Eliab Harvey - Trafalgar

Trafalgar

With the resumption of the war against France, Temeraire was attached to the Channel Fleet and blockaded ports in eastern France until 1805, when Harvey was sent to join Horatio Nelson's blockade off Cadiz. When the Battle of Trafalgar was joined on 21 October, Harvey's Temeraire was the second ship in Nelson's division and was a faster and more agile ship than HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship. As a result, Temeraire began to pull ahead of Victory as the division closed on the Franco-Spanish fleet and Harvey was consequently reprimanded by Nelson, who hailed Temeraire: "I will thank you Captain Harvey, to keep your proper station which is astern of the Victory".

During the combat that followed, Harvey was heavily engaged with the enemy, passing behind Bucentaure and astern of Redoutable. The broadside fired into Redoutable reduced the French ship to a wreck and forced its surrender soon afterwards when it became tangled with Victory and Temeraire. The three ships then drifted into the following French Fougueux, British fire disabling her and giving cover to a boarding party led by Temeraire's first-lieutenant, Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, which forced the surrender of Fougueux's crew. In later years Harvey would use this incident for his personal motto "Redoutable et Fougueux".

Once the fleet had returned to port, controversy erupted concerning Harvey's role in the battle. Although his bravery and skill were not questioned, his prominence in the dispatch sent home by Cuthbert Collingwood was. In the dispatch, Harvey was singled out over the other captains for his bravery, Collingwood writing: "I have not words in which I can sufficiently express my admiration of it". As a result of this special mention, Harvey was promoted to rear-admiral on 9 November 1805, and given the honour of being one of Nelson's pallbearers at the admiral's funeral despite their short acquaintance. Harvey's new motto and his penchant for "bragging" further alienated him from his fellow officers.