The Trafalgar Way
He then raced to London bearing the dispatches containing the momentous news of Lord Nelson's victory and death in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
Collingwood was faced with the challenge of ensuring the safety and survival of his own and the captured ships: at the same time he needed to report the outcome of the battle to the Admiralty in London as soon as possible.
This news triggered understandable anxiety, particularly amongst the families of the 18,465 men who had been with Nelson at Trafalgar, to learn the details of the casualty lists, or "butcher’s bill" as they were commonly known.
The expenses involved for each leg were:- To date no record has been found to show exactly where he obtained fresh horses, although in some of the smaller places there was probably only one stable or coaching inn available.
The casualty lists appeared in The Times on Monday the 18th, thus ending the eleven days of anxiety for the families of the men of Royal Sovereign, Mars, Dreadnought, Bellerophon, Minotaur, Ajax, Defiance, Leviathan, Defence, and Revenge.
Blackwood followed in Lapenotière's steps, reaching London late on 26 November, and The Times of Thursday the 28th carried Collingwood's assessment of the condition and whereabouts of the ships of the defeated French and Spanish fleets, the prize list.
The same dispatch also contained further casualty lists that now included first details from Victory, Britannia, Temeraire, Prince, Neptune, Agamemnon, Spartiate, Africa, Bellisle, Colossus, Achille, Polyphemus, and Swiftsure.
The prize list reported that during the battle four French ships had "hauled to the Southward and escaped", and their whereabouts were still unknown to Collingwood as he wrote his third dispatch.
On Saturday 9 November, the frigate Aeolus had sailed into Plymouth with the news that they had been taken as prizes by Captain Sir Richard Strachan off Cape Ortegal on Monday 4th.
The following day Captain Baker of the Phoenix arrived in Plymouth and took another chaise to London with further details of the Ortegal action, including the British casualty lists.
They can be seen at Falmouth, Penryn, Perranwell, Truro, Fraddon, Bodmin, Launceston, Lifton, Bridestowe, Okehampton, Sticklepath, Crockernwell, Tedburn St Mary, Nadderwater, Exeter, Clyst Honiton, Honiton, Wilmington, Kilmington, Axminster, Bridport, Dorchester, Blandford Forum, Woodyates, Salisbury, Andover, Overton, Basingstoke, Hartfordbridge, Camberley, Bagshot, Egham, Staines, Hounslow, Brentford & Chiswick, Hammersmith, Kensington, Canada House and finally on the Old Admiralty Building in Whitehall.
