Trafalgar 200

The "Maritime London" class will be attending the Thames Nelson Flotilla as well as other Trafalgar 200 events:


DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE

The weekend of 16th - 18th September 2005 promises to be one to remember for all those visiting London.

A trio of events are taking place - the Thames Nelson Flotilla, the Trafalgar Great River Race and the Mayor's Thames Festival – forming the centrepiece of the Trafalgar Festival 2005.

The highlight of the weekend promises to be The Thames Flotilla, a symbolic recreation of Lord Nelson's waterborne funeral procession from Greenwich to the Palace of Westminster. Applications are coming from all over the world to take part in the procession, which will include a wide range of craft, from historic barges [to] rowing boats. Organisers say the aim is to create the longest procession ever seen on the river in modern times and to enter into the Guinness Book of Records.

In 2005 Britain will be celebrating its rich maritime heritage through a nationwide programme of events and festivities. The year-long event is timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar.

It was on the 21st October 1805 off Cape Trafalgar in southern Spain, that the slightly built, one armed, blind in one eye, Admiral of the British Fleet, Horatio Viscount Nelson delivered one of the most decisive victories in the whole of naval history. The battle was to alter the course of history and finally put paid to Napoleon’s long held ambition to invade England, which for twelve long years had stood in the path of complete domination of Europe. By the time the French commander Admiral Villeneuve set sail from the port of Cadiz with his bedraggled, ill-trained Franco-Spanish fleet the result was an almost foregone conclusion. The British, although smaller in number, outclassed the French in almost every department, not least in the way Nelson employed radical new tactics that were to revolutionise modern naval warfare.
Shortly after hoisting the now famous signal ‘ENGLAND EXPECTS THAT EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY,’ the British fleet split in two sections and engaged the opposition head-on breaking through their lines, creating mayhem and preventing retreat. This aggressive tactic worked to perfection. By 5:00 pm the battle was over and the Franco-Spanish fleet was shattered. Villeneuve himself was captured, and his fleet surrendered some 20 ships to the English fleet. In addition, 14,000 men were lost, half of whom were prisoners of war, while only 1,500 British seamen were killed or wounded. Only 11 ships reached Cadiz while no English ship was destroyed. However, Nelson himself paid dearly for the victory. A sharp-eyed French marksman successfully aimed a shot through the dense smoke of battle delivering a fatal wound to the British Admiral aboard his flagship Victory.

To mark the anniversary of this famous battle together with Nelson’s death, the National Maritime Museum, in partnership with VisitBritain, Portmouth City Council and other organisations is planning a series of events, exhibitions and celebrations across Britain. The climax will be the Trafalgar Weekend of 21st - 23rd October 2005 with dinners, parades, fireworks, beacons, church services and bell-ringing.
(article from www.pathfinders.co.uk/Seabritain.pdf)


There are paintings and a description of Nelson's funeral procession at the website of the National Maritime Museum.