On October 21, 1805 off the coast of Spain west of Gibraltar one of the most famous battles in history took place, the Battle of Trafalgar. So much has been written about this battle that there is nothing that I can add to the story, and I would not try. However just to give some scope to the battle here are some details. In all there were at least 74 vessels involved between the combined forces of Britain, France and Spain. Losses of personnel were heavy, over 2,000 Frenchmen, over 1,000 Spaniards and almost 500 British sailors lost their lives. The storm that swept in after the battle cost the lives of another 3,000 (mostly prisoners). The most famous man killed was of course Lord Nelson himself, felled by a French snipers bullet.