EllisG

A happy Trafalgar day to one and all

bil

Thank you. We are quite near the cape of T, and it never ceases to puzzle me why some entrepeneur doesn't cash in on the fact.

Fredbargate

Not many countries celebrate the battles they lost

bil

Technically it was the French we were thrashing. An English guy with a boat out to be able to make a killing taking tourists out to the site of the battle.

Fredbargate

The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy,

Mind you the Spanish erected close to Gibraltar a small memorial to the Brave Italian Frogmen who attacked Gibraltar during WW2

agoreira

What's to see? Last I heard they were trying to put nearly 300 wind turbines offshore there. Lots of debates going on, I think it's still on hold.

EllisG

to take in the atmosphere of the event...tourists will pay money for any trip just to say they've been there. Chuck in some aged driftwood, corpses, the smell of gun powder and the occasional blood soaked beret to complete the effect.

Besides, we did the Spanish a favour forcing Napoleons hand into showing it's former allies his true colours. Without the sea as their option didn't Napoleon decide to break his alliance and invade Spain ?.....I'm no expert on this period or indeed much of French/Spanish history since neither nation has given much for the world to learn from their past exploits

Fredbargate

Possibly too modern???

Fredbargate

Nelson at sea and Wellington on land

Rotor

He would never get the right permits off Spanish maritime authorities and the NI costs would sink him immediately

EllisG

yeah I know that much...even though technically most of the soldiers fighting with Wellington weren't actually British and if I recall correctly his genius at Waterloo was merely delaying tactics waiting for the Prussian army to regroup and help outnumber the French

bil

Part of Wellington's genius was in understanding that you don't interrupt the enemy when he's in the middle of making a mistake!

Relampago

Well, Spain has defeated many times to UK, the difference is that here there is no celebration, and in the UK these victories are not in the UK history books, only says its victories. That's the difference between Spanish and British, spanish says our victories and our defeats, UK only the victories. And when I say Spain wins the United Kingdom, I speak of Admiral Blas de Lezo or battles as Tenerife (before Trafalgar), where Admiral Nelson was captured, healed of his wounds and sent back to the UK. If this had been reversed, if the UK had captured a Spanish admiral, probably would have ended in a firing squad

Regarding Trafalgar, in the case of Franco-Spanish fleet, was not commander the Spanish admirals (Churruca, Gravina, etc) but by a Frenchman incompetent, named Villeneuve, who ignored the Spanish admirals when they warned him not to take out ships in open sea, because were easy targets for Nelson. Then what happened happened

EllisG

The British sent Villeneuve back too...he committed suicide on the way back to Paris

Fredbargate

The yanks have never been defeated in their own words,