The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805; inscribed plan of ship positions and wind direction

An annotated plan that is inscribed by Pocock with ship names and other details needed for composing pictures of the action. The 'Redoutable', 'Temeraire' and 'Fougueux' are shown locked together, close to the 'Victory', and the 'Leviathan' with the 'San Augustin'. Dumanoir (one of the subordinate French flag-officers) with four ships in line is shown to windward (west); 'four or five sail going to leeward' to the north-east and 'Eight or ten of the Enemy forming to Leeward under Adml Gravina', the Spanish commander-in-chief, to the south-west.

While the sheet has been written on in all orientations the main ship position information has been composed looking from the north. This broadly relates the plan to Pocock's oil view of 1807, which shows the end of the action, and also takes that viewpoint (BHC0549). Exhibited: NMM Pocock exhib. (1975) no.88. Notes for a rough sketch of a figurehead are on the reverse.

Object Details

ID: PAD8782
Collection: Fine art; Special collections
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Pocock, Nicholas
Events: Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar, 1805
Date made: 21 Oct 1805; after 1805 circa 1807
People: Pocock, Nicholas
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Mount: 188 mm x 272 mm