The Trafalgar Way - First News of The Battle

First News of The Battle

The first dispatch. Collingwood entrusted the safe delivery of his first reports of the battle to the captain of H M Schooner Pickle, Lieutenant John Richards Lapenotiere, but could not spare him at once owing to the storm. On Saturday 26 October, the Pickle was finally detached: Lapenotiere carried Collingwood’s first dispatch, written on 22 October, containing his initial report of the battle, and a second, written on 24th, describing the effects of the storm on the ships that had survived. He also carried copies of two General Orders addressed to the Fleet. The Pickle reached Falmouth on Monday 4 November and Lapenotiere then travelled overland to London. He rode “express in a post chaise and four.” Edited versions of Collingwood’s four documents that Lapenotiere delivered were published in The London Gazette on 6 November and subsequently in most papers. The first report contained the words “I fear the numbers that have fallen will be found very great, when the returns come to me; but it having blown a gale of wind ever since the action, I have not yet had it in my power to collect any reports from the ships”. 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.

Lapenotiere made 21 stops to change horses on the way from Falmouth to London and his “account of expenses”, which was carefully saved for posterity in Admiralty records, shows his route, where he changed horses and his costs. The route he took was the main Falmouth to London coaching road of 1805 and 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 "race". Commander John Sykes of the 18-gun sloop HMS Nautilus had been ordered by Nelson to patrol off Cape St. Vincent in southwest Portugal. He met the Pickle as she sped homewards on 28 October and, having heard Lapenotiere’s news of the battle, he appears to have elected to abandon his ordered station and escort the Pickle for her safety, but they lost sight of each other in very heavy weather. When Nautilus made Plymouth late on 4 November Sykes reported to Admiral Young, who feared that Pickle might be missing.

As a precaution the Admiral therefore ordered Sykes to travel to the Admiralty to report the sketchy details of the battle that he had learnt from Lapenotiere at sea. As he reached Exeter, neither Lapenotiere nor Sykes were aware that they were now only a few miles apart on the same road in an involuntary race for London. Sykes reached the Admiralty at 2 a.m. on Wednesday 6 November, about an hour behind Lapenotiere.