As I've mentioned in previous shots, there are four bronze reliefs around the base of Nelson's column. I'm rather annoyed with myself that I only directly shot two of them, with one in the background. I still have no idea why that was the case.

We saw the bronze relief titled The Battle of the Nile (on the north side of the plinth) in shot 190909_161213_0440 as the background to one of the lions. The battle of Cape St. Vincent on the west side was shown in full in image 190909_161252_0448. On this occasion we see the end of the story; The Death of Nelson at Trafalgar by John Carew on the south side of the monument.

This battle took place on 21 October 1805 between the British fleet of 27 ships and a combined 33 ship French and Spanish fleet off the south-west coast of Spain. Immediately before the battle, Nelson sent a signal to the fleet which read "England expects that every man will do his duty". This doubtless hacked off any Scots, Welsh or Irish who were in his fleet, but nobody really concerned themselves about such things at the time.

The Franco Spanish fleet lost 22 ships while the British lost none, but perhaps the most devastating loss for the British was the loss of Nelson himself is the result of a shot by a French sniper.

Nonetheless, the battle didn't significantly alter the strategic position. Less than two months afterwards Napoleon decisively won of the battle of Austerlitz ensuring France's superiority on land, notwithstanding Britain's superiority on sea.