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 Articles on the 2005 bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar
How the Bicentenary was seen in Spain

Two centuries before satellite broadcasts, news travelled by sea

Printed in Lloyd’s List, 19th August 2005

News reporting has changed out of all recognition since word of Trafalgar was brought to Britain, writes Jonathan Lord

This year's bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar has already occupied many column inches, with commemorative events such as the International Fleet Review in the Solent, attended by over 250,000 in late June, exciting the media's interest. As the anniversary itself approaches one can expect the coverage to heighten, such that no one should remain unaware of what happened on 21st October 1805.

That was not the case 200 years ago. Just as the idea of two fleets attempting to annihilate each other at point-blank range now seems unimaginable, so too does the way in which Trafalgar was reported back in 1805. Lloyd's List, then some 70 years old, was one of the few British newspapers to carry the news of the battle - and that more than two weeks afterwards, something hard to comprehend in this age of 24-hour satellite broadcast news and "embedded" war correspondents. Vice-Admiral Collingwood's eloquent dispatch bearing news of the events had in fact travelled at great speed. The commander entrusted with its delivery, having at first been delayed by the great storm after the battle, took only 8 days to reach Falmouth and 37 hours to reach London, arriving at the door of the Admiralty at 1am on the 5th November 1805.

The dispatch was published in The Times and Lloyd's List on 7th November. Momentous by any standards, and heightened by the delay in reaching the British public, the huge impact of the news can easily be imagined. Euphoria over the decisive nature of the victory was all but erased by the anguished sorrow at the news of Nelson's death. "We know not whether we should mourn or rejoice" begun The Times, "The country has gained the most splendid and decisive Victory that has ever graced the naval annals of England: but it has been dearly purchased. The great and gallant NELSON is no more".

The way in which Lloyd's List and The Times reported it also reflects the magnitude of the news: both papers carried Collingwood's dispatch verbatim but Lloyd's List used spaced type - innovative in those days - and The Times published it on the front page, which was normally reserved for the Classifieds. And all the news they had to print was that contained in Collingwood's dispatch to the Admiralty. Nelson's famous rallying cry to the fleet, "England expects that every man will do his duty", was not reported until 26th December of that year - the same day, coincidentally, on which news of Trafalgar was printed in the USA, in the Boston Gazette. Incidentally, it was not until after the New Year that the French press made any allusion to what had happened, with this classic understatement in Le Moniteur: "A storm has caused us the loss of a few ships after an imprudently delivered battle".

Expect something rather more immediate this 21st October. The media's attention, as well as focusing on the many celebrations taking place in Britain, will doubtless turn to Cabo Trafalgar itself, on Spain's Atlantic coast. There on the bicentenary weekend a flotilla of local yachts will line up in the battle formation of the two navies to hold a simple act of commemoration of the some 4500 men who perished. A monument is also to be unveiled to "Peace and Harmony", as Spain seeks to make overdue recognition of what has hitherto been a bitter, forgotten chapter in its history. – Cape Trafalgar, marked only by a quiet, sandy bay and a lighthouse, will once again be in the headlines.