiral Hood) so it was firing doing the length of the ships, not broadsides, until later on. One amusing incident was when one of the British ships assumed the French had struck their colours. The British boarded and found out it was a mistake, apologised and returned to their ship.
I'll never forget explaining this battle to my wife IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE.
A ship of the line of that era must have been the most awesome engine of destruction imaginable to the people of that time. Pretty impressive still.
Indeed. Did you know that one ship could have more cannons on board then Wellington had at Waterloo?
Victory was not a new ship at Trafalgar but she and her ilk were the then-tech equivalent of the Space Shuttle in our day.
No CGI... amazing!
This and Waterloo are 2 of My Favorite Historical Movies of All Time!
2 outrageous movies !
@@muzeoli2868 Two magnificent movies
The Russian War and Peace is also special, and Charge of the Light Brigade.
@@normanclark933 There were two Russian Versions one was a movie one was a TV series
One of the best and most intense sea battle scenes Ihave seen on film.
Amazing people could lipread so well back then.
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
“Now let’s go blow up some enemy ships!”
Finch said later: We all say we're going to quit occasionally. I'd like to have been more adventurous in my career. But it's a fascinating and not ignoble profession. No one lives more lives than the actor. Movie making is like geometry and I hated maths. But this kind of jigsaw I relish. When I played Lord Nelson I worked the poop deck in his uniform. I got extraordinary shivers. Sometimes I felt like I was staring at my own coffin. I touched that character. There lies the madness. You can't fake it.
Trafalgar vs. Waterloo. Waterloo was the last nail in Napolean's coffin but Trafalgar further cemented Britian's grip on the seas for another century.
La armada de los 1000 años... el sueño de todo imperio...
@@raccx2614 hombre, mil lo que se dice mil....
@@guyweisz7811 ya que has contado los años... cuantos son... eso es lo que a mi me habían enseñado.. pero tu sabes que quien cuenta la hostoria se exalta a si mismo...
@@raccx2614 Whoever tells the story has survived to do so...
Plenty of accurate detail and authentic dialogue, with an excellent cast; it captures the sights and sounds above and below deck very well even if somewhat sanitised and contrived here and there for effect. Just a pity it was concentrated within the confines of the ship, rather than mixing it with some panoramic wide angle distance shots of the ships as they manoeuvred and engaged each other, which would have made more sense of what was happening on board. The order of battle was a perfect blend of naval warfare genius and pure courage by Nelson, leading from the front at the head of one of the two columns to break up the enemy fleet while presenting only his bow to the enemy but still taking the brunt of the fire, then turning amongst them to deliver the broadside. A perfect display of experience, imagination, discipline and courage that won the day. The Victory inevitably suffered huge damage and was rescued by the Fighting Temeraire as the battle passed its climax. They wrapped Nelson’s body and placed it in a butt of brandy wine to preserve it for the homeward trip. The coat he wore is on display at the Royal Museum Greenwich, and on a sobering note, a bullet hole can be seen under the left epaulette where the bullet entered through his shoulder and traversed through his body into his spine. It must have passed through his lungs because he is reported to have complained of the blood rising in his chest while he was dying. The projectile was also preserved and is on display mounted in a gold case. It is described as a lead shot or musket ball which is very unfortunate for Nelson as the smoothbore musket was notoriously inaccurate.
Peter Finch , another freaking good actor from my childhood😃😃😃😃
Never seen this film before. It looks great.
You can see the film here: fmovies.llc/movie/bequest-to-the-nation-fmovies-87226
@@yeoldegunner785 Happy New Year + 50th Anniversary (1973-2023)
By the time of the Battle of Trafalgar the British Crews were so well trained that the didn’t need to be told what to do or when to do it. Once they were Beat to Quarters they went about their business with complete confidence and absolute silence. No one had to shout orders at them. The Screens were taken down, powder was brought up from the magazines and cannonballs from the shot lockers, the guns were unleashed, loaded and run out, the sails were trimmed, the galley fires were doused or tipped overboard, medical instruments were readied and sand was thrown on the decks and spread out without a word being said. It was so quiet on the British Ships that the officers held their conversations in a low tone of voice. All the while they could hear the shouting and yelling going on in the Franco - Spanish Fleet. It must have been eerie serving on a French Ship-of-the-Line hearing orders being screamed, watching the frantic bustling and confusion as your ship is “Clearing-for-Action” and all the while the Battle Ready Ships of the Royal Navy is bearing down you in utter silence…
This video has some of the best, most-knowledgeable comments I've ever seen What a delight!
The crews also had an extra ration of rum, to boost their confidence.
This movie clip was good old fashion quality without modern computer enhancements.
Hope one day they make more movies of this battle , there so much few media about this era.
And given the attitude of the media and the public in general we probably won't see much more. Maybe somebody will make a movie about Emma Hamilton and relegate her annoying sailor boyfriend to the background. Or did they already do that?
Not a Royal Navy buff but its my belief that the lead ship in the second battle column was the Royal Sovereign, always felt she deserved a bit of the limelight.
"Due to the re-coppering of her hull prior to her arrival off Cádiz, Royal Sovereign was a considerably better sailer in the light winds present that day than other vessels, and pulled well ahead of the rest of the fleet. As she cut the enemy line alone and engaged the Spanish three decker Santa Ana."
Yes indeed, you are quite right.
Yes, the British ships were split into TWO divisions, with Victory leading one and Collingwood, in the Royal Sovereign leading the second. Both cut the line, and both took a pounding in the process, but NO British ships were lost nor struck their colors, while the French-Spanish fleet was gutted.
@@kevinrussell1144 toda no. 4 franceses al mando de dumaior no dispararon ni un cañonazo y se dieron media vuelta a Cádiz. Sus tripulaciones estarían alegres 🤩. El fue a juicio dijo que no vio las señales de banderas de ir al combate. Quizá pensó que ivan a pescar bacalao.
@@ramonoutesrivera7845
Gracias for your reply.......
Había olvidado la parte del relato que implicaba que Dumaior (otro almirante francés) actuó como un cobarde en Trafalgar. Leí que estaba en la camioneta, la parte de la flota aliada NO cortada. Algunos dicen que debería haberse unido a los demás en la destrucción y que en su lugar huyó. Dado que su división fue capturada / destruida poco después, parece que no importa mucho. Su "jugar al héroe" solo habría aumentado la victoria de Nelson.
@@kevinrussell1144 nunca lo sabremos.. Pero era 4 barcos menos en combate.
Cleanest damn ship I’ve ever seen. All crew members with perfect teeth. Very realistic..
The majority of the wounds were from flying wood debris, splintered into razor-sharp pointed needles and hacking knives.
they also tried to adjust the amount of gunpowder so the cannon ball had enough energy to enter the hull, but not enough to blast straight through the other side, the intent was the the cannon ball would ricochet around inside the hull causing even more casualties.
I had a book from the library called Eyewitness Accounts from the Battle of Trafalgar, they told of oak splinters, 6ft long!
@@philldavies7940 There were also the chain shots and angels that whirled around and killed and maimed many soldiers or sailors in one go. This was for hitting soldiers on the deck and for wrecking sails
Funny how things do not change. Same at Battle of the Buldge. Trees were being hit and splinters and logs doing the last of the killing. But we still have to give credit to the cannons. I am sure Victory was not just expanding on her own.
According to some live fire tests, splinters often were not that big and did not have enough velocity to cause major wounds. There were even described issues when unskilled surgeons had great difficulty to distinguish gangrene from extensive bruises caused by blunt impacts. Yeas, there were cases when big portion of the ships crew (few hundreds) were either wounded or killed - but it was after long fight with many exchanged salvos taking even few hours of shooting, repairs, shooting. Thus ship took probably few hundreds of heavy iron balls to cause such a havoc.
So probably the greatest risk was when you were either in the path of the ball, or it hit and ripped major part of the ships structure and caused truly big splinter or threw some heavy piece of equipment upon impact (metal tools etc.)
It's hard to believe that anyone could live through one of these engagements
Nelson was blind in one eye, but did not wear an eyepatch - a bit of attention to historical details are needed. It's a cruel world.
One needs to consider just how that would be portrayed comfortably for the actor and so that the audience recognized and understood. Film cannot always portray every detail with microscopic accuracy. Would such detail enhance the film?
@@walfredswanson well normally i suppose not.however nelson was famous for his unpatched eye.he would when it suited him put his telescope to his blind eye and say i see no ships etc when ordering a risky attack.his lack of patch added a saying turning a blind eye to the english language so he was famous for not wearing one.rooster cogburn suffered no harm through three movies and a tv film by wearing an eyepatch even though in the novel he hasnt got one.
I've only just seen this and I've got Royal Navy family history and straight away some brilliant comments!
That Was a hell of a lot of movie in 12 minutes.
the war room, the anatomy of a Warship and a full on naval battle, and a assination.
The death of someone in the course of a battle is NOT an "assassination." High-ranking officers DO get shot occasionally during an exchange of fire. You might as well call the arrow in King Harold's eye (if the story is true) at the Battle of Hastings an assassination.
Asa retired soldier, I completely agree. Wartime deaths aren’t murders OR assassinations .
Though it would have been incredible difficult to film, and especially at the time when CGI just wasn't available like in its modern day proportions, Victory actually headed perpendicular to the Spanish and French line and cut straight through it. That is what I assume Nelson in this film meant by 'some time before we can open fire, shall we continue our walk?' to Captain Hardy. The Spanish and French line had been able to fire on the British lines without any retaliation, as the British could not fire from the front (unless using bow chasers which would have been very useless at this range). The British fleet was split up into two lines of action, the northerly one led by Nelson in HMS Victory, and the Southerly one led by Vice-Admiral Collingwood in HMS Royal Sovereign. Victory made first contact by sailing straight behind Le Bucentaure, the French flagship under Captain Jean-Jacques Magendie and Admiral Villeneuve. Victory fired a devastating broadside into the stern of Bucentaure, the area of the ship with the least protection, sending cannonballs flying through the length of the ship, destroying and killing all in their paths. 197 were killed in the first broadside including the Captain, but not the admiral. The Film shows a good representation of naval gunnery of the period, the chaos, the destruction...
I am currently writing by University dissertation on the subject of Trafalgar and Nelson's death, and its lovely to see a film that keeps the script relatively accurate to real life. The absolute horror to have seen your own admiral, someone these sailors absolutely admired, being shot dead in front of you would have been awful. Nelson was immediately quite pessimistic/realistic about his death, saying 'No, my back is shot through'. It is true, they covered Nelson's body before they took him off the Quarter-deck of Victory to hide who was killed from the sailors to not risk a reduction in morale for the remainder of the battle. Nelson in fact took three hours to die once he was brought down below, and asked for Captain Hardy on several occasions. Though he was an admired figure amongst the Entirety of Great Britain and even abroad, he was happy to die, some saying he even knew he would die before the battle. He lived to serve his country, and in securing the victory of this battle, that is exactly what he did. British naval dominance was not really challenged to an extent for the next century and any possibility for Napoleon to invade Britain was now entirely crushed. Nelson was content with his death and his duty had been fulfilled.
Well said, and all the best with your dissertation.
How do they come to the figure of 197 killed in first broadside. My be primary source reference of the time, but who counted in that chaos? Was only 1 broadside fired so all casualties attributed to this? Or did it just make a good story for either side after the Battle?
@@nellyprice An exact figure is obviously conjecture, personally I have never seen any exact numbers given before. What I have seen is the suggestion that the Bucentaure suffered 50% casualties (killed and wounded) in that first raking broadside from the Victory. Again, this is certainly speculation and impossible to gauge especially considering that the Bucentaure was raked by the next three British ships in Nelson's column. Even though she was the first ship to strike her colours, its actually a wonder that she lasted so long.
@@yeoldegunner785 yes it's become a pet hate how historical battles are commented on. Adds interest certainly, but is inaccurate, invented, or at worst deliberately misleading. Most anecdotes when under the slightest scrutiny become dubious in their authenticity, battle total chaos with tunnel vision focussing of attention. Why commentators have obsession for the number of kills in single blast volley etc is not good. Still guess working for Harry too
@@nellyprice As Yeold says, it is impossible to identify the exact number of those killed or wounded, especially in the first broadside, unless French reports have themselves identified this in medical records of the battle. This is just a figure I read from a scholarly article a few months prior to writing this (so do forgive me for being so unspecific) - I think exact numbers must come from a various mix of primary accounts written by sailors from the French side. Though I am sure the figure I referenced is highly unlikely to be the 100% accurate figure, it cannot have appeared out of thin air as a guess! All scholars will make their references to reliable historical material, otherwise it simply cannot be published... I think completely ignoring these (though most probably estimates) figures from texts does damage though, Nelly. Though I understand and share your annoyance. I suppose we do equally have to remember how much damage a first rate ship of the line could inflict in a single broadside... I think all the comments and questions here in this thread though have provided a fab insight and are of great contextual importance!
At first I thought wow, they didn't shy away from showing blood in the 1950s. Turns out this film is from 1973.
The way it is shot, I could have sworn it was much older.
BEQUEST TO THE NATION WHAT A GREAT NAVY FILM 🎥 IN HISTORY AND TIME WOW!!!! GREAT ACTION AND GREAT ACTORS TOO !!! LOVED IT ❤️❤️❤️❤️💯💯💯💯 !!
FUN FACT. HMS Victory is still a commissioned warship. In fact, she is the worlds OLDEST commissioned warship.
And..never a day goes by, when some tourist will comment, when looking at the plaque positioned on the deck where Nelson fell..."I'm not surprised he fell..probably tripped over that"! Oh hardy har har....
HMS Victory's hull is rotted away and it cannot put to sea. The oldest seaworthy commissioned warship is the USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides".
@michaelhorning6014 Good morning Michael. Please take care when reading posts! I said Victory was the worlds oldest commissioned warship. I never mentioned "afloat"!
Yes her timbers on her hull have had to be replaced over the years and it is true to say she probably would not float. In 1922, it was decided that she would become a permanent monument to Nelson and his crew in dry dock.
But let's get this straight.
Victory launched in 1765, commissioned in 1778.
Constitution was not even launched until 1797...a full 32 years AFTER Victory's launch and 9 years after she was commissioned.
She is the world's oldest COMMISSIONED warship...Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship AFLOAT.
I hope that helps.
@@TheRealist2022 please take care when reading. I never said Victory was not "commissioned", whatever that means for a ship that can't actually sail .
@@michaelhorning6014 means it's a rotten bloody hulk good for nothing and soon to be blown out of the water - I mean land- by a real functioning machine of war!
@@michaelhorning6014 Quite so Michael, but the tone of your email, seemed to be you trying to take away the record that Victory holds. If that was not your intention then I offer my most sincere apology. Sadly, the fact remains that NEITHER ship would be any good these days, other than for target practice.
FUN FACT. I was destined to be a British sailor.
Victory's keel was laid on July 23rd...my birthday. Nelson was born on September 29th...the day I joined the Royal Navy...and the lady that took my cherry at a tender young age? Was called Emma Hamilton. If you don't know who she is, please see this link.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma,_Lady_Hamilton
Weird huh?
After that initial meeting adjourned....the Admiral screamed:
"I'M MAD AS HELL! AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!"
In 1959 as a lad I got a new dog..named her Admiral Nelson Why? because Virginia boy in the US he was my first hero from history..the dog? Went down fighting..just like his namesake.
Those guys (the sailors represented I the movie) really had balls of iron! They put their vessels in the very line of danger and death and fought to the death. Each man knew his station (and those around him) and served as if his very life depended on it (which it most certainly did.) The only question I have is .... how did the Royal Marines keep their uniforms so clean and crisp? I mean their white trousers were spotless and clean. Wow!
Es una peli
Si verdaderamente todos conocían su puesto. No así en las otras 2armadas.. Que el 75%nunca piso un barco y ni sabían que hacer.
They were royal marines nuff said !! (:0)
As the song says, "Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men..."
Je suis français, , mais je reconnais la supériorité de la marine anglaise, surtout au 18eme siècle, j'admire aussi le grand Horatio Nelson et son extraordinaire Victory.
The battle scenes look good, but it is a shame that they didn't try to show actual tactics and positions of the fleets. The Allied fleet was at a right angle to the British, which means they could fire while the British couldn't ("crossing the T") however, once the British ships reached the Allied line, they could each target two ships at once, while also breaking through the formation. Nelson risked the first ships in line, including his own HMS Victory, in order to get close to the french. This is probably why he died, but also a major contributing factor to his victory.
Exacto.
I am of the opinion that the boldest measures are the safest. (quote H Nelson)
A story about Nelson and his blockade of Europe during the Napoleonic wars. A Greek captain named Andrew Miaoulis, from the small island of Hydra which had a huge merchant fleet and riches, was breaking the blockade and getting very rich doing it, but eventually Nelson captured him. Nelson asked him, "if you were in my place and I in yours, what would you have done with me?" "I would have hanged you", replied Andrew. Apparently Nelson liked the reply and not only spared Andrew's life, but allegedly invited him to his table for dinner. Andrew later became a leader of the Greek Revolution of 1821, defeating the Ottoman Turks in several naval battles, but after Greece became independent and there was a virtual civil war, he burned much of the Greek Fleet!
This Nelson is about 2 feet taller than the real one, also when he was shot he collapsed immediately due to a broken spine not the prolonged dramatic fall to the deck pictured here. Apart from that, pretty damn good.
According to Capt. Hardy who observed Nelson almost immediately after he was shot, the admiral fell but supported himself briefly using the fingers of his left hand before finally collapsing to the deck and into the blood of his secretary who had been hit by a round shot earlier and practically cut in two before being thrown overboard. "They have done for me at last Hardy." "Oh sir, I hope not". "Yes, by backbone has been shot through."
@@Brace67 Lots of us knowledgeable nerds her. Very pleasing to read the comments.
Is that supposed to be Nelson and Hardy walking together at the start of the clip?
You're right, there should be a 24 inch difference!
At which point somebody with greater knowledge will tell me, "No, the difference was only 21 inches" or whatever.
@@raypurchase801 Congrats, you went a whole year! But come in 801 your time is up: Hardy was not 7' 4"! The difference was half - Nelson was 5'4"; Hardy 6'4".
@@stevewatson6839 HARDY: "That's another fine mess you've gotten me into".
The Royal Navy is known as the Senior Service because when it was formed the Crown had no standing army. The Navy came first. The commitment to a permanent, funded Navy was foresightful.
Pity they seem to have forgotten all that...
Nelson was 47 at Trafalgar. This guy looks closer to 67.
People at 47 in 1800 looked fairly different, on average, than today. Also, life at sea ages you.
If you've read the best accounts of the Battle, you'll see this scene as very realistic. It conveys some of the complex intricacy of a savage battle in which children, shaving years away, took part....and some women. A great piece of filming.
This is me preparing for when my wife returns from shopping.
😆
😅