Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1815).
Allemand's expedition of 1805
Elsewhere, the Trafalgar campaign reached its climax on 21 October 1805, when Villeneuve's fleet was intercepted at sea off Cadiz by Nelson's fleet and destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar, the French and Spanish losing 17 out of 30 ships of the line. The British fleet did not lose a single ship, but the cost of the victory was severe: Lord Nelson, victor of four major battles in the previous eight years, had been killed at the height of the combat by a musket ball. The survivors of the combined fleet scattered, most making their way back to Cadiz. However, the four ships of the French vanguard, which had rapidly outdistanced the battle and not returned, escaped towards the Bay of Biscay under Contre-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. Allemand's cruise was to have unforeseen consequences for Dumanoir's squadron: among the British forces mustered to hunt for the ships from Rochefort was a squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan in , consisting of five ships of the line and two frigates. On 2 November, the frigate HMS "Phoenix", which had also been ordered to search for signs of Allemand, discovered four French ships near Cape Finisterre. Unaware of the events of Trafalgar and assuming these ships to be a part of Allemand's force, Captain Dundas sought to lure them towards Strachan's squadron, which he knew to be in the area. Dundas was successful in provoking Dumanoir to chase his frigate, and two days later, on 4 February, Strachan was able to bring the French squadron to battle, capturing all four ships at the Battle of Cape Ortegal.